Life Ruins

'A powerful, thought-provoking story, which perfectly evokes the bleak Yorkshire landscape ... a vital read for any crime fan?' Kate Rhodes, author of Hell Bay

Life Ruins combines haunting landscapes with a gripping plot that will appeal to readers of Peter May and Ann Cleeves.

Three very different people, connected by a thread of violence ... and hope.

Kay, recently widowed and coming to terms with life on her own, feels she has hit rock bottom. For years she and her husband fostered difficult children – including Becca, whom trouble follows like a stray puppy. And now Becca seems to be in the worst trouble of her life.

A girl has been attacked so savagely she can’t be identified. She’s alive, but only just. Becca, tossed out of university and just let go from her dead-end job, is certain she knows who the victim is. But no one will believe her.

A body, briefly glimpsed at the bottom of an abandoned mineshaft, vanishes when the police investigate. Jared, recovering from an almost fatal injury and addicted to painkillers, knows he saw something terrible in that mine… but he has no evidence, and fears he’s losing his grip on reality.

And then Jared and Becca meet. Becca, strong-minded and fiercely independent, is confident they can figure out what’s going on. She pulls Kay into the mix, knowing they’ll need all the help they can get … because the police don’t believe them. And more girls are vanishing ...

Can these three help each other to rebuild their lives from the ruins of the past?

'Life Ruins has all the elements I love in a novel - complex characters, an insidious underlying menace, and haunting landscapes. This dark story will suck you in from the first page' Stephen Booth, author of Fall Down Dead

'Explores real issues, from the perspective of real, damaged people, and told with a real warmth and understanding. Danuta Kot raises the bar for all crime writers' Michael Jecks, author of Pilgrim's War