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DI Jack Caffery, the hero of Mo Hayder’s bestselling novels Birdman
and The Treatment, is back. Seconded from London to Bristol, Caffery is
trying to leave his personal life behind, but he cannot escape the memories of
his younger brother’s murder and the suspect who went free. When police diver
Sergeant Phoebe “Flea” Marley discovers a freshly severed human hand in
Bristol’s harbour and its mate buried under a restaurant’s doorstep, Caffery is
there to lead the investigation. But rather than find answers, or a body to
match those hands, Caffery and Flea discover a terrifying underworld of drug
addiction, ritual mutilation and muti, African medicine magic.
Tormented by his personal demons, Caffery seeks out the
company of the infamous Walking Man, a recently released convict from a
high-security prison, who sleeps rough and walks the country roads as he relives
the memories of a terrifying crime. Flea Marley has her own ghosts to
confront—the cave-diving death of her parents in a cold, water-filled hole in
South Africa—and a frightening personal association with the crime she and
Caffery are investigating.
Britain’s “Queen of Fear” has once again proven herself a
master of her craft. Ritual is a gripping psychological thriller, a chilling
story seen through the eyes of complex characters and told with masterful voice
and style.
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