Susie Steiner (1971–2022)

In Susie Steiner’s third and final police procedural, Remain Silent, Detective Inspector Manon Bradshaw of Cambridgeshire Constabulary is back on the job after giving birth to Teddy, working cold cases instead of fresh murders. This promptly changes though when she makes a gruesome discovery. Early one morning in Hinchingbrooke Park, while out with her son, now a toddler, she stumbles across a body hanging from a tree, an apparent suicide. The dead man is a young migrant worker from show more Lithuania named Lukas Balsys. It turns out that little about the young man’s death is straightforward: for one thing, there’s a note attached to the body that, once translated from the Lithuanian, reads The dead cannot speak. Is this a suicide, or not? A staffing crunch means Manon is seconded to the investigation, teaming up with her old partner: earnest, by-the-book DI Davy Walker. As usual with Manon Bradshaw, she plunges headlong into the case, ends up juggling several balls at once, none entirely successfully, and her abrasive people skills get up the nose of her superiors. Her home life is messy, Teddy is a handful, and in the midst of everything her partner Mark suffers a health crisis and ends up in hospital. Thank the lord for her adopted teenage son Fly, who, with his calm willingness to pitch in, sometimes seems like the only adult in the room. The Balsys case links to an investigation into migrant exploitation focused in Wisbech, a small market town where anti-immigrant sentiments are running high and threats of violence against newcomers are common. The police pick up clues here and there, seemingly making headway, but the case is multi-faceted, little is obvious, and the perpetrators are smart and ruthless. Steiner’s novel features multiple narrators and plot threads aplenty. Manon remains the same shrewd and observant but unfiltered, bull-in-a-china-shop investigator that made such a strong impression on readers in the first two novels in the series. Human and achingly flawed, she’s still speaking her mind, still besieged by myriad responsibilities, still attracted to comfort food and clashing with the dreaded work-life balance. The backstory—the how and why of Lukas Balsys’s journey to England—is fleshed out over several chapters that probably could have been shorter. But Remain Silent is still a worthy addition to the series: a suspenseful, timely, thoroughly entertaining novel that uses Europe’s immigration crisis as a backdrop to a poignant story of human desperation and sacrifice. show less

A missing person, crime fiction novel. There may be a lot of these available, but few I have read have been as uniquely written as this one. I say that, because this book heavily focusses on the lives of the police officers investigating the murder, rather than the loved ones of the missing and I really enjoyed that.

Although we are taken on the mystery tour that is the investigation, to try and discover what has happened to Edith Hind, who has disappeared without a trace, our main show more protagonist is DS Manon Bradshaw, one of the team tasked with finding Edith. And DS Bradshaw is a complex character, with a slightly destructive streak when it comes to her personal life. As much as we weave our way through the investigation, we also do the same through the mind set of Manon and her complicated history with her family, the effect the loss of her mother at a young age has had on her outlook on life and her surprise at finding herself falling in love with an unlikely candidate. As I said, I enjoyed the fact that the novel looks at this as a main theme and not just a supporting storyline.

The author also gives a lot more time to the other characters within the investigation team than I have seen done in other crime novels, for example, the ever positive and optimistic Davy - Manon's outlook polar opposite and also best friend Bryony.

This book never got too heavy and intense either, like so many crime books can, where you are reading graphic and horrifying scenes. There is a lot of humour injected, particularly the conversations between Manon and Bryony when dissecting Manon's latest internet dating disaster, but I didn't find this took away from the excitement of the plot in any way, shape or form.

Written in third person, the chapters are broken down into individual character viewpoints and I felt this really helped keep the pace moving and narration varied. The investigation was written from a very realistic viewpoint - making clear what a mammoth task something like a high profile misper is like for the police, and also demonstrating how easy mistakes can be made, because, after all, police are only human beings trying to do the best they can - instead of sensationalising it.

If you want a crime fiction novel with a difference then you will certainly enjoy this book and I am looking forward to reading more from the DS Manon Bradshaw series. show less

Here's another crime novel being promoted as the next The Girl on a Train, which it really, really isn't. I mean, they didn't even bother to call it The Missing Girl, Presumed or Missing, A Girl, Presumably on a Train. Instead, it's the debut in a new series of police procedurals following a DS named Manon Bradshaw who is not very good at social interaction, mainly because she's cranky and has terrible taste in men; she'll try anyone. But she is good at her job, as are the other two officers show more working with her to solve a high-profile missing persons case as the press dogs their every step. Edith is the woman who is Missing, Presumed. She's got a complex personal life and prominent parents, making her disappearance a dream for the press.

Susie Steiner's writing is much better than is usually the case in the debut of a new series (this is her second book) and she writes each of her characters as fully-rounded people, treated with empathy whether they are a distraught mother, an officer trying to do her job or a criminal. With her compassionate treatment of even those on the margins of society, the main character's messy personal life and the excellent pacing, I was reminded of the police procedurals of both Sophie Hannah and Denise Mina. I eagerly await the next installment. show less

Although Susie Steiner employs the overused device of giving key characters their own individual chapters, she does so with a style and finesse that lends distinction to "Persons Unknown." This police procedural deals with the further adventures of forty-two year old Detective Inspector Manon Bradshaw, now in her middle trimester of pregnancy, who is "in hot pursuit of the work-life balance." Previously, she adopted Fly Dent, a twelve-year old African-American boy (Manon takes "pride in his show more reading, in his gentleness, his soft manners, his decency"), who resents her decision to leave the pricey and dangerous streets of London for a four-bedroom home in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire. Manon and Fly live with Manon's sister, Ellie, and Solly, Ellie's adorable two-year-old son.

The plot involves the stabbing death of thirty-seven year old Jon-Oliver Ross, a financial wheeler-dealer and ladies man, the subsequent arrest of a convenient but unlikely suspect, and the exploitation of vulnerable girls to entice rich businessmen. The characters are intriguing, and we get to know some of them intimately. Manon is hilariously self-deprecating about her ungainliness ("she has a rolling gait these days, as well as a double chin, as if someone has attached a bicycle pump to her backside and inflated her"), is perennially exhausted, cries at the drop of a hat, and has an enormous appetite. She adores Fly, but fears that he will go astray if she does not keep a close eye on him. Because of her transfer from the Met, she has been demoted to a boring desk job. However, she has good reason to stick her nose into the aforementioned homicide investigation, led by former colleagues DCI Harriet Harper, and DS Davy Walker.

There is an abundance of humor in Manon's clumsiness, bluntness, and inability to take no for an answer. In addition, Steiner effectively and warmly conveys how far a devoted parent will go to protect a child she loves. Adding to the novel's appeal are its brisk pace, aided by the author's skillful use of short sentences and fragments; superior descriptive writing; animated and clever dialogue; and a meticulous examination of how carefully analyzed forensic evidence can be a game-changer. The conclusion springs an unpleasant surprise on us, leaving enough loose ends to whet our appetite for the next installment in this engrossing and addictive series. show less