SHORT ENDS

“You keep talking about bad news. How about you get on with it?”

The man looked at McNulty. “Very well. It’s about your mother.”

McNulty thought about growing up in an orphanage. “I don’t have a mother.”

The man disagreed. “Everybody has a mother. Yours is in a dementia care home in Yorkshire. She is very sick.”

Yorkshire, England

While McNulty is helping Titanic Productions during filming near Boston, he gets a mysterious visitor. And some very bad news. At first, he swears he will never return to see the woman who had abandoned him as a child, but eventually, curiosity gets the better of him. He should have paid attention to the saying; curiosity killed the cat.

After a visit to his favourite Yorkshire cinema, things go from bad to worse. Somebody ransacks his hotel room, and tries to jump him on his way back from Hyde Park Picture House. It appears that remnants of Northern X – the child sex ring McNulty helped close down years ago – have a very long memory. And that’s not even the bad news. It turns out McNulty’s mother isn’t who she seems to be. Meaning that McNulty might not be McNulty at all.

. . .

“Very real. And very good.” 

~ Lee Child

“There’s nothing soft about Campbell’s writing. If you enjoy your crime fiction hard-boiled, the Jim Grant series is a must read.”

~ Bruce Robert Coffin, author of the Detective Byron Series

“A cop with a sharp eye, keen mind, and a lion’s heart.” 

~ Reed Farrel Coleman

“Campbell writes smart, rollercoaster tales with unstoppable forward momentum and thrilling authenticity.” 

~ Nick Petrie

“Grim and gritty and packed with action.” 

~ Kirkus Review

“The pages fly like the bullets, fistfights and one-liners that make this one of my favourite books of the year. Top stuff!” 

~ Matt Hilton

“An excellent story well told. A mixture of The Choirboys meets Harry Bosch.” 

~ Michael Jecks

“Sets up immediately and maintains a breakneck pace throughout. Its smart structure and unrelenting suspense will please Lee Child fans.” 

~ Library Journal Review

“This is police procedural close-up and personal. A strong debut with enough gritty realism to make your eyes water, and a few savage laughs along the way.” 

~ Reginald Hill

"Fantastic story, fantastic characters - fantastic everything."

~ Chris Mooney, international bestselling author

of the Darby McCormick Series