Leave No Trace by Jo Callaghan

Leave No Trace by Jo Callaghan is the sequel to In the Blink of an Eye, which I enjoyed last year, and the second book in the Kat and Lock detective series. It had already been published in hardback by the time I read In the Blink of an Eye and I’d read a little taster in the back of the book. I was desperate to read it because the taster mentioned a landmark close to where my dad grew up.

Leave No Trace was published in paperback in the UK at the end of February and I was very happy to pick up a copy in Sainsbury’s on publication day.

On a cold December day, a man is found naked on a cross on the top of Mount Judd in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. Having spent the last few months working on cold cases, DCS Kat Frank and her AI partner, AIDE Lock, are given their first live case – to track down the killer of the crucified man.

It’s not long before another crucified man is found in the area. Is it safe for men in Nuneaton and Warwickshire to go out any more? Kat, Lock and the team are under pressure to find the murderer before another man dies. But with no forensic evidence, it is going to be a tough task.

I absolutely loved Leave No Trace. It is a fun page turner (although pretty gruesome in parts). It also has an interesting perspective on gender – the men of Nuneaton are outraged at being advised not to go out alone for their own safety. It doesn’t occur to them that their wives, girlfriends, daughters, mothers and sisters have had to be careful for their entire lives just because men can’t always be trusted.

Theoretically, the AI detective should seem pretty implausible, but it soon becomes quite normal. The advantage of an AI detective is they can analyse things like CCTV and social media in seconds. The disadvantage is they can’t understand human emotions! That’s where Kat and her team – DS Debbie Brown and DI Rayan Hassan come in.

From a person personal point of view, I possibly liked Leave No Trace even more thank I would usually like a book like this because my parents were born and grew up in Nuneaton. The only reason we ever go there now is for my son to compete in athletics competitions, but it still holds a special place in my heart. Unsurprisingly for an unattractive Midland town, I’ve never read a book set there before.

If you enjoy a detective story, I would definitely recommend Leave No Trace (and In the Blink of an Eye).