Killer Inside, The

I am no great aficionado of crime thrillers and yet as soon as I start one, I find myself glued to my armchair, unable to move until I have avariciously read the entire book in one sitting. Lindsay Ashfords The Killer Inside was no exception, guzzled down to the end while my hapless family went without supper. Although this is Ashfords fourth book starring forensic psychologist Megan Rhys, this was my first meeting with her redoubtable yet thoroughly human heroine who, having kicked the nicotine and replaced it with chocolate, is now trying to swap the Maltesers for dried prunes because of a flourishing waistline. Dont you just love her? There has been an alarming rise in suicide rates at Birminghams Balsall Gate jail and the Ministry of Justice has called Megan in to investigate under cover of conducting research into the prisons counselling service. While she is there, interviewing Listener Co-ordinator Dominic Wilde, inmate Carl Kelly is found dead with a ghastly grin on his face and a syringe stuck in his thigh. Clearly another suicide or is it? Dominic doesnt think so and nor does Megan, but the police and the prison authorities dismiss their suspicions. Time for the magnificent Megan to take over . . . And she is magnificent unravelling clues, second-guessing next moves, manipulating and manoeuvring around the authorities and still having time to sip cocktails with her friend Delva and worry about her love life. In her, Ashford has created a heroine very much in tune with the tradition of the genre but who is also thoroughly modern in her strengths and frailties. Here is the ferociously intelligent, highly successful career woman with massive insecurities about her looks, her age, her relationships and her childlessness; the disciplined rational thinker who can do something as utterly daft as fall for the wrong man. She is the pivot around which the complexities of the plot and a cast of wholly convincing characters spin. The Killer Inside is both gritty and urbane. Like any good thriller, it keeps you guessing right to the very end, constantly shifting up a gear to keep you clinging to your seat. Then, once youve succeeded in solving this mystery with Megan, you just want to sit down with her over a Margarita and a packet of Maltesers and sort out her life before you embark on another adventure together. Suzy Ceulan Hughes It is possible to use this review for promotional purposes, but the following acknowledgment should be included: A review from www.gwales.com, with the permission of the Welsh Books Council. Gellir defnyddio’r adolygiad hwn at bwrpas hybu, ond gofynnir i chi gynnwys y gydnabyddiaeth ganlynol: Adolygiad oddi ar www.gwales.com, trwy ganiatd Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru. — Welsh Books Council