This is the fourth book in the DS Maeve Kerrigan series and may be the best of the bunch so far. I don't think this is not because Rob (or boyfriend/relationship drama) is such a small part of the story but the fact is he is out of the country for most of the time period covered in The Stranger You Know. I like the character of Rob, but I don't like the effect he has on Maeve's sensibilities.
Instead, The Stranger You Know is basically centered around Maeve’s relationship with her police detective partner DI Josh Derwent and his backstory. Derwent is a handsome (and vain) guy with a borderline personality disorder. In previous books he has been mostly a frequent foil and obnoxious obstacle for Maeve as he belittles and berates her while they ostensibly work together to solve crimes.
In The Stranger You Know, the London Murder Squad that Josh and Maeve work for are trying to track a serial killer who strangles his victims and then removes their eyes and places them in their hands, with no sexual contact and no forensic evidence left behind. In time, we find out that some twenty years before when Josh was almost 18 he was the prime suspect in the unsolved violent death of his 15(!)-year-old girlfriend, Angela Poole, who was found strangled with her eyes gouged out. Somewhat bizarrely it’s Angela’s own father who provided the airtight alibi for Josh which prevented him from being charged for murder as her dad had nearly run him over in the public bus he drove at the time and multiple riders could attest to the incident and cemented Josh's innocence.
Because of this unfortunate history, Josh and Maeve’s boss Superintendent Godley removes him from the task force working on solving the Gentleman Caller serial killer case as suspicion mounts that there are connections between that case and the Angela Poole cold case. Things get weirder as the psychological profile of the Gentleman Caller has multiple components that accurately describe DI Derwent. Godley’s second-in-command DCI Una Burt is clearly invested in the theory of Derwent as murderer. This is an example of the ways that interpersonal interactions between members of the team trying to solve the crime(s) become an important aspect of the story.
The author Jane Casey does a masterful job of lathering suspicion on Josh and his circle of friends from two decades before, with several red herrings and side mysteries that distract and attract Maeve (and Josh) as they try and find the killer (or killers??) responsible for Angela’s death and the most recent killings.
One excellent feature of the series is Casey’s characterization of Maeve by providing the reader almost nonstop access to her inner thoughts and in this book far less of the narrative tension is sourced from danger to Maeve and her questionable decisions than in previous entries. Instead the resolution of the cold case and an increasing trickle of discoveries and revelations about Derwent and his childhood friends are more than enough to keep the reader enthralled and entertained in The Stranger You Know.
It’s impressive how Casey has managed to use different styles and writing structures in the first four books of the series while still maintaining the general tropes and narrative structures of the murder-mystery genre. The first book The Burning was about a serial arsonist and multiple first-person accounts were included. The second book The Reckoning was about kidnappings and Maeve herself became a victim of crime in it twice). The third book The Last Girl has her relationship with Rob as a key feature and included more examples of how Josh and Maeve get results together despite their squabbles. The criminal in this book was not a serial killer.
Overall, the fourth book in the DS Maeve Kerrigan series is an excellent entry in the British police procedural with female main character genre with a compelling set of mysteries to be solved and surprising (and welcome) developments in the larger arcs involving her primary romantic relationship, her professional advancement in the police force and the obsessed criminal who is stalking her.
Title: The Stranger You Know
Author: Jane Casey.
Paperback: 400 pages.
Publisher: Minotaur Books.
Date Published: May 20, 2014.
Date Read: May 17, 2020.
GOODREADS RATING: ★★★★★ (5.0/5.0).
OVERALL GRADE: A/A- (3.83/4.0).
PLOT: A-.
IMAGERY: A-.
IMPACT: A.
WRITING: A.
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