From the bestselling author of the DCI Matilda Darke series comes a standalone thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last page… ‘Dark, twisting and captivating. The very essence of the just-one-more-page thriller’ Will Carver ‘Wood gets better with every book. I couldn’t let go of this tragedy of loss and deception from the moment I picked it up’ Alex Marwood, author of The Island of Lost Girls *** On a cold February afternoon in 1990, seven-year-old Danny Redpath disappeared from his home. Four months later, his body was found in the nearby forest, wrapped in a sheet and washed clean of all evidence. Apprehended while attempting to abduct another child, Jonathan Egan-Walsh was charged with the murders of more than a dozen boys. Convicted on all counts, he received life in prison and went unrepentant, still refusing to reveal the whereabouts of one of his victims, Zachery Marshall. Twenty-five years later, Zachery’s mother Diane is still searching for his body. When Jonathan dies in custody, she realises she will never know its location – until she receives a letter he left in his cell, in which he admits he was guilty of all the crimes of which he was accused, except the murder of her son… *** ‘A twisty, gripping read takes us inside the mind of a perverted serial killer. It pulls no punches, and the final scenes come as a real shock’ David Young ‘Immersive and darkly devious with sly twists and a compelling protagonist’ Neil Broadfoot ‘If you like your crime books intense, character-driven and with regular punches to the gut, this is for you’ Louise Swanson Readers love The Seventh Victim: ‘You can't go wrong with a Michael Wood book. His Matilda Darke series is superb and so is this his first standalone’ ‘Dark and twisted’ ‘This book had me gripped and reading through the night’ ‘This is one of the darkest books I've read for a very long time, but Michael in his usual way handles it brilliantly’ ‘My new favourite author’ ‘Utterly fantastic’ ‘Fast-paced’ ‘Bleak and chilling… highly recommended’