This Way Out

Sheila Radley wrote a number of contemporary British mysteries in this series, all featuring the same detective. They are all really enjoyable psychological crime novels that I highly recommend. This particular novel is the most unusual. I think it may have been the last book in the series (to date) so I would not recommend starting here for someone who has never read this author. I found this novel compelling reading, but the psychological study of the killer in this instance is so convincing that the story did not leave me in a comfortable frame of mind. This book really gets you inside the mind of the killer -- but with a disturbing difference. The killer is not your typically savage bad guy. He is actually portrayed very sympathetically. The man makes a series of bad decisions and feels growing panic as he commits his crime and it is subsequently discovered by the authorities. The author put me so much into the mind of this somehow sympathetic killer, that I really felt his remorse over what he had done, and felt his mounting panic as his whole life falls apart with the investigation. A very powerful book. But be warned, this is not an uplifting or light piece of entertainment. It is a vivid cautionary tale about the thin line that can separate a killer from your average, rather harmless individual.