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Coming February 2014 From Headline Meet DI Marnie Rome. Several years ago she suffered a tragic loss to a violent act...since then she has struggled to come to terms with it despite her protestations that she is fine. When she walks in on another act of violence at a local womens shelter a journey begins for her and those around her that will take your breath away.....This was a heart stopping rollercoaster of a ride from start to finish. Brilliantly imagined, totally convincing and utterly compelling you will live and breathe every moment of this terrific debut novel...not only that but it will give you cause for reflection on some difficult issues.Taking Domestic Violence as its core Ms Hilary has crafted a tale of great depth and cleverly written contrasts, each character playing their part in the whole with aplomb. Some of the best characters in the book will only appear peripherally and yet each time they do they leap off the page. Marnie herself is complex yet caring - in her determination to protect these women she often stumbles - but from the start you know she will always get up again and do the right thing. Her "sidekick" if you like, Noah is equally well drawn. He comes from a very different place to Marnie and they are a perfect literary partnership. The women you will meet in this novel are brave yet scared, strong yet weak - some of what you read will be hard to take but important to hear. The very real problems faced by anyone trying to help these victims come to terms with their past is also given a great part in here through yet another amazing character. A very real issue treated sensitively and realistically buried in the heart of an almost perfect crime novel. Very clever indeed.I can't talk about the plot in depth because almost anything to be said about it would be heading into spoiler territory, this is Marnie's journey very much so - I WILL say that it is tightly knitted, complex and at times surprising - and the almost perfect prose means that this is a book to be savoured. I am in awe. Finally thanks to the author and to the publisher for sending me an advance copy of this book to review