Stay Buried, Kate Webb

Detective Matt Lockyer receives a call from Hedy Lambert- a woman he put inside for murder fourteen years ago. She informs him that the man she was originally accused of killing has turned up alive and well and begs him to reopen her case. Lockyer had been the one who secured Hedy’s conviction, but he never truly wanted to believe she was guilty. This new information makes him question whether he got the outcome right -is he being manipulated or was he responsible for jailing an innocent woman?

Stay Buried is a slow burning mystery which had me hooked right to the very end. There were several layers to uncover, and around half way through the momentum really steps up as we have a number of suspects lined up with potential motives. I couldn’t stop switching from one to the other and enjoyed that we kept on uncovering new things throughout.

I thought the characterisation was spot on in this book. They were all very well thought out and even some of the most annoying characters you felt sorry for, as the author told us enough about their history for us to develop an understanding of them. I have read some people thought the main protagonist was ‘boring’, but you can feel the weight he is carrying. The grief, the guilt, the responsibility; you could truly emphasise with his pain.

Themes in the book include inequalities, injustice, loyalty, grief, and one which particularly resonated with me and was delivered well was the subject of sibling loss. This related to many of the characters in the book and Kate Webb did it sensitively and realistically!

Overall, a fantastic book for thriller lovers. Pleased it is the first in the series and we will be seeing more of Detective Matt Lockyer!