DELANEY, WENN IHR SCHLAFT - DELANEY LUKE - Luebbe

Outside the house, it's cold and dark.

Inside, where it's warm, children are sleeping.

D.I. Sean Corrigan might have a tiny new office at Scotland Yard and a huge new beat—all of London—but the job is the same. His team has a knack for catching the sickest criminals on either side of the Thames, thanks in large part to Corrigan's uncanny ability to place himself inside the mind of a predator.

But he just can't get a read on this new case. Four-year-old George Bridgeman went to sleep in his bedroom in a leafy London suburb . . . and wasn't there in the morning. No tripped alarms. No broken windows. No sign of forced entry or struggle.

As his investigation zeroes in on a suspect, Corrigan's gut tells him it doesn't add up. Then another child is taken. Now someone's toying with Corrigan. And the game is about to turn deadly.

A damp, dark cellar holds two cages. And for the women behind the bars, their worst nightmares are about to come true . . .

When Louise Russell goes missing from her home, D.I. Sean Corrigan from South London's Murder Investigation Unit immediately senses foul play. For Corrigan's own dark childhood has given him the ability not only to recognize evil in those who prey upon the innocent, but also to see a crime scene from the eyes of the perpetrator.

Though Corrigan has no doubts that Louise was taken against her will, he believes she's still alive. But time is running out, especially when a body is found dumped in the woods—a woman who's a dead ringer for Louise. How long before Louise's captor gets tired of her and replaces her with another lookalike? How long before they find Louise's corpse next?

Now, in order to track a psychopath, Corrigan must place himself in the mind of a killer. For it is only there that the twisted secrets of a murderer lie.

Sean Corrigan è diverso da tutti gli altri detective. Nonostante sia riuscito a costruirsi un'esistenza serena e viva con la moglie e le figlie nella periferia residenziale di Londra, un'infanzia difficile ha lasciato nel suo cuore una duplice eredità. Da un lato una determinazione incrollabile nel fare giustizia, dall'altro un'oscurità dell'animo, un buco nero che Corrigan, giorno dopo giorno, lotta per tenere a bada ma che gli permette di immergersi nei meandri più tortuosi e bui della psiche umana, di sentire il lato oscuro delle persone. Così quando un ragazzo viene trovato nel suo appartamento, ucciso dalle molteplici ferite provocate da un'arma da taglio, Corrigan capisce subito che non si trova di fronte a un normale delitto. Sebbene il modus operandi sia inedito e dalla Scientifica non arrivi nessuna conferma, Corrigan è certo che quello che ha di fronte sia solo l'ultimo di una serie di omicidi, realizzati da un'unica mano. Da un solo serial killer. Forse il più pericoloso che abbia mai dovuto affrontare. A Corrigan, adesso, non resta che trovare le prove che quanto afferma è vero, convincere i suoi capi a lasciarlo indagare per fermare il serial killer, prima che la minaccia arrivi al centro della sua vita e da cacciatore diventi lui la preda.

Luke Delaney takes the thriller genre to new heights with his debut crime novel, Cold Killing—an unforgettable and haunting duel between a seasoned detective and a brilliant serial killer.

Detective Inspector Sean Corrigan finds the body of a brutally murdered young man in his own South London flat. Corrigan takes the case and soon finds himself embroiled in a deadly cat-and-mouse game with a ruthless and clever serial killer who changes his modus operandi each time he kills, leaving no useable forensic evidence behind...

Former London murder squad detective Luke Delaney has created a cast of memorable and complex characters in this dark and psychological page-turner.