Night Hunter, The

The Night Hunter Caro Ramsay

Elvira’s (Elvie’s) sister Sophie has been missing for some time, but Evie is keeping a secret. Just before she disappeared, she told Evie that she had to get away for a while, but not to tell anyone. But did she really go away of her own accord, or even with her supposed boyfriend Mark? Or is she one of the latest in a line of missing women, women who have disappeared while out jogging?

Sophie’s disappearance has had its effects on the family. Elvie has suspended her medical studies, and is now working as a nanny/spy for a woman called Mary and her young son Charlie, who live way out in the countryside, outside of Glasgow. Mary is married to a rich husband (Alex) who is also a bit of a bully and needs someone to keep an eye on Mary. Elvie’s stepfather has set up a ‘Find Sophie Campaign’, Elvie’s mum is just about holding it together, though cooking and refusing to eat, and Elvie’s brother Grant is becoming increasingly more fragile, with his behaviour becoming more and more unpredictable. Elvie is suffering from some undiagnosed syndrome with spreading acne and hair growth under her chin, that she refuses to tackle, as she focuses on what happened to Sophie.

And then, on her way home from dinner with her family, she encounters a car, a man in distress, and a near dead naked woman. But, this is not an ordinary hit and run. Somehow, the unknown woman had fallen off the cliff above, and onto the car. And what’s more, Elvie recognizes her as one of the missing women; Lorna Lennox. She is just barely alive, and dies shortly afterwards. Where had she come from? Why was she naked? Who, or what was she running from?

Through a ‘self-help’ group Elvie makes an unlikely but productive alliance with an ex-cop, now private investigator called Billy Hopkirk, who turns out to have been an investigating officer for one of the missing women, Gillian Porter. Together they start a bit of sleuthing on their own, while liasing with the police. It works because Elvie is desperate to find her sister, and Billy wants to find out what happened to Gillian. They work on the possibility that there could be a link between these and other disappearances, and the discovery of Lorna is the catalyst, the start of the journey to finding out what did happen.

A bunch of interesting characters, Elvie is stubborn, difficult, ugly and determined. Billy certainly sounds like someone one wouldn’t wish to sit next to on a bus, but he is canny and can help Elvie work out what to do next. The police contacts are supportive, as much as they can be, but in the end it’s Elvie who drives the plot forward, and finds out what happened. I thought that the book was well plotted, with some great twists along the way. It contained some excellent and realistic descriptions of a family falling apart, while trying to stay together. Sophie and Elvie were great friends as well as sisters, and the long lasting ramifications of Sophie’s disappearance on Elvie are described well. I greatly enjoyed this book, as I have done with others by this author, and highly recommend it!

(review submitted to eurocrime.co.uk)

This book is definitely one chiller of a thriller. Written in first person, from the viewpoint of the main character, it kept me interested the whole way through even though this isn't my favorite narrative style. The main character is Elvira McCulloch who is written to be quite an enigmatic person whose physical appearance is mentioned disparagingly quite often by other characters. Only at the ending of the book is there an explanation given for this. Elvie is having to deal with a family which has become completely dysfunctional because of the disappearance of her sister, Sophie. Sophie went out for a run one night about two months ago and hasn't been seen since. The police are not willing to treat her case as a missing person incident for many reasons. Elvira knows she must find evidence her sister should be included with cases of other young women who have been disappearing while out running; to do this she must find evidence that Sophie is a victim.

This book says on the cover that it is part of the series featuring the investigative team of Anderson and Costello. I expected the point of view to change during the times they were dealing with the cases. That is not the way this book is set up, the POV always remains with Elvira. This main character is a very unusual personality type, not at all the style of character created for a typical thriller novel because she seems to have so many anti-social tendencies. How can she aid in investigating the disappearance of her sister? Well, by having her team up with an ex-policeman and have them investigate the disappearance of a different disappearance victim.

After I adjusted to the first person narrative of the book it was intriguing and even disturbing. I didn't really like the way Elvie was treated by almost everyone but the explanation helped me with that. This was quite an interesting departure from the more usual formula for novels written in this genre. I do hope there will be another book with Elvira as the lead character because I want to know she's doing fine and moving forward. I think that shows how successful the author was in telling her story.

I received an ARC of this novel through NetGalley. The opinions expressed are my own.

Elvie McCulloch’s sister Sophie went out for a run one one evening and didn't return, whilst others have presumed that her disappearance is connected to similar recent incidents of girls vanishing the police have their own reasons for suspecting it is not the case. What nobody but Elvie knows is that just before she disappeared Sophie said she had to go away...but set a date when she would return and meet Elvie. However the date of her agreed meet has come and gone and she didn't show. Teaming up with retired police officer Billy Hopkirk who is working as a private investigator for one of the other missing girls mother, Elvie sets out to find out what happened

The scene setting, characterisation and tension is good and the storyline moves along at a good pace....right to the nail-biting, tension filled ending.

The first I've read in by this author and although book 4 in the Abbot and Costello series, it can be read as a standalone novel. The aforementioned characters are very much on the sidelines in this book and the strangely enigmatic character of Elvie drives this plot forward.

Sophie McCulloch, a lawyer, has been missing for 57 days having gone for a run one evening from her home in Glasgow and never returned. Her sister Elvira is worried, her brother Grant is suffering from depression and her mother is rarely sober. With he police convinced that Sophie left home with a married man, who has is also missing, Rob, her mother’s boyfriend has set up a page on social media to capture the last known photos of Sophie, taken at her birthday party shortly before she vanished. Elvira didn’t attend not being a sociable girl. Soon after Sophie disappears her sister defers her university course studying medicine and takes up a post as a nanny to a very wealthy man who she suspects has employed her to keep an eye on his wife Mary.

The Night Hunter is written from Elvira’s point of view, in first person present tense narrative, and follows the trail of not only Sophie but other missing young women whose cases appear to be linked. They were all young women who had gone out for a run, never to return. Elvira is an unusual character and several references are made to her appearance, her face covered in acne and excessive hair and these are in complete contrast to the beautiful missing girls. Elvira then teams up with an ex-cop, Billy Hopkirk, who is working for one of the girl’s mothers as a private detective. Billy is a clever but strange man who was probably the most endearing character of this book and with his connections he manages to open doors to the inner workings of the case.

The plot is good with clues about the girl’s disappearance slowly revealed, often through the police officer Costello who is in charge of the case. Although billed as part of the Anderson and Costello series, they aren’t central to the story with the main action taking place with Elvira and Billy as they roam around Glasgow linking seemingly disparate pieces of information together and following leads. The only mild criticism I have is that the views and descriptions of the other characters viewed by Elvira’s slightly unfriendly eyes makes them feel remote and less rounded than they could do. This is particularly true of Sophie who seems quite an insubstantial character despite her sister’s obvious bond with her, highlighted by the poem The Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti which they adopted as their own imagining themselves to be Lizzie and Laura. There is also a lot of misery running through this tale with few moments of relief especially as poor Elvira and her family seem to live a life of unrelenting misfortune.

The plot is good and truly chilling especially as the author ramps up the tension and the pace towards a gripping ending to this mystery.

I’d like to thank the publishers Severn House for my copy of this book in return for my hones opinion.

Reviewed for Euro Crime by Michelle Peckham

The Night Hunter by Caro Ramsay, July 2014, 256 pages, Severn House Publishers Ltd, ISBN: 0727884220

(Read more of Michelle's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

Elvira's (Elvie's) sister Sophie has been missing for some time, but Elvie is keeping a secret. Just before Sophie disappeared, she told Elvie that she had to get away for a while, but not to tell anyone. But did she really go away of her own accord, or even with her supposed boyfriend Mark? Or is she one of the latest in a line of missing women, women who have disappeared while out jogging?

Sophie's disappearance has had its effects on the family. Elvie has suspended her medical studies, and is now working as a nanny/spy for a woman called Mary and her young son Charlie, who live way out in the countryside, outside of Glasgow. Mary is married to a rich husband (Alex) who is also a bit of a bully and needs someone to keep an eye on Mary. Elvie's stepfather has set up a 'Find Sophie Campaign', Elvie's mum is just about holding it together, though cooking and refusing to eat, and Elvie's brother Grant is becoming increasingly more fragile, with his behaviour becoming more and more unpredictable. Elvie is suffering from some undiagnosed syndrome with spreading acne and hair growth under her chin, that she refuses to tackle, as she focuses on what happened to Sophie.

And then, on her way home from dinner with her family, she encounters a car, a man in distress, and a near dead naked woman. But, this is not an ordinary hit and run. Somehow, the unknown woman had fallen off the cliff above, and onto the car. And what's more, Elvie recognizes her as one of the missing women; Lorna Lennox. She is just barely alive, and dies shortly afterwards. Where had she come from? Why was she naked? Who, or what was she running from?

Through a 'self-help' group Elvie makes an unlikely but productive alliance with an ex-cop, now private investigator called Billy Hopkirk, who turns out to have been an investigating officer for one of the missing women, Gillian Porter. Together they start a bit of sleuthing on their own, while liaising with the police. It works because Elvie is desperate to find her sister, and Billy wants to find out what happened to Gillian. They work on the possibility that there could be a link between these and other disappearances, and the discovery of Lorna is the catalyst, the start of the journey to finding out what did happen.

This book contains a bunch of interesting characters; Elvie is stubborn, difficult, ugly and determined and Billy certainly sounds like someone one wouldn't wish to sit next to on a bus, but he is canny and can help Elvie work out what to do next. The police contacts are supportive, as much as they can be, but in the end it's Elvie who drives the plot forward, and finds out what happened. I thought that the book was well plotted, with some great twists along the way. It contained some excellent and realistic descriptions of a family falling apart, while trying to stay together. Sophie and Elvie were great friends as well as sisters, and the long-lasting ramifications of Sophie's disappearance on Elvie are described well. I greatly enjoyed this book, as I have done with others by this author, and highly recommend it!

Michelle Peckham, September 2014

WOW, I really had no idea what I getting into when I agreed to read and review this book. I really thought it was paranormal (I did not have access to the complete title you see here) and when I realized that it was a murder mystery/serial killer type novel I thought I would hate it but it wove such a strange story you really could not get away from it.

Elvie is possibly the most persistent character I have read about in many years, she just never gave up and just when I thought I had things figured out I was wrong, so I thought OK, I get it now. I know what happened .....WRONG!!

The author really drags the reader through the mud and sends all kinds of misdirection that plays out in surprise and tragedy that gives this book a feel of it being much more than it was in reality but I can safely say it is going to be hard to forget since the things you thought you knew all through the book prove to be not quite as it seems.

I would have given it 5 Stars but it dragged a bit in the middle and felt a bit like filler, the ending was worth the wait just for what I would call true WTF moments :) 4 Stars.