Driving to her place of work in broad daylight, a young businesswoman answers her mobile phone, to be told by a total stranger that she is about to die. Her car is blown up, and Nicola Swift becomes the latest victim of a merciless hitman who is known only as Hendricks.
Detective Inspector Jim Cole of the SCS - Special Crime Squad - attends another crime scene, where a gangland boss, Johnny Donovan, has been gunned down outside his home. Jim is not to know that wheels set in motion by the dead villain will personally affect him.
Victor Merrick is a top lawyer, who specialises in defending lowlifes' with organised crime connections. His marriage is coming apart at the seams, and with the prospect of being taken for half his wealth, Victor panics and arranges for his wife to be murdered. But before the hitman is due to strike, Victor and his wife, Olivia, reconcile their differences.
Victor wants to cancel the hit, but it was Johnny Donovan who brokered the deal, and Donovan is dead.
Hendricks is the paid killer determined to fulfil his contract, and has no intention of letting Olivia Merrick live, even though he is contacted and told to back off.
Once that Olivia becomes aware of the danger she is in, she contacts the police.
DI Jim Cole has a lot on his plate. The squad are investigating the slaying of a family in Hounslow and a couple in Southwark. The same MO has been employed to mutilate and murder them. There seems to be no connection between the victims, and it is apparent that not one but two killers are working together and have an, as yet, unknown agenda.
Jim finds that his private life and police work are becoming inextricably entwined. He is a widower, now attracted to Dr Helen Sands, a criminal psychologist consulting on what has been tagged the 'Couple Killers' case, there is also an impending gangland war about to take place between Donovan's firm and the Russian Mafia, and the hitman, Hendricks, is closing in, determined to find and kill Olivia Merrick, who Jim is very close to.
Jim has never faced greater danger. In a world where only death is a certainty, a shocking and bloody conclusion is unfolding; unavoidable, and with an outcome that is totally unpredictable.
Genre: Mystery
Detective Inspector Jim Cole of the SCS - Special Crime Squad - attends another crime scene, where a gangland boss, Johnny Donovan, has been gunned down outside his home. Jim is not to know that wheels set in motion by the dead villain will personally affect him.
Victor Merrick is a top lawyer, who specialises in defending lowlifes' with organised crime connections. His marriage is coming apart at the seams, and with the prospect of being taken for half his wealth, Victor panics and arranges for his wife to be murdered. But before the hitman is due to strike, Victor and his wife, Olivia, reconcile their differences.
Victor wants to cancel the hit, but it was Johnny Donovan who brokered the deal, and Donovan is dead.
Hendricks is the paid killer determined to fulfil his contract, and has no intention of letting Olivia Merrick live, even though he is contacted and told to back off.
Once that Olivia becomes aware of the danger she is in, she contacts the police.
DI Jim Cole has a lot on his plate. The squad are investigating the slaying of a family in Hounslow and a couple in Southwark. The same MO has been employed to mutilate and murder them. There seems to be no connection between the victims, and it is apparent that not one but two killers are working together and have an, as yet, unknown agenda.
Jim finds that his private life and police work are becoming inextricably entwined. He is a widower, now attracted to Dr Helen Sands, a criminal psychologist consulting on what has been tagged the 'Couple Killers' case, there is also an impending gangland war about to take place between Donovan's firm and the Russian Mafia, and the hitman, Hendricks, is closing in, determined to find and kill Olivia Merrick, who Jim is very close to.
Jim has never faced greater danger. In a world where only death is a certainty, a shocking and bloody conclusion is unfolding; unavoidable, and with an outcome that is totally unpredictable.
Genre: Mystery
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Used availability for Michael Kerr's Deadly Purpose