BOOK REVIEW: The Girl Who Walked in the Shadows by Marnie Riches

Apologies for this late review, I took part in the blog tour for this book and in my head I thought that I had included my review in that post but I hadn't, so here it is! Better late than never! 

The third edge-of-your-seat thriller in the Georgina MacKenzie series. Fans of Stieg Larsson and Jo Nesbo won’t be able to put it down!Europe is in the grip of an extreme Arctic blast and at the mercy of a killer, who leaves no trace. His weapons of choice are razor-sharp icicles. This is Jack Frost.Now a fully qualified criminologist, Georgina McKenzie is called upon by the Dutch police to profile this cunning and brutal murderer. Are they looking for a hit man or a frenzied serial-killer? Could there be a link to a cold missing persons’ case that George had worked with Chief Inspector Paul van den Bergen – two abducted toddlers he could never quite give up on?The hunt for Jack Frost sparks a dangerous, heart-rending journey through the toughest neighbourhoods in Europe, where refugees and Roma gypsies scratch a living on the edge of society. Walking into the dark, violent world of a trans-national trafficking ring, can George outrun death to shed light on two terrible mysteries?

Publisher: Maze

Pages: 378

Marnie Riches is back with another fantastic book in the Georgina MacKenzie series. The Girl Who Walked in the Shadows is much darker than the previous two and I think that it may be my favourite so far. Europe is experiencing Arctic weather conditions and someone is using it to their advantage. Bodies are being found with wounds consistent with an icicle being used as a weapon. It's perfect, the icicle melts and no evidence is left behind. 
Georgina MacKenzie is a fully qualified criminologist now, still working on her research and struggling to make ends meet. She more than welcomes the pay cheque when Dutch police ask her to profile the murderer they have nicknamed Jack Frost. George, along with van den Bergen quickly realise that Jack Frost is linked to a case they worked on together before; two missing children who have never been found. What they didn't know at the time was that they had stumbled on a child trafficking ring with connections across Europe and with people in extremely high positions of power pulling all the strings. Will they be able to find Jack Frost and discover the fate of the missing children?
As I said, this book is much darker; I found some of the ideas in it just terrifying. We are aware of child-trafficking rings and Marnie Riches sheds some light on the horrors involved. The people in control seem to be devoid of humanity as they move children about to suffer terrible abuse and pain.
The dynamic between George and Paul van den Bergen is fraught in this book. They love each other but Paul is fighting against his emotions as he feels he is too old etc. George is not having any of that and she sets out to do everything she can to change her mind. 
The Girl Who Walked in the Shadows is an excellent book. I marvelled at the way the author weaved an intricate and gripping plot, kept the pace going and gave the reader a huge selection of believable and realistic characters. 
I can't recommend this series of books enough, Marnie Riches is a huge talent.