RATING: SUPERB!!!
SPOILERS!!!
The ending of the book is really surprising. The fire department find a fourth body in the living room, and the logical supposition is that it is Michael, and the DNA comparison with Philip’s proves that they are related.
Then Michael’s mobile phone is found by the police when a taxi driver hands it in. There is a number of a top-up phone that Michael called frequently, even the night of the fire. The taxi driver tells the police that he left Michael at Victoria station, and the CCTV cameras show Michael taking a train to Brighton.
With the help of the police in Brighton, Quinn discovers that Michael went to see someone called Muriel, who is in a nursing home. Adam and Quinn go to see the old woman, and the woman who has dementia starts saying that the Esmond boy got her granddaughter in trouble. So they understand that Michael got his girlfriend pregnant, and then he turned his back to her.
The police start suspecting Harry, the young man who worked for the Esmonds as a gardener, and who they suspect is Harry’s illegitimate child. Harry got too involved with Samantha and the children. However, Adam realises that the signet ring found on the finger of the body found in the house, which Philip identified as Michael’s is Harry’s because he has it in the pictures the police find on his Facebook account.
Adam and his unit realise that Michael is alive, and Philip is hiding him in his boat. In the flashbacks we discovered what happened that night. Michael called Harry when he discovered that Harry wasn’t who he purported to be. On the train he called Harry, telling him to meet him in the house at midnight. Michael was drunk when he got to the house, and he and Harry had a terrible row. Harry accused him of not being there for the boys and Samantha, and Michael misunderstood him, jumping to the conclusion that Harry and Sam were having an affair. Michael punched him and pushed him against the wall, and then he hit him with a bottle of whisky.
When the police confront Philip, he finally spill the beans, and he explains that Michael killed Harry, and then he panicked and decided to burn the house down to hide what he had done. The police have more interesting information. Harry wasn’t Michael’s son, but Philip’s. After Michael broke up with Ginny, Harry’s mother, Philip had a fling with him, and he left him pregnant. The family was in Italy, and Harry was actually Enrico Marrone, and he came to England to unearth his father. Then he discovered the will and how he would be entitled to the house. So he confronted Philip, telling him that as the son of the eldest son, he had a right to the house, so he demanded he told Michael that he had to leave the house. Philip checked with a lawyer later, who told him that Harry was right, but Philip tried to buy time, and he never told Michael. Philip tells the police that the death of Sam and the boys was a mistake. They were supposed to be spending the night in Liverpool to see a show of pirates for Matty’s birthday, but Zachary got sick on the train, so they returned to Oxford. Sam sent him a text to her husband to tell him about the change of plans, but since Michael lost his mobile in the taxi, he never got the text and didn’t even know that his family was in the house.
The police search Philip’s boat, but Michael is not there. He tells them that Michael went for a walk, and they discover his dinghy gone. The coastguards in Southampton finally find the dinghy empty, and it seems that Michael has drowned.
In the flashbacks we discover a shocking fact. The children woke up. First, Zachary saw his father argue with Harry and then spill the petrol. The boy thought that his father was preparing a surprise, but he got scared when he saw the flames. Matty came out and took care of his little brother. He thought he would find a phone and then wake up his mother, but the flames were too strong. He told Zachary to return to the bedroom, and when Matty looked out of the window, he saw his father. Michael actually saw little Matty at the window, but then an explosion broke the windows downstairs, and we understand that Michael ran from the house, leaving his family to a certain death, and he didn’t even call for the fire brigade. What a cowardly man!!! I am not surprised he killed himself in the end.
The team congratulate Adam and Gislingham for the resolution of the case. They do not have the perpetrator, but Philip was arrested and charged for perverting the course of justice.
The ending is quite lovely. Erica Somer and the DI in Hampshire, Giles Saumarez, have arranged to meet for a drink, so it seems that there could be some possible romance ther. And Alex returns home. She says that after thinking much about their marriage for two months, she has realised that Adam, who would give her anything, couldn’t consent to the adoption, it means that he couldn’t do it. So she came to terms with the idea that adoption wasn’t possible. But then he surprises Adam with the photo of a scan because she is pregnant. I am so glad.
I really loved this book. I think this is the best in the series so far. It kept me guessing until the end, and that is something I love when reading a book of this kind.
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