What starts as a child abduction slowly grows into a web of many interconnected crimes that span decades. It will have you questioning who is the perpetrator and who is the victim. Does a witness have a moral or legal responsibility to act? What constitutes abuse or neglect? Can domestic crimes be prevented? The story is like a gemstone ... so many facets that come together to create a brilliant story about the value of life. If you like thrillers with many subplots, definitely add this book to your TBR list!

I was confused for most of the book. The many, many characters—most that popped in with no introduction—the jumping around of story lines, the less than plausible premise, the over abundance of murders, and the weak twists made this less than enjoyable for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review The Suffering of Strangers. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the best.

A baby is abducted from outside a shop whilst the mother pops in to buy something quickly. But this is no ordinary abduction as a another baby was left in it's place. On the case is DI Costello and Anderson. This is the ninth book in a series of 10, a brilliant standalone novel set in gritty Glasgow.
This is my first book by Caro Ramsay and does not disappoint. There are other stories happening in the book, Malcolm the runaway and a rape victim, domestic abuse, it all comes together. If you are familiar with the Costello and Colin Anderson series, you will find their colleagues, Mulholland and Wyngate helping out with desk based duties. A good read.

An excellent thriller, I loved the way the plot unfolded, the main characters were strong and very relatable. This book had me hooked from the first page ... I cannot wait to read the next instalment. Five stars!!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Caro Ramsay for the copy of this book. I agreed to give my unbiased opinion voluntarily.

The first time I've come across the Anderson/Costello series and I wasn't disappointed. Believable and likeable characters - flaws and all - add to an equally believable story line, compelling in itself because it could so easily be true. Taking you into an underworld of inequality, social injustice and the bad twists and turns that life can take, this is an excellent read.

I had a hard time getting into this book. I found the story to be dry and wordy.
The characters were not very well developed , and I found the storyline lacking. Not a book for me, but I sure others might enjoy it
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of the book.
#netgalley
#blackthorn

I enjoyed this novel but wish I had read the previous one first. It wasn’t a stand alone book and I had to work out some of the back storywhich slightly detracted . However, I enjoyed the story and the ending was left open for the next in the series. Good read.

Clever and well written! Ramsay is a fluent storyteller. This is the first book in the series that I have read but I will start at the beginning now.
Many thanks to Black Thorn and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Unbelievably good take of families torn apart and personal history that comes back to bite you !

Completely in love with all the characters and I hope there is a future outing (I’m guessing there is)

Great storytelling in my home town of Glasgow- loved it ! It’s s must read this summer

This is the first book I've read by this author, and therefore the first book I have read in this detective series. After reading this book, I will definitely be reading the remainder of the series.
The book follows several detectives involved in multiple cases that intertwine to end up involving the same people. There is a baby abduction, and there is a 5 week old child missing. There were also multiple sexual assaults that have gone unsolved. To top it off they have some "missing" girls. Whose to know if they are connected in some way based on the circle of people they involve, or whether that is all just a coincidence.
Easy reading with a twisty story; definitely right up my alley.

I don’t know if it’s because this is so many books into the series, but I really disliked this book.

The writing seemed messy, the story just jumped around, I didn’t feel any emotion to any of the characters, and I really struggled to concentrate. I found myself reading the same passages again and again as things just didn’t make sense.

Sorry, but not a thumbs up from me...

Having not read any of the previous books from Carp Ramsay I sometime felt a little lost with the background of the characters. The plot was of different layers which I felt was very well written and intriguing. I really enjoyed the chaarater of Costello, she is witty and well rounded. I did feel it was ok to read as a stand alone however it would of been better to start at the beginning.

The New York Times review of this book a few weeks ago highlighted something I had noticed myself. Too many people have nearly the same name and it makes it hard to keep them straight. (This reminds me of my first attempt at "War and Peace" which used full names with patronymics, family names alone, given name and patronymic, and all of the different nicknames for each of the given names, which in Russia is alot. I had not studied Russian at the time and was thoroughly confused.)

While the overall story is OK, I found it to be implausible, given the strict recordkeeping standards we expect today. It occurred to me that swapped babies will be blocked from entering the school system and accessing National Health as the births were not properly registered.

As a result I've downgraded the book.

The Suffering of Strangers is a police procedural about a baby selling ring. DI Costello must quickly try to find the most recent missing baby and save other mothers from this tragedy. Her former boss Anderson gets involved, and when we realize he has a former personal relationship with one of the main suspects, it makes solving the case a little more tricky for DI Costello.

I was a bit confused at points because there were so many characters and it took me a while to keep track of them and remember who was who. I think that when I realized it was the 9th in a series, it shed some understanding. I do wish I'd read one or two more of the earlier novels before jumping into this one because it seemed like there was a good amount of backstory I was missing.

Overall, it was an enjoyable read for me. I loved the descriptions of the setting and the bit of suspense added to the mix.

Thank you to NetGalley and BlackThorn Publishing for the advance copy.

This was a very entertaining, pacy and gripping story concerning baby farming, murder and surrogacy. A baby is stolen and DI Costello is drawn into this current case which overlaps with Colin Anderson's cold case and become a tangled web, with heartbreaking conclusions.

The characters are well-drawn and the back stories of their lives are drawn into the pattern very convincingly.

I really enjoyed the book and could not put it down. It drew on my sympathies and I found some of the social workers' stories to be difficult to read. Overall a cracking read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Black Thorn, Canongate Books, for allowing me access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first book by Caro. I didn't realize this was actually a series. I don't know why, but I just cannot get enough of books about kidnappings. The only downfall is at times I was confused as I felt there were so many characters to keep track of. Never have I read a kidnapping book where someone leaves another baby! that was a great twist! The suspense was good and I have to say there were many surprises at the end. Will def read more by this author!

Enjoyed this both - initially confusing as everyone was called by surname rather than first name but an interesting subject with three dimensional characters, would like to read more!

This is the ninth (the ninth!) in a series featuring Glasgow detectives Costello and Anderson, a series which I’ve somehow managed to be completely unaware of until now, though as I’ve frequently mentioned I do love a good police procedural.

When a baby is abducted from his mother’s car, another baby inexplicably left in his place, the investigations begin to uncover secrets which go far deeper than anyone might have expected.

I liked the hard-nosed Costello (I don’t think her first name is ever mentioned, which I also liked, but did find the plot quite confusing at times (there seem to be a lot of characters - babies included)... but that could well be my fault for not paying close enough attention. And the police characters, at least, would have been more familiar to me had I read the previous books. As it was, I could never recall who was who, and feel I was definitely at a disadvantage here as a first time reader of the series.

Not all the dialogue flows naturally and there are a few sentences which could do with a good editing. As I read an advance copy, hopefully this will be cleared up by publication.

While the plot and characters are intriguing, and I liked the Glasgow setting, I didn’t enjoy this as much as I might - but it hasn’t put me off reading earlier books in the series. Apart from anything else, I’m interested to learn more about the backstory of the characters. And this one ends in a cliffhanger... so I’m probably going to have to read the next, too.

A brilliant thriller, the writer holds the reader is a grip that doesn’t ease off not even when the book has been finished. The next in the series is a must read for me.
This was the first. of the series I have read but it doesn’t spoil the enjoyment of reading this one, now I need to go back to the beginning of the stories of these characters and read more.
Certainly the best thriller of the year.

The author wrote a thriller that started with a bang and just kept going! The twists kept coming, so I couldn't put it down. I cannot wait to read more from this author!