Book Review: Persons Unknown by Susie Steiner

Persons Unknown by Susie Steiner
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

'Manon Bradshaw is back.

As dusk falls a young man staggers through a park, far from home, bleeding from a stab wound. He dies where he falls; cradled by a stranger, a woman’s name on his lips in his last seconds of life.

DI Manon Bradshaw can’t help taking an interest – these days she only handles cold cases, but the man died just yards from the police station where she works.

She’s horrified to discover that both victim and prime suspect are more closely linked to her than she could have imagined. And as the Cambridgeshire police force closes ranks against her, she is forced to contemplate the unthinkable.

How well does she know her loved ones, and are they capable of murder?'

It has been a while since I read the first in the DS Manon series. I remembered Missing Presumed as a great read, but had forgotten Manon to a large extent. It didn't take many chapters for her witty character to come flooding back to me. Persons Unknown is a fantastic follow up to Missing Presumed. Having gone back to her old job with her old force and a whole set of different personal circumstances, Manon's personal life is focused on more intently here than previously.

A gripping thriller. A real page-turner. Steiner has great strength in character development and the story unfolds by way of different narratives. Despite it's core plot, I found myself smiling, sometimes even laughing out loud at the hilarious one-liners planted throughout, such as one character's opinion of perhaps moving to Spain, "It'll just feel disappointing and also irritating because you won't know the Spanish for pile cream."

Missing Presumed was one of the bestselling books of 2016, a Richard & Judy Book Club pick and was named a New York Times 'Must-read thriller of the Summer.' I believe Persons Unknown will follow in the footsteps of it's older sibling and top the charts this summer.

Pre-order your copy today.



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With thanks to NetGalley UK for the advance reader copy.