Sergeant Jill Jackson and her partner Scott Hutchinson are called to the scene of a brutal bashing murder in the sand hills above Maroubra Beach. The victim is known to the police as a paedophile and it turns out his is the 3rd death in what looks like a series where the targets are paedophiles.

For the police the emotions are mixed. Privately they're satisfied that a predator has suffered his just desserts but officially they understand that it's their job to find and stop murderers. Ultimately, citizens can't take matters into their own hands but in this case the police aren't pushing terribly hard to find the killer before he strikes again.

The dead man in question was a member of a club, a group of men who have amongst their numbers high-powered businessmen, judges and the like. All of them share a common predilection for children and their needs are filled by their host, a man who goes by the name Mr Sebastian. The predatory group gather to trade ideas, photos and paraphernalia and, sometimes, children.

The idea of this kind of gathering taking place is both mind-numbing and confronting. It also serves to eradicate any sympathy for the murder victim as well as, perhaps most disturbingly, prompting you to anticipate or even hope for another brutal death.

Effectively, the latest death has put Mr Sebastian's get togethers and his associates under the police spotlight. Their homing in on his Hunters Hill lair looks set to coincide with another one of his exclusive 'parties'. If it does it promises to be one helluva showdown. Meanwhile, 12 year old Jerome Sanders has been snatched off the street.

To complement the absorbing plot we meet a protagonist with a host of issues and unique characteristics. Jill Jackson is a woman who has been deeply affected by a particularly disturbing event from her past. As a child she was the victim of a kidnapping in which she was held in a dark basement and suffered frequent abuse. Even many years later she still suffers panic attacks and relies on a ritual of defensive techniques to help overcome the dark thoughts that threaten to overcome her. On top of this she is a fine detective blessed with a finely honed survival instinct and more than a little proficient at kick-boxing, a skill she has trained and sparred in...while blindfolded.

Giarratano writes with a style that immediately grabs and holds your attention, diving unerringly to the heart of each scene and describing it in full, no-nonsense (and sometimes horribly vivid) detail. Her characters are filled with flaws that beg to be examined more closely and she satisfies this need laying bare the good and the bad in equal measure.

There is barely time to draw breath as the action is piled on thick and fast. Thought provoking commentary on the psychological trauma experienced by the victims of child abuse as well as the sobering reminder that we share our neighbourhoods with a vast array of depraved souls who hunt our streets.

Frighteningly clear insight is given into the minds in which festers all manner of rage, depravity, unconscionable self-absorption and disregard for the people whose lives they destroy. And there's a reason why Leah Giarratano is so accomplished at this feat...

She writes from a position of vast experience having worked for years as a clinical psychologist specialising in trauma, sex offences and psychopathology. When she takes us into the minds of sexual and violent offenders you can be sure that she is drawing on all of that experience.