Under the Radar

by David R. Ewens

An old woman is beaten to death. A young girl disappears. Taken on to investigate, private detective Frank Sterling is plunged into a desperate and unconventional flight across eastern England and a race against time. Who are his pursuers, and what secret from the distant past are they trying to suppress? From the gentle landscape of Suffolk to the banks of the Thames and back to his native Kent, Sterling has to face challenges and danger that crop up again and again as he protects his client. And with help to solve his second major case from a range of unexpected sources, he has to confront and adjust his own lazy attitudes in an unfamiliar and confusing social world.

314 pages, Paperback

First published July 24, 2013

Reviews

[Patricia Marsh]

This is a good thriller, cleverly written with plenty of suspense, nice reversals and a good pace. I especially liked Emma - she provided a good lesson to all of us who haven't thought much about the logistics of living with an impairment and who expect such people to be eternally grateful for any help they receive. A lot of humour was provided by her father's (deliberate?) mishearings of what was being said. There were some fine descriptions and historical detail about settings to accompany the plot. This was my first David Ewens - I shall certainly look out the other Frank Sterling cases.

[Peter Taylor-Gooby]

Yes, really impressed by this one. Read it if you like thrillers with a difference. It's got everything (goodies and badies, an exciting chase, a neat plot with twists and turns, a well-realised real world through which the characters move, challenges and the unexpected, a sense of dread) but it's also got a lot more - the politics of everyday life, not thrown at you but completely integrated with the plot. Yes a triumph!

[Barbara Dawson]

This book is written by a hearing impaired writer. The main character is a paraplegic and her father is deaf. The main protagonist is a prickly character who is trying to make her world more aware of the injustices that she has to suffer. It is a fast paced mystery and the characters really bounce well together in a fractious sort of way.