A really enjoyable audiobook. Only read one of the previous Laughton Rees books, but it didn't matter. I raced through this book.

I haven’t read the first book in this series; this works well as a standalone. I was gripped right from the start. The author created an almost palpable sense of dread, fear and suffocation in the opening chapters and the locus of the victim is just too awful to imagination. Powerful writing and a strong set of characters. The story centres on a missing girl. She disappeared during midsummer night preparations but isn’t the first to go missing in this area. A forensic pathologist works with the missing girl’s sister; she has her own theories about what’s going on and attributes the disappearance to The Cinderman. Who is this mysterious individual? Is he a serial killer who has escaped justice for years? How?

I listened to the audio version which is very well narrated and demo,I shed it in a couple of sittings. I listened during a sleepless couple of nights; it was creepy but kept my attention with snappy chapters, point of view change and characters I was involved with. It’s a slightly different slant on a police procedural, with more emphasis on the forensic and pathology side, which I enjoyed. I’m keen to read more and heartily recommend this title if you like twisty murder mystery.