The Dying Light
The Dying Light is book 4 in the Two Rivers series by Ann Cleeves. Detective Matthew Venn is called to a luxury holiday home in Devon, where a young woman named Lottie has been found dead in the swimming pool. Her best friend, Hannah, whose family happens to own the house, is missing. The two girls had arrived a few days earlier to celebrate the end of their school exams, but they quickly upset people in the area by posting videos that mocked the local community.
The case becomes high profile right away because Hannah’s father is Paul Armstrong, a rising politician with powerful enemies. As the heatwave continues and another tragedy follows, Venn and his team have to work out what happened at the house, where Hannah has gone, and which members of the Armstrong family are still hiding the truth.
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DI Matthew Venn peels back layer upon layer to discover the dark secrets one family is keeping in this searing new novel, brimming with energy and taut with claustrophobic tension.
A scorching heatwave marks the start of the summer in Devon. Detective Matthew Venn is called in to investigate a puzzling death, when the body of a young woman, Lottie, is found in the swimming pool of a luxurious holiday home. The girl’s best friend, Hannah, whose family owns the house, is missing. The girls had arrived a few days earlier to celebrate the end of their school exams, quickly stirring unrest in the small community with incendiary social media videos mocking the place as parochial.
When further tragedy strikes, Venn and his team begin questioning a community filled with secrets. The fact that Hannah’s father, Paul Armstrong, is a rising political star with powerful enemies draws intense media scrutiny to the case.
With the summer heat come holidaymakers, and it emerges that some of them may have stronger connections with the Armstrong family than first thought. Venn knows all too well that the real answers lie not in what people say, but in the silences that they keep.
Taut, atmospheric, and brimming with suspense, this searing new novel finds DI Matthew Venn caught between a powerful family’s secrets and a powder keg of local tensions.
Part of the Two Rivers series – see the full reading order on the Ann Cleeves Books in Order page.
