Absolution: A Novel of Suspense

Beautifully capturing the windy, chilly streets of Glasgow, this dark and gritty crime drama centers on two crimes committed over twenty years apart, with Detective Chief Investigator Alan McAlpine somehow holding the key to a series of brutal murders involving three young women who have been horribly disemboweled and then left for dead. Back in 1984 McAlpine is just a rookie cop, a naïve twenty-year old when he is called upon to investigate the identity of a pregnant girl who goes by the name of Anna, and who now lies in a hospital bed, all bandaged up, a victim of a terrible, acid attack, her face neck hands and stomach, brutally scared with the acid burning deep. Alan hadn't expected Anna to be so young and so fragile, and he's surprised that no one is asking about her and that there are no visitors. On his first night on duty by her bedside, he sits among the detritus of the evidence and discovers in her little black handbag, wrapped in a web of sellotape, a ring, plain silver with a single diamond, a lover's ring. Who could have given her this ring? Was perhaps her husband or her fiancé involved in the attack? Soon after her daughter is born, Anna abruptly suicides, her injuries and scars just too much for her to bear. Alan is grief stricken, and now with his brother Robbie also gone, he falls into an inconsolable maelstrom of sorrow and heartache. There was something about Anna that entranced him even as the individual and the circumstances behind the attack on her remains a mystery that is never solved. But it is these memories that stretch and yawn, uncoiling from sleep that come back to haunt McAlpine when in 2006 he returns to his old stamping ground to investigate the brutal slaying of Elizabeth Jane Fulton Lynzi Traill, both found murdered, ripped open and left to bleed to death, with no forensic evidence found at either site, only the blistering of chloroform remaining round the mouth and nose. Together with his colleagues Detective Sergeants Anderson and Costello, McAlpine is sure that he can crack the case, after all, Costello brings many unique talents to the investigation, especially her female intuition, and Anderson is certain to provide a fresh and younger eye, someone who can rise to the occasion and perhaps even keep the errant McAlpine focused. The young and handsome and recently paroled Sean McTiernan is an obvious suspect, but his current whereabouts remains unknown. He knew both Elizabeth Jane and Lynzi. Soon enough it is discovered that Elizabeth Jane had let someone into her flat, someone she knew and trusted. Lynzi also left Glasgow Central at night again, with somebody she knew and trusted, but not her husband and not her boyfriend. When A prostitute known as Arlene, well known in the area is discovered in a back lane with her head smashed in, the police are certain that McTiernan is responsible as he has a history of carrying out this type of violence. Things have certainly turned sadistic, the killer t

Glasgow Detective Chief Investigator Alan McAlpine returns to his police cadet roots in Patrickhill Station to lead the official inquiry into the murders of two women by the serial killer dubbed Crucifixion Killer by the media. Alan avoided the town for two decades ever since he was assigned to keep safe the dying pregnant woman named Anna whose face was erased by acid and no longer could talk. Anna killed herself shortly after giving birth; no one involved in the heinous crime was ever caught, but Alan never forgot the woman he considered his beloved angel. Still Alan focuses on the current serial killer homicides in an attempt to prevent more gruesome murders from this vicious predator. However, he begins to link the current investigation to the cold case that haunts him. His subordinates Detective Sergeants Anderson and Costello are confused by Alan's actions and directions as he makes a difficult case that much more convoluted because he sees ABSOLUTION as his objective. Mindful of Ian Rankin's dark Glasgow thrillers, Caro Ramsay provides a strong psychological police procedural that grips readers once Alan begins connecting the past with the present. Readers along with the two DS will wonder whether Alan has gone over the edge or found a real connection; which premise makes this a deep read. Although the climax takes the audience back inside the sub-genre's norm, fans will appreciate the dark background that mirrors Alan's even darker revelations. Harriet Klausner