Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

I must admit to not having read all of the previous books in this series � and that’s on me (so many books, so little time) � but despite that it was so simple to dip back into the series and I was able to quickly get up to speed with Nikki’s and Saj’s lives in and out of work. That said, I’m planning to go and fill in those gaps soon because reading End Game reminded just how good this series is.

Why is it so good? Author talent aside (because, doh! - that’s a given, right?) this particular book was so on topic with two very timely themes: grooming gangs and the trust people have � or don’t have - in the police.

Years before, a young girl, stewing over an argument with her parents, disappears and is never found. But Marnie isn’t dead, and she’s not alone either. The case has gone cold.

Meanwhile, in present times, a family of four, in the midst of an innocent game of Monopoly, is found brutally murdered at the table with little sign of them putting up any resistance. With a fifth player clearly taking part, and not accounted for among the dead, the question arises whether player five was the perpetrator or the one that got away.

And back at the station, Nikki Parekh, now officially a DI, is determined to prove herself, despite having one of the best clear-up rates on the force. Yet her bosses seem willing to throw her under a bus when the press call the police out for being “woke�. Nikki and her team come under further pressure to perform well. As has been said frequently of late, “a fish rots from the head�, and there’s a real stink coming from the station.

In combining these threads (how did she do that?), the author has created a tense, thrilling, often horrifying story that gallops at such a pace to its inevitable conclusion (no spoilers, but it’s incredibly addictive � you won’t be able to stop reading). On the way, the story is peppered with the stuff of life, from family challenges to planning a stag-do for Saj’s wedding. These (comparatively) lighter moments only endear Nikki and Saj’s families to the reader more, not forgetting the rest of their team with their own private revelations but who very obviously have their boss’s back regardless of the flak being hurled at them.

Compelling, chilling, and unforgettable � this is a story that will stay with me for quite some time. Definitely the strongest police procedural I’ve read in a long, long time. Kudos to Liz Mistry.