Child's Play

Finally we're playing a game. A game that I have chosen. I give one last push of the roundabout and stand back. 'You really should have played with me,' I tell her again although I know she can no longer hear. Late one summer evening, Detective Kim Stonearrives at Haden Hill Park to the scene of a horrific crime: a woman in her sixties tied to a swing with barbed wire and an X carved into the back of her neck. The victim, Belinda Evans, was a retired college Professor of Child Psychology. As Kim and her team search her home, they find an overnight bag packed and begin to unravel a complex relationship between Belinda and her sister Veronica. Then two more bodies are found bearing the same distinctive markings, and Kim knows she is on the hunt for a ritualistic serial killer. Linking the victims, Kim discovers they were involved in annual tournaments for gifted children and were on their way to the next event. With DS Penn immersed in the murder case of a young man, Kim and her team are already stretched and up against one of the most ruthless killers they've ever encountered. The clues lie in investigating every child who attended the tournaments, dating back decades. Faced with hundreds of potential leads and a bereaved sister who is refusing to talk, can Kim get inside the mind of a killer and stop another murder before it's too late? An addictive crime thriller from multi-million copy, number one bestseller Angela Marsons which explores the dark side of child prodigies and will have you absolutely hooked. Can be read as a standalone. What readers are saying about Child's Play: 'Wow, Wow, Wow, Wow Wow!!! How did I not see any of that coming!… I could barely put the book down… Reading it until the early hours of the morning in bed. I was so captivated.' Rachel's Random Reads, ----- 'What a belter!… Utterly hooked... Left me guessing until the very end... gripping, compelling, super tense and extremely addictive. The kind of book you pick up and don't put down again until you've finished.' Novel Deelights, ----- 'So gripping, thrilling, and enthralling… It jumps off the pages... I was utterly captivated… Hooked to each page… exhilarating… Tense, taut, and with an unyielding pace… You'll find it hard to sleep!' Emma the Little Bookworm, ----- 'You couldn't get more thrilling… Blew me away… fabulously twisted… had me tearing through the pages. I couldn't devour this book quickly enough... Fantastic!!!' By the Letter Book Reviews, ----- 'Loved loved… just brilliant… pulls you in from the first page and never lets go…

Angela Marsons is the _Wall Street Journal_ and _USA Today_ bestselling author of the D.I. Kim Stone series. Her books have sold more than six million copies, and have been translated into over thirty languages.
She lives in Worcestershire with her wife, two cheeky Golden Retrievers, and a Bernedoodle.