Silent Playgrounds

By Danuta Reah

“The wheel lurked low down in a narrow pit. She could see the bucket boards that caught the water and turned it – empty now, but damp and mossy. She leaned over the wall and peered down into the darkness that housed the wheel. The sluice that held back the water was above her, and below her was damp stone and moss. An opaque reflection gleamed back at her. She waved, and her reflection waved back. A smell of stagnant water drifted up. She shivered. It had the darkness of a place that never got the sun.”

The first half of this book is very slow going but do not despair, it gets better as the story progresses and eventually culminates in a tense climatic ending, well worth waiting for. It is a typical police detective story, not the greatest detective story ever, but can be recommended nonetheless.

The plot goes something like this. Six-year-old Lucy goes missing. A body of a young woman, who happens to be Lucy’s babysitter, Emma, is found in a park nearby. Not long after, another dead woman’s body found in exactly the same place. Lucy, now safely at home, tells stories of monsters in the park that are getting closer. It is up to DI Steve McCarthy to find these monsters and solve the case.