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I love Victoria Selman's Ziba MacKenzie series so I was happy to pick up a book by her that was a standalone novel.

I liked Truly, Darkly, Deeply but not to the same degree as her series. There's just a bit too much repetition, too much "What if he did? What if he didn't? Is it all my fault" soul searching for my like.

It starts slowly - really rather too slowly - but picks up pace in the second half, and the end - when you finally get there - is oddly satisfying.

Perhaps what I liked best was her excellent eye for detail and attention to time and place. These killings are set at the time when the Yorkshire Ripper was doing his thing. All the references to women being afraid to go out after dark were very real. All the political and social nods towards life in the early 1980s resonated with me.

The book examines how much people will look the other way in the hope that their darkest fears will simply go away.

As a footnote: if I were casting the role of Matty for a film, this would be one I'd really want to go to James McAvoy. I think he'd be perfect.