Absolution - Caro Ramsay

A woman lies mummified in a hospital in Glasgow after acid has been thrown in her face. The woman is mute and nameless. And helpless. PC Alan McAlpine is put on protection duty outside. He calls the woman Anna, and as they learn to communicate through tiny finger movements, he cannot help but become emotionally - and obsessively - involved.

Twenty years later, and back at the same station, the now DCI McAlpine has been drafted in to head up a murder inquiry. Two women are already dead at the hands of a man the press call the Crucifixion Killer. McAlpine, at the peak of a distinguished twenty-two-year career, is confident he'll solve the murders - until consequences of Anna's unsolved case emerge. As his team race to unmask a terrifying killer, McAlpine finds that he cannot put his obsession behind him.