For good men to do nothing...

Detective Rebecca Watson is in court, giving evidence in the retrial of a man who, five years previously, had been convicted of brutally killing his girlfriend. It was a case which brought back sad memories as her partner had died at that time, but she was unprepared for her troubled childhood to also come unexpectedly to haunt her. Meanwhile, the mutilated bodies of several men had been found in the area: looks like there is a serial killer at large

Told from the point of view of Rebecca herself, the reader has immediate knowledge of her thoughts and fears, as well as of the action. Her past, her relationship to her mother and her aunts, her sexual insecurities are all slowly revealed as the story unfolds:: she is both very human And yet frustratingly annoying: a bit too raw to be real. Little effort is made by the author to breath personality into the other protagonists but all feel substantial in their own right with the exception of the serial killer himself. Although central to much of the story, and obviously closely investigated by e number of the other characters he manages to remain shadowy. Narration by Kendra Murray is very good, further bringing life to both Rebecca and the other cast members, all of their voices well differentiated and her reading both well paced, clear and intoned. A good performance which is partially ruined by poor editting, especially in the latter half of the book, with sentences badly spliced together with slightly different speeds or sound levels, severed words and in particular some strange mechanical rumbling which preceded many of the chapters. Was this supposed to form part of a soundtrack? No idea; but whatever it was, it was a mistake.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was fast paced,, and intriguing in it's switch between courtroom and field work, so my deep thanks to the rights holder who, at my request, freely gifted me with a complimentary copy of Stone Cold, via Audiobook Boom. It could have lost the gratuitous sex scene without any damage at all to the story (along with the sniffing of cologne scents of which she must have been aware for months before - save this stuff for later in the series) and some of the court scenes seemed just too contrived, but it carried me along in a wave of pleasurable listening so that I would recommend it to all who enjoy feisty yet vulnerable female detectives keeping the world safe from the bad guys.

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