The Blackbird

By Tim Weaver

What it’s about?

From Goodreads;

AN IMPOSSIBLE DISAPPEARANCE

Just before the crash, Cate and Aiden Gascoigne are recorded on CCTV.

The couple are laughing, happy.

Then their car plunges into a ninety-foot ravine.

Within seconds, the vehicle is an inferno – and the Gascoignes are trapped inside. But when fire crews arrive, they find something impossible.

The vehicle is empty.

Cate and Aiden have vanished.

A NOTORIOUS MURDER

Missing persons investigator David Raker is hired by Cate’s family to find out what happened.

But this is a mystery that won’t easily give up its secrets.

As Raker links Cate and Aiden’s disappearance to an unsolved thirty-year-old murder, he doesn’t realise he’s set something terrible in motion . . .

WHAT CONNECTS THEM IS TERRIFYING

. . . and it will bring him and his ally, former detective Colm Healy, into the crosshairs of a killer like no other.

What I think:

This is one of the best crime thrillers I have read in a long time.

I have not read any of the other David Raker books – this is number 11 in the series – but this completely works as a standalone and references to past books make enough sense for new readers to follow.

The mystery is so clever and carefully plotted that this kept me guessing right to the very end with several incorrect guesses along the way. It is a complex and multi-layered story that grabs your attention from the first chapter and keeps it right to the end.

Cate and Aiden’s disappearance is a complete mystery. CCTV footage shows their car veer off the road and yet despite witness statements stating that no one left the vehicle and there was not enough time to escape, no bodies were found. The case is a complete dead end and the family have no answers so they call in David Raker a man with a reputation for solving complex missing person cases.

Raker starts revisiting the scene of the crime and searching through the personal lives of Cate and Aiden. Small clues start to piece together an idea, but it doesn’t seem to be getting anywhere. When the key witnesses he wants to re-interview disappear it seems like the case is much bigger than he originally thinks. Raker is unwittingly getting involved with dangerous people and finds his own life and reputation in danger.

This is an absolutely cracking read. I can’t believe I have never read this series before – if the rest are even half as good.

The case was so complex and sinister and clever. The different strands of the plot come together for a satisfying conclusion. And theres a cliff hanger at the end that will definitely entice you into reading the next book in the series. I will definitely be going back and read the previous books.

Thank you to Penguin Random House for my gifted copy.