Wednesday 2 May 2018

Come and Find Me (DI Marnie Rome Book 5) - Sarah Hilary


On the surface, Lara Chorley and Ruth Hull have nothing in common, other than their infatuation with Michael Vokey. Each is writing to a sadistic inmate, sharing her secrets, whispering her worst fears, craving his attention.

DI Marnie Rome understands obsession. She's finding it hard to give up her own addiction to a dangerous man: her foster brother, Stephen Keele. She wasn't able to save her parents from Stephen. She lives with that guilt every day.

As the hunt for Vokey gathers pace, Marnie fears one of the women may have found him - and is about to pay the ultimate price.

What did I think?

Come and Find Me was too tempting to resist when I saw its serialisation on the online bookclub, The Pigeonhole.  Having read none of the DI Marnie Rome series, jumping in at book 5 had no detrimental effect whatsoever as I got to know the well established character of DI Marnie Rome through the excellent writing of Sarah Hilary.  The pacing is electric and it was SO hard to wait 24 hours for the next instalment to be released.  

The book starts with a prison riot so you can just imagine the cast of unsavoury characters presented to us in the first few pages.  Michael Vokey escaped during the riot leaving a trail of destruction in his wake and his cellmate, Ted Elms, fighting for his life.  DI Marnie Rome and DS Noah Jake are called in to investigate and track down Vokey before he kills again.

DI Rome and DS Jake are both carrying armfuls of baggage with Rome's foster brother, Stephen, lying in hospital after being caught up in the prison riot and Jake's family ostracising him after he was involved in the arrest of his brother, Sol.  I loved digging into the background of the detectives whilst the hunt for Vokey was going on and I am looking forward to catching up with their stories when I read the earlier books.

I always love it when a book makes me head over to Google to check something out.  As soon as I read about the Szondi test I just had to look it up.  This is a personality test developed in 1935 which shows a set of photographs and you have to pick out the one that disturbs you the most.  The photo you choose is meant to show the dark impulses that you have repressed in yourself.  Yikes!  Imagine being diagnosed just by choosing a photo of someone you don't like the look of?  Scary stuff.

I was also intrigued by the fans that Vokey accumulated during his time in prison: two very different women, Lara and Ruth, have been writing to Vokey and indulging his obsessions.  I always find it fascinating how some people start writing fan mail to convicted killers, it's probably surprising who would do this but I can't for the life of me fathom why they would do it.  It gave a great angle to the story though, with both women being in the spotlight as potentially harbouring the escaped prisoner.  I love books that give me lots to think about, both during and after I have read it.

The tension and suspense was heightened for me with reading it in instalments, but had I possessed a copy of the book I know I would have read it in one sitting.  Come and Find Me is a compelling, dark and gritty read; this is a book that you will pick up and not put down until it is finished.  

My rating:




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