The Painted Bride

The woman in the red dress. He called it the painted bride. Pippa showed the picture to her father and her father called the police. They had Jack in a room all yesterday and kept asking him about it. Now they're all trying to twist it by saying it means something.""What are they trying to say?""That he must have seen her lying on the kitchen floor. That the rainbow means he saw her blood come out.

From Booklist

Convicted thief and former heroin addict Molly Gideon has a job and a flat and is trying to build a new life. She believes her sister, Carol, has been brutally murdered by her brother-in-law, Frank, despite how innocent he appears to the police. To Molly and Dr. Valerie Gartin of the Child Trauma Unit, there is a message hidden in Molly's traumatized young nephew Jack's painting: the "painted bride" as he calls it, is his mother--Carol--throat slit, bleeding on the kitchen floor. Dismissed from her job (is Frank behind that?) and in a "dodgy" borrowed Datsun, Molly sets out to gather evidence against Frank, taking Jack and his sister "on holiday" for their safety. Will police believe her interpretation of the painting? Will she protect the children and secure justice for Carol's death? Gallagher's compelling thriller doesn't miss a beat, not even for the occasional puzzling (to Americans) Briticism, and should win him fans eager to read his next outing. Whitney ScottCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Stephen Gallagher is the author of fifteen novels including Valley of Lights, Down River, Rain, and Nightmare, With Angel. Recent TV work includes an award-winning Silent Witness and a stint on Stan Lee's Lucky Man; he's also written for Doctor Who, Murder Rooms, Rosemary & Thyme, and is the creator of Jerry Bruckheimer's science thriller series Eleventh Hour. He is a Stoker and World Fantasy Award nominee, and winner of British Fantasy and International Horror Guild Awards for his short fiction.

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