DI Mike Lockyer

In Never Look Back, three young women have been found brutally murdered in south London, their bodies discarded in plain view, the victims only yards away from help during each attack. And each time, the murderer gets a little bit bolder. Detective Inspector Mike Lockyer is the head of homicide on the South London police force, and with three bodies on his watch and a killer growing in confidence, he and DS Jane Bennett are frantically trying to find the link between these seemingly isolated incidents. Slowly, the case is also invading Lockyer's life outside the office, and the fact that his daughter matches the victim profile is putting a painful strain on their already fragile relationship. Meanwhile, Sarah Grainger has a shadowy stalker following her every move. Once an outgoing London photographer, Sarah has begun locking herself away, almost too afraid to leave the house. Now her stalker's actions are escalating. He's desperate to tell Sarah a secret...a secret that Lockyer needs to know. In her compelling and tautly-written debut, Clare Donoghue traces the paths of these captivating, three-dimensional characters as their lives become dangerously and inextricably entwined.

Jane Bennett, senior Detective Sergeant for the murder squad at her London police precinct, is having a terrible day. Her boss, Detective Inspector Mike Lockyer, has just returned to work after two weeks on "leave," though Jane knows it was really more like a suspension. He's still shaken by the loss of a victim in their last murder case, and Jane is still stung that Lockyer didn't trust her enough to confide in her about the case before it was too late. But, neither of them has the luxury of time to dwell on past grievances. Jane has just received a phone call from a good friend saying that her husband Mark Leech, a retired policeman, has disappeared. When Jane finds dramatic blood splatters in the laundry room, she knows Mark is seriously injured at best, and they don't have any time to waste. And then, the body of a young girl is discovered in a tomb under a London greenway, and police resources are stretched even thinner...until it starts to look like the two cases might be related.