Review: Promising start
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 5, 2013
The first in the Scott Cullen series, Ghost in the Machine is a murder mystery with a killer that uses the Internet to lure unsuspecting victims. Set in Scotland, Ghost in the Machine centres around Scott Cullen who is detective constable (DC) assigned to a missing persons case involving Caroline Adamson. Caroline went out on a date one night and never returned. Being a doting mum, Caroline's friends don't believe she has run away. Cullen digs deeper and soon a murder investigation is underway with Caroline's ex-husband, Rob Thomson, put forward as the prime suspect. While Cullen's superior, Brian Bain, is convinced of Rob's guilt, Cullen is more keen to explore other possibilities given the evidence that begins to surface.Cullen has a chaotic group of colleagues to deal with, not just the fearsome Bain who spends most of his time criticising his peers and demanding results. Cullen has some chemistry with the flirtatious Sharon McNeil, a Detective Sergeant, while Keith Miller, a fellow DC, is incompetent to say the least, puzzling everyone with his questionable work output. Cullen is only a few weeks into his new role and competition for promotion is fierce. He has problems in his personal life too, not to mention annoying his ex-girlfriend Katie Lawson by sleeping with her friend, Alison Carnegie. This backfires for Cullen as Alison sees this as the start of a new relationship whereas Cullen believes it to just be a one night stand. Alison is persistent though!Poor Cullen has all of these people to deal with while the murder of Caroline continues to mystify the police. When other victims begin to appear the need to locate and catch the killer becomes even greater. Bain is throwing the book at Rob Thomson but Cullen defies authority to explore other possibilities. Is Rob guilty of murder? Is there another killer on the loose? Can Cullen work out the mystery or will he be demoted by Bain?I enjoyed Ghost in the Machine and felt it was a confident opening to this new series. Having Cullen as just another DC in the police force was more refreshing than him just being the detective leading the case. Cullen has many difficult brushes with authority in pursuit of the truth but he is a great character to lead us through what is a complex and hard to unravel murder mystery. I'll be interested in the next book in the series if it's anywhere near as good as this one.