RATING: VERY GOOD
SPOILERS!!!
I have really enjoyed this first book in the Ryan series, and I will be reading the next instalments in the future.
Ryan, Phillips and the others keep investigating the deaths, which seem to be connected to some pagan myths. When Anna explains to Ryan about some rites, she also shows him a stone that someone has left her for protection on her doorstep. Ryan then thinks that Anna is in danger and makes her stay in his cottage in custody, which does not sit well with Anna.
One common element that has been found in Megan and Rob's organisms is some drug found in a plant called morning glory. Ryan sends Lowerson, a young constable, to check the priory where there is a greenhouse, and when he is there, he is attacked with a spade and left unconscious.
Ryan and Phillips go to talk to the inn's owner, Alison Rigby, and her son, who is a volunteer in the coast guard and was friends with Lucy. Pete reveals that his mother has changed the floor of the porch and use new tiles, and he says that Daniel Mathieson, Lucy's father, has helped them transport them with his ride-on lawnmower, which he keeps in the Rigbys' garage. Ryan gets a warrant to examine the lawnmower and the garage. In the garage they find the soap that was used to wash Lucy, and when the trailer of the lawnmower is examined, Lucy's hair and some of her DNA are found.
Daniel is arrested, and he confesses to the three crimes. But after conferring with his lawyer, he shuts up about Megan and Rob's crimes, but he details the reason why he killed his own daughter. Ryan learns that he had a unhealthy relationship with his daughter, and he abhorred the idea that she went with other men. The night she died, she returned home after his wife was fast asleep. She was drunk and kept saying horrible things to him, and he strangled her and took her to the priory. He does not seem repentant as he says that everything was done for a purpose.
After Daniel's arrest, Ryan is worried about Lowerston and they find him unconscious and the vicar and his wife gone. The doctor is called and a helicopter transports him to the mainland, where Ryan is told that Lowerston is in a critical position. While he is in mainland, he has to go to the station. Still worried about Anna, he tells her to stay in the cottage, but Anna needs to go to a small gathering in the pub to pay homage to those who have died.
Ryan realises that Anna is in danger as he does not think that Daniel has killed Megan and Rob. Anna is actually in danger. When she is in the pub, Alison Rigby makes her drink something that turns her dizzy and weak. The woman says that Megan seduced her husband, and she also says something about Megan being like her mother. Then Bill, the pub landord, tells her that he will take her home, but instead drive her to the castle where the high priest ties her to a table and she is surrounded by a circle of people dressed in robes.
At the same time Ryan is trying to reach the island. The tide is out and he can't get anybody to cross him on a boat as there is a powerful storm, so he hires a boat and tries to sail to the island himself. He contacts Alex, the coast guard, who thinks he is crazy to sail on a night like that. Thankfully, Ryan manages to reach the land and Alex is waiting on his jeep and they rush to the castle.
The high priest turns out to be Alex's dad, Steve Walker, the doctor, and as he is ready to kill Anna, he keeps confessing. Megan blackmailed him and he says she was willing to make the sacrifice, and he says that Rob had become a liability and he deserved to die because of his relationship with his son. And he says that Anna's mother was his first offering.
Thankfully, Ryan and Alex arrive in the nick of time and save Anna, and they arrest Alex, and the others including Bill and Alison.
In the cottage Ryan keeps asking Anna if she is all right. They talk about what Steve said about her mother, so he tells her that they are going to investigate whether her parents' deaths were connected to the circle. Lowerston is still in a comma and Ryan hopes that he can make a full recovery.
The last surprise of the book is in the prologue. Gregson, Ryan's boss, is part of the circle, and he is with Mark to tell him that he is now the high priest. From the first I was suspicious of Mark because of his connections with history and the island, but I thougth he was the killer. Gregson mentions that he appointed Ryan as SIO on purpose, thinking that he would botch it as he has been under extreme stress due to the death of his sister at the hands of a serial killer. Yet, he proved to be efficient. Mark will be the high priest and we discover that he is the one who attacked Lowerson, and the vicar and his wife are in his basement, and they will their first offering as high priest.
An intense read which I loved. I found the relationship between Anna and Ryan a bit too fast, but I like them together. I will read the next book soon.
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