The black highway A novel

The third in Toyne's Laughton Rees series (after The Clearing, 2023) pits Dr. Rees, a forensic specialist/consultant to the London Metropolitan Police, against a dangerous man from her past who may hold the key to a bizarre murder. A body washes up near Tower Bridge. According to the preface, this is nothing unusual in itself, since, on average, one body a week, dead from suicide, accident, or murder, is found floating in the Thames River, sometimes called The Black Highway. This particular body, though, is unusual for having no head and no hands. And this male corpse has an address written in ink on one of his arms--Rees' address. The mystery pivots into thriller territory with the re-appearance of Rees' ex, a drug pusher who nearly derailed her life years before, now out of a U.S. prison. Rees and her teen daughter are plunged into ever-escalating danger as they get caught in the crosshairs of an international drug ring and the manipulations of Rees' psychopathic ex. Chilling throughout.