Absent Victim by David Roy

No body, no motive, no name…so who did she kill?

When wealthy divorcee Stephanie Kuler asked a private detective to investigate a murder, he told her to go to the police instead.

But when she told the rest of the story, he took the case.

There was no body, no reason to kill and no name for her supposed victim, but she knew she was the murderer.

Solving the mystery meant jail for her and a headache for him. Premonition, false memories, déjà vu…the mind playing tricks or reality distorted through time?

The unmissable new thriller from David Roy explores the dark side of memory and its impact on us all.

About the author

David Roy was born in Bangor, Northern Ireland in the mid ’60s. After a number of years in the army he left a life in uniform to read for a degree, ultimately qualifying as a secondary school teacher.  

He is the author of many books, the first written in 1994 as an account of his service in the first Gulf War. His book ‘The Lost Man’, the first of his Ted Dexter adventures, featured on ITV ‘The Alan Titchmarsh Show’; where it was shortlisted in The People’s Novelist competition. 

 As well as being a soldier, David has been a dishwasher, a teacher, a civil servant, a security guard, a welfare assistant and an ambulance crew member. He is married and now lives in the north of England with his wife and two daughters.

Follow him at:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bigdaveroy/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DavidRo02674885

Review

‘Absent Victim’ takes the genre of crime fiction and turns it on it's head. It starts with a murderer confession their crime, but she doesn't know who she killed, where she killed them or even when she killed them. She just knows that it happened.

It's lockdown and Stephanie Kuler turns up at a private detective’s agency and makes the above claim. Who would believe her? She went to the police and they dismissed her claims and now this is her last resort. Will she be believed and if so where does this take her?

‘Absent Victim’ delves into the fascinating area of false memories. This just pulled me right into the story and it made me realise I had false memories of my own, well embellishments of what happened. It was intriguing but it still didn't mean that I liked Stephanie - in fact, I intensely hated her! But that means the writer has done their job, their writing has provoked a reaction.

Do we ever find out the PI’s name? I liked him as a character and can see him being a strong protagonist in a series of books. Plus we need to know what his ‘Robin’ Billy has got himself involved in! One of the best bits of this book for me where the ‘billyism’ some of them were extremely funny!

Let me know if you pick this one up.