A young man is found in the pond of the local park. There is nothing to suggest that this was anything other than an accident. Until Barry, who had an altercation with the young man, comes to confess to something he didn’t do. This opens an entire can of worms involving a bunch of people out for revenge, while simultaneously getting the wrong end of the stick, and making the situation infinitely worse. Luckily, Miller is on the case. Tenacious, like a dog with a bone, and not afraid to put himself in danger, he sets out to find a kidnapped young man and at the same time make sure that poor, innocent Barry doesn’t end up six feet under. This means navigating the murky world of drugs that is Blackpool. Miller knows the players in this town, but also knows they can’t be trusted. Is a competitor making a move against another rival? DS Declan Miller is unlike any detective I’ve ever known. There is something unique and rather refreshing about this character. He enjoys winding people up, has an incredibly juvenile sense of humour, and a total inability to read the room. I’m not entirely sure what it says about me that I find him absolutely hilarious and he often has me laughing/chuckling/snorting, sometimes even when it feels somewhat inappropriate. But there is another side to Miller that often leaves me with a lump in my throat. There is the way he is so out of his depth when dealing with his drug addicted stepdaughter that breaks his heart, and mine, every single time. And then there are the one-sided conversations he has with his beloved, yet unfortunately, very dead wife. These are often so insightful, or witty, that you forget Miller is actually just talking to himself. It’s poignant, and sad, and yet he also seems to draw strength from those moments somehow. Billingham achieves the perfect balance between Miller’s personal life and his job. It makes it realistic and believable to realise Miller can’t be in two places at the same time, which sometimes poses a real conundrum when his stepdaughter decides that right now is the time she’d quite like to talk to him, whereas Miller is required to be somewhere else entirely. These are moments that are so easy to imagine and I’m sure we’ve all been there. At the same time, there is also somewhat of a change in the relationship with Miller’s long-suffering colleague Xiu – pronounced jus – and seeing a slightly softer side to Xiu was a beautiful thing to behold. Might not last, though. Miller can actually be incredibly annoying. As for the murder-that-isn’t-a-murder but the kidnapping-that-is-mostly-definitely-a-kidnapping, the person responsible for the latter is rather easy to figure out. Not the brightest crayon in the box, but to be fair, not even the people running this massive drugs empire seemed all that smart to me. Mistakes are made, loyalty doesn’t pay, and neither does crime. I thoroughly enjoyed this third instalment in the DS Miller series. I flew through the pages as it provided the perfect dose of crime, humour, and escapism. This series has quickly become one of my favourites and I can’t wait to see what strange case Miller will find himself involved in next.