My rating: 5 of 5 stars
A repost of one of my favourite thrillers from 2019 - in paperback February 6th
Tom Killgannon, ex-undercover police officer and now in witness protection, is recalled to active service by a local police task force, headed by DS Sheridan. His mission is to befriend notorious child killer Noel Cunningham and find out where he buried the bodies of his final two victims.
The catch? Tom has to obtain that information from within Blackmoor prison itself.
Undercover and with no back-up, Tom soon runs into danger.
In the prison is convicted gangster Dean Foley. He used to run Manchester’s biggest gang, until Tom’s testimony put him away for life. He recognises Tom, and so begins a cat-and-mouse game as Tom fights for survival before Foley can get his revenge.
But why can’t Tom reach DS Sheridan and what is the real reason he has been sent to Blackmoor prison?
Martyn Waites last novel, ‘The Old Religion’, found Tom Killgannon living in Cornwall, in the witness protection programme for reasons unknown to the reader, and getting caught up in pagan rites and farmers’ rights. In ‘The Sinner’, Tom’s past catches up with him as his ‘handlers’ demand that he enters Blackmoor prison in an attempt to persuade a child killer to reveal the location of his victims’ bodies. Tom is undercover, his true identity unknown to even the prison authorities and he very soon discovers that something is not right in the police unit that is directing him. Worse, he finds that the crime boss whom he ‘betrayed’ when an undercover operative is also in Broadmoor.
‘The Sinner’ has a completely different feel to ‘The Old Religion’, owing more to the likes of ‘Bronson’ or ‘Scum’ where the previous book was more ‘The Wicker Man’. Waites makes the change in direction just as believable and exciting though, as Tom struggles to survive in an increasingly hostile situation while those he has left behind in Cornwall are tormented by the people whose agenda he is being manipulated into following. The book is gritty and dark and very televisual as one might expect from the author’s background as an actor. I was drawn into the darkness and could really see this working as one of those 9PM Sunday night crime miniseries that the BBC do so well.
@MartynWaites @ZaffreBooks
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