Returning to work after battling breast cancer, Belfast DCI Serena Flanagan re-opens a closed case after Ciaran Devine, the "schoolboy killer" who, at the age of twelve, confessed to killing his foster father, is released from prison.
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Stuart Neville's latest in the Belfast Novels series is called Those We Left Behind.
Naturally set in Belfast, the dark tale opens with Ciaran Devine being released from prison for a highly publicized murder he was charged with as a 12 year old. His brother Thomas, was also incarcerated for his connection to the crime but received a shorter sentence and had been already freed from custody.
Ciaran claimed he killed his foster parent to protect Thomas who was being abused by the foster father. The real facts are unknown as Ciaran is controlled by his older brother to such a degree that Ciaran is barely able to function without Thomas.
On the day of his release his probation officer, Paula Cunningham, drops him off at a halfway house unaware that the Daniel Rolston, son of the murdered father is keeping track of him.
Officer Flannagan who originally investigated the murder is drawn back in when the brothers cross paths with the Daniel. DCI Serena Flannagan, undergoing a personal health struggle which impacts her marriage has, to say the least, an unconventional relationship with Ciaran.
Neville has drawn a dark picture of Belfast during the period known as the Troubles. He leads the reader through a series of turns, never revealing too much at one time. At times unsettling, Those We Left Behind is a good read.
