Leave No Trace by Jo Callaghan

One detective driven by instinct, the other by logic.
It will take both to find a killer who knows the true meaning of fear . . .

When the body of a man is found crucified at the top of Mount Judd, DCS Kat Frank and AIDE Lock – the world’s first AI detective – are thrust into the spotlight with their first live case.

But when they discover another man dead – also crucified – it appears that the killer is only just getting started. When the Future Policing Unit issues an extraordinary warning to local men to avoid drinking in pubs, being out alone late at night and going home with strangers, they face a hostile media frenzy. Whilst they desperately search for connections between the victims, time is running out for them to join the dots and prevent another death.

And if Kat and Lock know anything, it’s that killers rarely stop – until they are made to.

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After loving In the Blink of an Eye, I just had to find out what would happen to Kat and her team in the aftermath of that first instalment, and so I immediately downloaded and moved onto the follow up, Leave No Trace. 

Having shown the capabilities, benefits, and perhaps also some of the limitations of AIDE Lock, Kat now heads up the Future Policing Unit in which she and her small team will continue to work with Lock and his creator, Professor Okonedo.  Having proven themselves on their previous case, Kat is eager to get them assigned to a live investigation to really show what they can do.  They get more than they bargained for when a man is found crucified, giving them an unusual case that quickly grabs the attention of the media.

The case proves to be as complex as you’d expect, and more so because the person responsible leaves behind very little forensic evidence at the scene of the crime.  What does become apparent is that the victims are made to carry part of the cross upon to which they will be bound.  It must be a terrifying experience, although my thoughts were more on how the perpetrator would achieve such a thing and what was driving them, which tells you plenty about me!  I love that the author isn’t afraid to do something original in her novels and not just in regards to AI – these cases offer up something different and original for the reader and this case in particular isn’t quite like anything else I’ve come across.

With this being a live case, and a particularly unusual one, Kat and her team come under media scrutiny – local at first, but soon drawing national attention.  With predictable results.  However suave Lock is, the media are immediately wary – questioning both his capabilities and trustworthiness.  Cue also the jokes about Robocop.  Kat has her own reservations about Lock, but she is loyal to her team and while it’s one thing for her to question him, it’s quite something else for the media to immediately take against him and cast aspersions.  I love Kat’s loyalty here – she’s someone who would stand up for any person (or AI) in her team, although it becomes clear very quickly that’s she not the ideal person to handle the media. 

I’ve come to appreciate Jo Callaghan’s subtle sense of humour in these books, and in Leave No Trace I very much enjoyed the furore when men are given advice to:

Avoid drinking in pubs
If you must go to a pub, do not leave alone
Do not leave a pub with a stranger
Always let a friend know where you are

Oh boy does this cause a stir as both the media and approximately half of the general public look upon this as “curbing the freedoms of innocent men”.  Like this isn’t standard advice for women on any day with a Y in it.  Nice one, Jo – I love the way in which this inequality in such a mundane situation is highlighted, and while it’s fiction, I hope that some who take such freedoms for granted stop and take note.

Leave No Trace is another fantastic case for Kat and her team, and if I worked out the person responsible and even had a close guess at their motive, I still thoroughly enjoyed the ride.  Callaghan has proven that she can plot with the best of them, and I adore her characters and writing style.  And yes, I have already read the third instalment, Human Remains, although in my defence, that was partly due to it appearing as a Kindle Daily Deal at the just the right moment in time for me.  At least I’m caught up with the series already! 😂

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Book 6 of 15 Books of Summer.