Published By: Avon
Pages: 384
Released On: 18/06/2026
If the truth could destroy you, would you choose to know it?
DC Vinny Robson has spent his career seeking justice for others, but when an elderly couple are violently murdered in his hometown of Beachbrook, the investigation takes a devastating turn – one that cuts straight through his own family.
With the help of DS Sue Wilmott, Vinny discovers his ailing mother’s forgotten diaries, and with them the secrets she fought to keep hidden her entire life.
As Vinny dives deeper, the case becomes more than a pursuit of a killer – it’s a fight against the undertow of his own past. But in chasing the truth, will he finally find justice, or will he drown in the wreckage of everything he thought he knew?
Some truths should stay submerged. But once the tide turns, there’s no stopping what comes to light.
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Avon for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I cannot explain just how much I adore G.D Wright and his books. Even when he was going through a difficult time, he was still kind enough to contact me when I was having a bad mental health episode and I can’t begin to say how much that meant to be. So I was thrilled to get to read an early copy of his new book.
This is book three in this, unofficial trilogy I suppose, starting with After the Storm and then Into the Fire.
We’ve got the same characters from the previous two which helps add a sense of familiarity, but we’ve also got new ones which makes it fresh and exciting. They are all written very well. Not all likeable, and no-one is 100% hero or villain, they’re all a bit morally grey which makes them more human. The characters are the best they’ve ever been; these three books have really given him the time to develop them.
At first, I thought it wasn’t going to be as heart-wrenching as the previous two, because they tended to focus on children and this one didn’t. And I was happy about that at first because the other two destroyed me. But no. I spoke too soon. I was wrong. It’s just as bad (and I mean that in the best, positive way possible).
I managed to get to about 55% before I cried though, which is progress!
This one looks more at the police, the humans behind the force, rather than the crimes themselves – that’s what I got out of it anyway.
We’ve got the main story, yes, but we also have this story concerning Vinny. It’s got so many layers to it, that handled by someone not as adept as Wright, might have been too much. But everything is balanced so well here, the stories, characters, memories, emotions, and just everything about it is so wonderful. His ability to write grief is second to none, and I saw myself in the bereaved and it really touched me.
His books are thrillers yes, there’s deaths, crimes, detectives, horror, and violence and whatnot. But for me, the thriller elements almost take a back seat, so important are the relationships and emotions he’s developed in these characters.
And the ending – obviously I’m not going to spoil it but I did not see it coming one bit (then again I am notoriously terrible at working out the endings of whodunnits and whatnot).
Whilst it’s not a conventional trilogy as such, the main characters do hold a story thread across the three, and I did wonder if this would be the end of it, but after finishing it, I’m really hoping that’s a big fat NO, because I’d read about these characters forever if I could.
It’s not an easy book to read, let’s be honest here, there are some very difficult topics. But it’s handled so well. I just absorbed it and read it in one day because I HAD to know what happened.
That’s three books he’s published, three books I’ve read, and three books I’ve given five stars too. At this rate, he’s on to a career chock-a-block of five-star reviews and I for one cannot wait to collect them all (I think that makes him a Pokémon).
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