Medea's Curse by Anne Buist: Book #30 for 2018
After reading Two Steps Forward, which Anne Buist co-wrote with her husband Graeme Simsion, I was determined to read the first of her Natalie King books. As well as being a writer, Anne Buist is also a psychologist, so the subject matter of this book is quite appropriate.
Natalie King is a forensic psychologist; her character is fleshed out a lot in this book itself, as we are told that she spent time in a psychiatric institution herself, and that her former lover died sometime in the past. She is also shown early on to have feelings towards Liam, a married detective. She is also shown to be a bit of a loose cannon, and someone who is not afraid to bend the rules if its in a patient's interests, something that is very evident towards the end of the book.
This is not an easy book, mostly because it focuses on four different storylines throughout, three of which involve Natalie's patients, who she regularly has one-to-one meetings with. The most significant of the three stories involved a missing child called Chloe. However, Chloe's father Travis has previously lost a daughter, and his ex-wife was jailed, believed to be her killer.
The fourth plot strand involves Natalie being stalked by someone who leaves her handwritten notes, and occasionally messages left on USB sticks.
Given the subject matter, it was not surprising that this book went into some very adult, and very bleak territory, with a large number of references to child rape, but I found Anne Buist's writing very compelling, and Natalie King was a character who I wanted to stick with. The action seemed to go a bit too fast at times, but it did bring about a satisfying conclusion, and I want to read the next two books in the series that have been published so far.