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Dark Souls (Kildevil Cove 4)
By J.S. Cook.
DSP Publications, 2022
Five stars

These books are dark, and yet Dieniol Quirke, despite his own issues, manages to bring a kind of gentle lightness to the proceedings. He cares deeply about other people—victims and colleagues alike.

Things are a complete mess in Kildevil cove: Danny’s career is in danger because of his former boss’s involvement in a massive human trafficking scheme. Tadhg Heaney has hightailed it off to Ireland, looking for the man who stole his money and ran. This disregard for his relationship with Danny—not to mention the feelings of his own daughter, left with her mother in Ireland—irritates me deeply. That irritation will infuse Danny’s days, abandoned and alone at the very moment when his sister decides to unload family secrets on him. In spite of that, I like Danny’s sister and think her motives are good.

Plus, it’s Newfoundland in full winter, so there’s bitter, insane cold and snow, which doesn’t make anything feel comfortable and creates an eerie backdrop for the people who turn up dead. If you thought Kildevil Cove was weird before, this book will push you even farther.

A young woman found almost frozen to death in a boat; a shadowy stranger obsessed with clocks. Danny’s team struggles to cope with an expanding case as he himself is called to Dublin to face accusations of his complicity in the very crimes he helped to solve. It’s a lot, but J.S. Cook delivers her story with skill and emotional solidity.

And it’s not quite the end. A wee detail at the end opens another door, showing Daniel that he’s not out of the woods yet.