Anya Crichton is a forensic pathologist who consults on violent crime cases. In recent times she has specialised on sexual assault cases, treating women who have been raped, gathering whatever physical evidence she can while also trying to help them deal with their emotional distress.

Over a short period of time Anya treats a few women whose injuries appear remarkably similar to one another. Upon talking to each woman her fears are confirmed by their description of what their attackers did and said. The possibility that there is a serial rapist on the loose is extremely likely. The most disturbing thing about this man is that he is already violent towards his victims, carried a knife and had used it to subdue his victims. The fear is that he could become more violent as he moved on to his next victims should he become frustrated or should a woman fight back.

Anya is faced with two main problems. Firstly, she has to convince that police that there is a pattern to the rapes that she has been treating and, secondly, that the person that the police have already arrested is very unlikely to be their man. Just released from prison after serving a 20 year sentence for the rape and murder of a 14 year old girl is Geoffrey Willard and the police are convinced that he has taken up from where he left off all those years ago. There is enough evidence pointing at him to make an arrest but Anya's not convinced, finding even more forensic evidence that casts serious doubt on his guilt. Her own investigation will take her back 20 years to Willard's original conviction and into a case filled with speculation and intrigue.

To make her job even more difficult, she is asked to review a series of findings by one of her fellow pathologists and finds herself in an ethical dilemma when she is forced to call into question his suitability for his job, a call that may well end his long career.

The urgency that comes with trying to catch a serial rapist before the next attack drives the story along at a very healthy rate. The fierce action is nicely moderated as Anya deals with her personal life and the mini-dramas that make up all of our everyday lives, adding a nice touch of realism with which to relate to.

I think the main feature of the book is the interesting presentation of the more technical aspects of Anya's job, keeping the reader informed about the scientific process taking place while keeping it interesting. Not an easy thing to do. On top of that, Anya does her work displaying a lot of empathy and compassion for the victims she treats which gives the story a great deal of depth of emotion.

As with many thrillers of this sort, the key is the fear of the unknown, that being the identity of the rapist and the way he chooses his victims, which creates the urgency that keeps everyone on edge. There is no telling just who will be the next victim.

Without Consent bravely deals with a controversial area of the law, continually making the point that in rape cases far too often it's the victim who ends up being put on trial. The difficulty Anya has in convincing the women she treats to report to the police after they have been raped highlights this and unfortunately this is what happens all too regularly in real life. And when you see the suffering some women go through at trial reliving the ordeal it's no wonder there is hesitation.

The only slight problem I had with the story was the dialogue of Anya's 4 year old son, Ben. Too often I found myself having difficulty equating the conversation he carried on to a 4 year old - as far as I'm concerned he talked and acted like a child much older.

This is an outstanding follow-up to Malicious Intent continuing the development of the characters (both interesting and annoying) who were introduced in the first book. The subject of sexual abuse is always a topical one and is dealt with compassionately while demanding that improvements to the law be made. Finally, the story itself is a compelling one that challenges the reader with some nasty little surprises before delivering the requisite heart-stopping ending.