Late Sunday 16th December Harry a railway line worker in Derry finds a young sixteen-year old girl laying face down on the train line track with a gapping wound to her throat. The public protection unit that detective sergeant Lucy Black worked on involving vulnerable persons, and children is called to identify the body of the young girl. Lucy knows the young sixteen year old as Karen Hughes who has been in a residential unit for self harming herself it was a way for Karen coping with life. Karen's mother Marian Hughes had been locked up in a hospital to dry out as an alcoholic. Karen's father Eoghan Harkin was locked up in prison for murder. The only way to find out Karen Hughes last movements was to inspect her mobile phone and on the social media. Forensics examine all of Karen;s clothes to see if any traces of something will help them arrest who killed Karen Hughes. It appears that four girls under the of eighteen had gone missing and never been found. With twenty-two missing across the North. Another fifteen year old girl missing and a grim discovery of a very young girl is found buried in quicklime. Hurt by Brian McGilloway keeps the action tight and gripping for the full 406 pages. Hurt is out 21st November 2013 by C&R Crime Constable & Robinson. Review From www.ireadnovels.wordpress.com It appears that four girls under the of eighteen had gone missing and never been found. With twenty-two missing across the North.

This is book 2 of the Lucy Black series, of course it's always best to read in order... but on this occasion I read them entirely out of order and they were still brilliant! I have only recently discovered Brian McGilloway's books and I am completely addicted to them. I have read this entire series plus The Last Crossing, which is a standalone novel. Also the 6th of the other series, I will obviously read 1 to 5 too but the fact of the matter is that I love his writing! Great characters, plot and pace - I'd happily recommend any of the 6 I've read so far to all crime thriller fans! So if you haven't yet tried his books then you are seriously missing out!

Following the phenomenal success of Little Girl Lost, the first thriller featuring DS Lucy Black, McGilloway returns to her character in his new release Hurt. Despite me being a huge fan if the Inspector Devlin series, I must confess that somehow McGilloway’s alternative series had escaped my radar, so this is my first foray into Lucy Black’s world, and a thoroughly riveting and enjoyable one at that. There is more than enough reference to the events of the first book for the new reader to be quickly immersed in the harrowing events that Black has experienced, and which have shaped her character, both in a personal and professional sense. What the reader quickly perceives is that Black is an extremely committed and focused police officer, even if she does become slightly too personally involved in her cases at times, but fulfilling the classic edict of all great detective fiction, has a rather unsettled personal life in the wake of a failed relationship. Refreshingly though, she is not aided and abetted by the failings of her personal life by being either sexually promiscuous or befuddled by drink and drugs, but instead immerses herself in an emotive investigation where damaged young girls in the care system are procured for sex, resulting in murder. McGilloway really taps into Black’s increasing bewilderment at the sheer disregard shown for these vulnerable girls, by the men (some of them in positions of trust or power) that use and abuse them, and embarks on a single-minded mission to gain justice on their behalf, drawing Black into extreme personal danger. McGilloway once again demonstrates his superlative skill at pace and plotting, increasing the feeling of danger at a steady pace to a truly nail-biting last few chapters. This, in tandem, with the superb characterisation of both Black herself, and her colleagues, in particular her immediate boss, DI Tom Fleming, who has an interesting story of his own within the plot, and Black’s difficult relationship with his replacement, makes for a powerful and gripping thriller. The reader is immersed throughout in Black’s personal narrative, but in addition McGilloway perfectly conveys the less than pleasant aspects that lurk below respectable society, that powerfully unsettle the reader but which are integral to the overall theme of the book, focusing on the abuse of vulnerable young people in society, and the role of individuals like Black in bringing the perpetrators of such crimes to justice. A striking read with a great female protagonist that kept me hooked throughout.

Published on 21 November 2013 by C& R Crime, an imprint of Constable & Robinson, Hurt is the second in the Lucy Black series from Brian McGilloway, the sequel to the number one bestseller Little Girl Lost (2011). McGilloway is also the author of the successful Inspector Benedict Devlin series. Despite not having read Little Girl Lost it really didn't take me long to become very involved in this story. The author has cleverly included snippets from Lucy Black's past which will help anyone who is discovering this series for the first time. Hurt is a very tense and often dark story, covering some disturbing issues that expose the vulnerabilities of those young people who have been badly let down - by their families and by society. Lucy Black is a complex character, fighting her own personal demons and battles, whilst caring passionately for those that she wants to help. This is a hard-hitting thriller that does not avoid the seedier side of life nor the effects of both the current financial troubles in Northern Ireland and the sectarian battle that has raged in Derry for many years. Although officially now a city of peace, memories are long and the troubles will never be forgotten. McGilloway has cleverly created realistic characters who still bear the scars of battle. His use of local phrases and dialect gives the story even more realism, but is not off-putting for non-local readers. Although the crime and the hunt for the perpetrators is at the heart of this story, it is also the story of Lucy Black and her colleagues and the internal office politics play as big as part as the country's politics. I'm eager to learn more about Lucy and her relationship with her mother; the Assistant Chief Constable, and to see how this progresses throughout the series. I enjoyed the quite darker aspects, exploring the underworld, the Derry setting and the plot line, despite some disturbing issues. This a very well-paced story, which ratchets up a gear towards the end. Crime fiction and police procedural fans will enjoy this. Lucy Black is a welcome addition to the ranks of fictional detectives.