Dead Mile

I borrowed a copy of this audio from the library recently on a whim. No idea what drew me to it, but boy am I glad I did. Two sitting listens aren't common in these parts but I was so enthralled by DEAD MILE, I ended up sneaking the earbuds in and pretending to be getting on with other things, glued to the story of a locked room mystery on an inescapable section of freeway (motorway in English parlance).

Sergeant Belinda Kidd (unsurprisingly with the nickname of 'Billy') is on return from a career sabbatical in Australia, ready to resign from the police after a series of events that have left her traumatised. Combine that with a bad menopause experience and she's fed up, lacking in confidence, and in a hire car, sleep deprived and jet-lagged to hell. As the motorway she's on is forced into gridlock by a series of planned, and carefully executed terrorist bombings, her problems turn out to be more immediate when the body of a man is found in a black sedan also stuck in the traffic. Only nobody was seen going near the sedan, nobody seems to know who he is and she's the only emergency services officer in cooee.

Killed by a metal skewer in the back of his neck, obviously the murder had to have been done at the same time as traffic ground to a halt, but how did nobody in any of the surrounding cars see anyone, and where on earth would they have gone. Which makes the traffic jam an interesting problem - if the traffic clears, she could lose any potential suspects, but she's got no equipment, no help, and no idea where to start with an investigation. It's also hot, and everybody in the vicinity is fractious and scared, given the terrorist bombings occurring around London.

This was absolutely riveting for reasons that I really can't explain fully. It's a very current day locked room scenario - motorway and terrorist threats combining. Billy Kidd is a great character, an older woman who is resourceful, determined, and a bloody good cop for all her personal doubts and insecurities. There were some other really good characters around her on that road, and some nice twisty sub-plots to work through, keeping the pace high, and the hits coming from all directions.

I suspect it might work as well in the written form, but the audio of this was absolutely absorbing. Just make sure you've got plenty of stuff to do that makes you look like you're really busy, so everyone leaves you alone to get on with it.