Blood Atonement. Dan Waddell [Paperback]

Dan Waddell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2009

Katie Drake was an affluent single mother living in Queen's Park - until someone cut her throat and tore out her tongue. Worse still, the killer has abducted her fourteen-year-old daughter, Naomi. Detective Chief Inspector Grant Foster quickly sees chilling parallels with the disappearance of teenager Leonie Stamey three years earlier. With hopes fading of finding Naomi alive, he calls on genealogist Nigel Barnes to piece together the links between the families of the two girls. The trail leads Nigel back to 1890, when a young couple arrived in the UK. A husband and wife fleeing a terrible crime in their past, and harbouring a secret that's now having bloody repercussions in the present.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Waddell's sequel to 2008's The Blood Detective, which introduced Nigel Barnes, a genealogist employed by Scotland Yard, offers an overly similar plot. Once again, the police suspect a serial killer is at work, this time targeting members of a family with possible connections to the Mormon church whose ancestors may have some sins to atone for. Det. Chief Insp. Grant Foster and his team look into the murder of Katie Drake, a 37-year-old actress and single mother who lived in Queen's Park, a middle-class London neighborhood, as well as the disappearance of Drake's daughter on her 14th birthday. The police discover that a distant female relative of the Drakes also vanished just before turning 14. Barnes's skill at tracking obscure records to identify suspects and potential victims proves vital to the investigation. Unfortunately, too many coincidences and a far-fetched motive for the crimes make this a less successful effort than its predecessor. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Waddell’s second outstanding thriller (after The Blood Detective) mixes the genealogy of a family who can’t escape their ancestors’ deeds in Utah with today’s Morman fundamentalist splinter groups. Featuring brilliant detection by the police, the crime scene investigators, and the genealogist... this is a breathless roller-coaster ride."--Library Journal (starred review)

 

"...solidly plotted...boasts a protagonist whose unusual profession gives the story an added element of intrigue: using genealogy to unlock the victim’s past and explain a contemporary crime. A definite winner, and further proof that Nigel Barnes is going to be a strong series lead." --Booklist

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Books (August 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0141025662
• ISBN-13: 978-0141025667
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,013,858 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thrilling thriller, January 3, 2011

By 

E. R. Browne "Ned Browne" (London) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blood Atonement (Kindle Edition)

Excellent thriller; I can see why it has attracted such consistently good reviews. Intriguing plot, great characterization... a well-written page-turner. Make sure you read Blood Detective first, otherwise not everything will quite add up.
Ned Browne (author of Crying Without Tears)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dan Waddell's Blood Atonement, November 15, 2009

By 

Susie "Susie" (Chicago Area) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Blood Atonement (Hardcover)

Blood Atonement is a police procedural like mystery with a twist.

Tracking the bad guy is mostly done by Nigle Barnes, a genealogical research specialist.

This book is a great introduction to a new mystery series, with characters you'll want to know better.

Reginald Hill describes it best, 'sharp plotting, elegant writing, engaging characters and a crackling climax.'

When I finished reading this book, I immediately ordered the second book, Blood Atonement.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "We all bear the stain of the sin and it must be atoned.", August 18, 2009

By 

Luan Gaines "luansos" (Dana Point, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blood Atonement (Hardcover)

What first appears to be a heinous murder, gruesome enough in its own right, becomes far more baffling as Detective Chief Inspector Grant Foster and Detective Inspector Heather Jenkins apply their skills to the murder of a single mother found in her garden, her throat slashed, her fourteen-year-old daughter missing, with virtually no clues to identity of the assailant/abductor. Returning to work after a long convalescence, Foster is anxious to get back to the job but is sidelined by an anxious superior, forced to submit to bureaucratic demands regardless of the urgency of the case. And it is that urgency that propels Blood Atonement, the peril of the missing girl and the sense of menace that surrounds the investigation, especially when a direct connection is made to events generations earlier and a continent away, in the United States.

Modern day police work in London makes use of technological advances in DNA and- in this unusual case- the efforts of genealogist Nigel Barnes (who has a personal history with Heather Jenkins). Waddell ties the disciplines together to create a plot far more sophisticated than might first appear. As connections are made to other mysterious deaths with blood ties, albeit distant, Foster suspects a series of crimes stemming from a violent family incident. The problem is in locating the other players, intervening to save the life of a young boy in foster care who may be next on the death list. A visit across the ocean to the fabled archives of The Church of the Latter Day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah holds the final piece of the puzzle. It is in Salt Lake City that Heather and Nigel discover the seeds of discontent that have reached across the years.

Waddell skillfully blends a contemporary investigation with religious beliefs and an outraged family determined to find justice. The reach of the past is seductive and powerful, revenge fueled by one religion's directive that harkens back to the bloody origins of the faith. For all the technological progress, Foster finds the same implacable hatred of one man for another unchanged, blood atonement and religious beliefs secure in the bosom of family. Call it religion or call it cult, the results are equally disturbing, the fate of a fourteen-year-old girl and a troubled boy at stake should Foster dare to stumble. Luan Gaines/2009.