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    Dark Objects: A Novel
    Dark Objects: A Novel
    Dark Objects: A Novel
    Ebook433 pages8 hours

    Dark Objects: A Novel

    By Simon Toyne

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    Forensics expert Laughton Rees hunts an unusually clever killer who appears to be staging murder scenes just for her in this twisty new psychological thriller by the bestselling author of the Sanctus trilogy.

    How do you catch a killer if the victim doesn’t exist?

    A glamorous woman is murdered in her ultra-luxurious London mansion and her husband goes missing. But according to public records, neither of them exists.

    The only leads police have are several objects arranged around the woman’s body, including a set of keys and a book called How to Process a Murder by Laughton Rees—a book that appears to have helped the killer forensically cleanse the crime scene.

    Laughton Rees is an academic who doesn’t usually work live cases after the brutal murder of her mother as a teen left her traumatized and emotionally scarred. But the presence of her book at this scene draws her unwillingly into the high-profile investigation and media circus that springs up around it. As the dark objects found beside the body lead her closer to the victim’s identity, a dangerous threat to Laughton and her daughter emerges, as well as painful memories of her past related to the man she has always blamed for her mother’s death: John Rees, Laughton’s father, the current Metropolitan Chief Commissioner and a man she has not spoken to in twenty years.

    Laughton’s family was destroyed once and she built herself a new one. Now, she has to face her darkest fears and help catch a killer before this one is destroyed too.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateJul 12, 2022
    ISBN9780062329806
    Author

    Simon Toyne

    Simon Toyne is the bestselling author of the Sanctus trilogy: Sanctus, The Key and The Tower. He wrote Sanctus after quitting his job as a TV executive to focus on writing. It was the biggest-selling debut thriller of 2011 in the UK and an international bestseller. His books have been translated into 27 languages and published in over 50 countries. Solomon Creed is the first book in a new series. Simon lives with his family in Brighton and the South of France.

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    • 4/5
      This audiobook was well-narrated - clear and read with understanding - I don't need the narrator to 'do voices'. The plot was intriguing and well-paced until the end, which was a twist I could have done without.I think this would have been better rendered in the past tense - sometimes the shifts in tense sounded off.
    • 5/5
      I've read and enjoyed previous books from Simon Toyne. But I could not stop listening to his latest book, Dark Objects. It's fantastic!A cleaner is the one who finds the body of a wealthy woman, murdered in her upscale home. Her killing includes a message to someone, as there are very specific objects displayed around the body. One of those objects is a book titled 'How to Process a Murder' by Laughton Rees. Laughton is a forensics academic, but finds herself drawn into this live case. Working with her is DCI Tannahill Khan of the North London Murder Squad.That's just the bare bones of the plot. There's so much more to this case with no predicting who, what, why. I loved the layers of storytelling, the dark and devious direction the plot went. And my personal favorite, a lovely twist that I didn't see coming. The addition of excerpts from Laughton's book, news articles and a neighborhood WhatsApp group add epistolary elements to the book. Toyne does a great job with his two lead characters. They're given detailed personal lives, especially Laughton. Her past figures greatly in the here and now. DCI Khan isn't a cookie cutter cop, he's somewhat quiet, but he's a clever and intuitive copper. There are many supporting characters that round out the viewpoints. Especially the tabloid journalist, Brian Slade, who would sell his soul for a story. Social issues such as knife crime, racism, bullying and more are woven into the book.I'm truly hoping that this is the first in a series. I think Laughton and Tannahill have many more tales to tell...I chose to listen to Dark Objects. The reader was Shazia Nicholls and her voice was just perfect for this book. She has a lovely low, gravelly, rich, full tone to her voice. He British accent is lovely. Her speaking is clear, easy to understand and is well modulated. The speaking speed is just right. Her voice has presence and suits the plot and characters. Nicholls interprets Toyne's book very well. I've said it before, but I'll say it again - I become so much more immersed in a book when I listen. And that was definitely the case with Dark Objects.
    • 5/5
      I still remember vividly the spectacular opening to Simon Toyne’s first novel Sanctus from my time at HarperCollins a decade ago. I lost track of him in the interim and was interested when reading about his latest novel, Dark Objects (HarperCollins). It’s a crime/thriller set around a brutal murder of one half of a rich but mysteriously under the radar couple who live in a mansion on the edge of Highgate Cemetery. Her body is discovered with four objects laid carefully around her – a child’s unicorn toy, a pair of medals, a key, and a book on forensic crime investigation which it appears has been used to sanitise the crime scene from revealing any other clues. The criminologist is the estranged daughter of the Commissioner of the Met Police, and the characters are interconnected in ways that might have the governance police raising conflict of interest red flags, however the plot sweeps you along like a set of irresistible rapids, with a twist or two to navigate along the way in this excellent thriller.

    Book preview

    Dark Objects - Simon Toyne

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