Driftnet

This is the first in a series about Forensic Scientist Dr. Rhona MacLeod, 36, based in Glasgow, Scotland.

Rhona is called to the scene after the discovery of the body of a boy, abused and strangled whose cause of death was asphyxiation during sex. The victim looks so much like he could be Rhona’s son that it leads her to an investigation of where her own son might be. Seventeen years before she had a baby with politically rising star Edward Stewart. Rhona was 19, and Edward was 21. Rhona named the boy Liam James MacLeod, but they agreed to give the baby up for adoption Edward and Rhona’s relationship lasted only six months after the adoption. Now Edward contacts Rhona to try to ensure she never mentions “the incident,” since he show more is running for office. But Rhona wants more from Edward: she wants his help in finding out who adopted Liam so she can determine if it was their boy that was murdered.

Meanwhile, the investigation leads the team led by Detective Inspector Bill Wilson to one of the rings of paedophiles operating in Glasgow. Because of the new technology, they were thriving. The paedophiles began by befriending lonely boys who look for companionship through the Internet. They then offer to meet, and if the kid doesn’t cooperate with sex, they are threatened with blackmail. It is of course worse if they do cooperate. A tip gets them to focus on a man named Simon.

Gavin MacLean, who heads a cyber sleuth team for the police, is tasked with looking for Simon. He also begins to try to court Rhona, temporarily estranged from her boyfriend, jazz musician Sean McGuire.

Tension mounts as Rhona worries about her adopted son, and Edward has fears about his current son, Jonathan, who is increasingly withdrawn and spending more and more time on the Internet.

Rhona’s scientific officer, Chrissy McInsh, also gets in danger through the activities of her brothers.

Evaluation: This is a good beginning to a series with complicated characters. Rhona reminds me a bit of Dr. Frieda Klein in the detective/psychological thriller series by Nicci French. Like Frieda, Rhona is secretive, suspicious, closed off even to those who love her, and prickly. But there is no denying her skills, nor her tendency to attract danger. show less

Rhona MacLeod is a forensic scientist in Glasgow. The novel opens with a gruesome case: A male teenager is found brutally murdered, and he seems to have been a prostitute. While Rhona is working on the case, it becomes intertwined with her private life that has its dark sides, too.
This truly is a Tartan noir novel full of dark secrets lying behind glitzy façades. It is also very short, so no chapter and no dialogue is longer than it should be, and everything is concise. I must admit that sometimes I felt like a bit more elaboration would have done the characters a favor, and I would have liked to see a bit more of the forensic work and actually solving the case, but apart from that I really enjoyed this novel. I could hardly stop show more reading and turned page after page way past my bedtime! Truth be told, some of the details are rather gritty, but while I could do without this, it did not disturb me too much. show less

Driftnet by Lin Anderson is a good solid start to a mystery series featuring forensic scientist Dr. Rhona Macleod. Dr. Macleod assists the Glasgow police and this latest call out involves her in a murder case along with a hunt for a pedophile ring. Everyone notes that this latest victim looks a lot like her, and she, having given up a male baby seventeen years ago, fears the worst.

It took me awhile to warm up to the main character, Rhona, but as the book slowly revealed more of her personality and background, I grew more attached to her. I was however, very intrigued by some of the other supporting characters, and I hope to see them in future books.

Although I found the book to be slightly disjoined and a bit bumpy in places, it was show more overall a very readable story with an exciting, though at times rather grim plot. I am looking forward to reading more of this series and seeing how it develops. show less

Rhona McLeod is a forensic scientist whose messy life gets even messier when a boy turns up who looks a lot like he could be her son, what hardly anyone knows is that she did have a son many years ago, a son that she had adopted.

Now there's an internet paedophile ring to hunt and a son to locate and an ex-lover whose interest in politics outstrips his interest in their son and who is more worried about how it will look to others than really realising what's going on behind his own front door with his wife and children.

She spends a chunk of time being depressed and holing up in her rooms until she can find out about what's going on, rather than actually investigating things but it's still interesting because it sounds realistic! Her show more Irish boyfriend in Paris added a temptation on top of things. I did like this series and would like to try more. show less

This book is hard to put down. I started it last night and finished it this morning, taking some time off for sleep although it was difficult to tear myself away. I have to say that I twigged to the identity of the bad guy about half way through (just before I went to sleep actually) but that didn't spoil it for me. The story was very well told and I am looking forward to the others.

I don't know if anyone else noticed but the publisher of this book, Luath Press Ltd., uses a border collie as both their name and their logo. That made it very special to me.

DRIFTNET (Rhona MacLeod Book #1) by Lin Anderson is a very gritty Scotland noir. The setting is Glasgow and centers on a paedophile ring which seeks out and befriends young boys, then blackmails them for sex.
Our main character is forensic scientist, Dr. Rhona MacLeod.
I like the side stories here - Dr. MacLeod’s meeting the mysterious man she suspects may be the elusive ‘Simon’; her past affair with Edward; her co-worker and friend, Chrissy, with her family problems; police officer Bill Wilson and on-again/off-again live in, Sean.
A very readable narrative with an interesting ‘sense of place’. A gripping, brutal at times, crime drama.

The first in this series, set in Glasgow, Scotland and featuring Rhone Macleod, a forensic scientist - although there was little in the way of forensic investigation. The characters haven’t yet formed individual “voices” a problem heightened by Anderson’s slightly disconnected writing, an issue I would like to think will be corrected as the series develops.