5/5 Stars!
I’ve read dozens of books and watched as many television shows and movies where police officers and detectives have personal connections to horrific cases their departments are investigating.
Unbound Ties wins the prize for the most connections! Eat your heart out, Kevin Bacon!
When a young pregnant woman is found hanging at the top of the stairs in her home, the ritualistic scene displayed at her feet not only rule out suicide but also fills DI Angus McGuire with dread that the killer is just beginning. And he’s right. There will be more murders. Some will follow the pattern and some won’t. But with each death, Gus and his team are sure there’s a connection they’re missing. However, he’s gobsmacked when he learns the killer… and the murders could be directly connected to his mother’s childhood.
This was such a good read told from multiple points of view… and one of them belongs to the killer. An arrogant piece of work, he enjoys choosing victims and planning the murders as much as he does taking lives. He also enjoys taunting the police, knowing they won’t catch him before his endgame.
Though the methodical killer stumps Gus’ team at first, they dig in their heels, determined to close the case before he strikes again. When Gus is removed as lead investigator because he’s too close to the case, there are a few stumbles, but first Alice and later Nancy take the lead and Gus might even learn a thing or two from them.
He is a moody manimal! Of course, after everything Gus has been through in his adult years alone, moody is not a condemnation. He has a loving relationship with his parents but too many lies and secrets over the years have left Gus wondering whom he can trust, and the last lie guts him.
Several themes run through Unbound Ties, but for me, it was racism that stood out. Not because it was loud and preachy, accusatory, or timely, but more so because it wasn’t. While the thirty-five-year-old mixed-race Gus had his share of discrimination growing up, he never considered what his mother went through. But his mother also never talked about it. Born to a woman who didn’t want her, blamed her for her desolate life, and abused her mentally and physically, half Jamaican Corrine Cameron didn’t fare any better when she was thrust into the foster care system. Gus has to reconcile the strong, professional woman who raised him and his sister with the child scapegoated and traumatized simply because of her dark skin and the ignorance of others.
Infidelity, betrayal, mental health, and the coronavirus pandemic are also key themes, but also not in-your-face. Liz Mistry does an excellent job of weaving them not just through the story but through the lives of its characters and how they were affected as they worked together to catch a serial killer.
I have a knack for jumping into a series anywhere except the beginning, and in this case, it was book seven… of a seven-book series. Only me, right? But I LIKE these characters with all their quirks… and unwavering support of each other even when they don’t agree, so I’ve added six books to my already towering TBR. Make sure you add this one to yours.
Enjoy!
SYNOPSIS
When the past unravels, all that’s left is death.
Lavender’s blue, dilly dilly,
When DI Gus McGuire is called out to the murder of a pregnant woman, the crime scene tells him that this killer is not only taunting them … he’s also just getting started.
Lavender’s green,
With ritualistic precision, the killer has placed a series of clues beneath the victim’s feet. Gus soon realises that these clues link back to his mother’s past as a child in foster care in Scotland.
When I am king, dilly dilly,
Troubled by his mum’s secrets, Gus is in a dark place. Side-lined from the main investigation, Gus works another murder, not realising that the two are linked and that the killer is closer than he realises … Dangerously close.
You shall be queen.
Then the killer begins to target people near to Gus. Angry and determined Gus races to unravel the past and catch this sadist before the loss is too much for him to bear.
The seventh gripping thriller in the DI Gus McGuire series, for fans of Angela Marsons, Val McDermid and LJ Ross.
Purchase Link – mybook.to/UnboundTies
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