Inspector Sheehan is back. A young oriental woman is found murdered in the garden of a wealthy man. She doesn’t appear to have been a druggie but rather someone wealthy who took good care of herself. Inspector Sheehan and the Serious Crime Unit are called in to investigate.
These detectives don’t realize it yet, but this case involves human traffickers. Chinese women are being lured to Northern Ireland by winning scholarships to Queens University. Like a frog put in water that becomes increasingly hotter, they don’t realize what they have gotten themselves into until it is too late. They live in comfort, have very nice clothes, and are taken care of. This doesn’t seem too bad at first, but it all comes at a cost, one they really don’t want to pay.
Others don’t need to win a scholarship to be enticed. Alina is full of excitement when she leaves her family on a poor farm in Romania for work promised to her in Northern Ireland. Her excitement turns into fear and dread when she finds out in a harsh way just what her new life involves.
This case reaches deep into the harsh realities of human trafficking. Parts of it were hard to read because I became emotionally involved in what was happening to Alina and those with her. Below deck on a boat in the middle of an ocean, their training for their new careers begins.
Behind all of this is The Shadow, lurking in the darkness, somehow knowing everything that happens. All those involved speak this name with fear. When one tries to leave, they end up dead. The Shadow has gone to a lot of trouble to keep their identity a secret. Will Sheehan be able to find out who The Shadow is? Will he be able to solve the murder and rescue Alina along with the other victims of this human trafficking ring?
Did I enjoy this book? It seems strange to say that I enjoyed this book when parts of it were hard for me to read, but I did. When The Shadow was caught, it was so satisfying. The many red herrings scattered throughout the story prevented me from accurately guessing the identity of this person. I was sure I had it figured out a few times, but I missed it. Murder of a Runaway, originally published as The Trafficking Murders is yet another top-notch mystery from Brian O’Hare that I highly recommend.
public domain
I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. If you would like your own copy of this book, I’ve provided an Amazon link for you below.
Amazon Link: Murder of a Runaway
Recommended Articles:
Human Trafficking – Guest Post by Brian O’Hare
Favorite Sentences:
Does everybody get crabby like this when they’re driving?
Hypothermia and oxygen deprivation would simply damage them, damage precious cargo.
The six young women, who only days before had been filled with excitement and dreams of a new life, were led in procession into the steamer’s rough canteen, huddled together, crushed, cowed, their eyes starting in panic from lowered faces at the slightest disturbance.
Are we not over-reacting to the simple fact somebody dumped a dead body in a guy’s garden?
Full of optimism, they had arrived in Northern Ireland to be met by Kerley’s gang, abused, beaten, raped, force-fed drugs to make them dependent addicts, and finally driven into sex-slavery.
geograph.org.uk
New Words Learned:
cadaverine – a toxic diamine with an unpleasant smell, produced by protein hydrolysis during putrefaction of animal tissue
chivvy – to tell someone repeatedly to do something
diffident – modest or shy because of a lack of self-confidence
frisson – a brief moment of emotional excitement
fulminating – hurling denunciations or menaces
hauteur – haughtiness of manner; disdainful pride
lassitude – a state of physical or mental weariness; lack of energy
mydriasis – (medicine) dilation of the pupil of the eye
officious – assertive in authority in an annoyingly domineering way, esp. with regard to petty or trivial matters
putrescine – a polyamine first found in decaying meat; small quantities occur in most cells
recumbent – (of a person or human figure) lying down
stygian – of or relating to the Styx River; very dark
About the Author:
Brian O’Hare, MA, Ph.D., is a retired assistant director of a large regional college of further and higher education. He is married, and he has three children, ten grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. He plays golf three times a week off a ten handicap and does a lot of voluntary work. Any writing he has previously done was academic…very much restricted to a very specific readership. Several articles in educational journals were followed by a number of book-length reports for the Dept. of Education and the University of Ulster.
That’s a great review, Lisa. Thank you vey much. I really appreciate it.