Down Cemetery Road - Mick Herron

One quiet evening in Oxford a house near to Sarah Tucker's suddenly explodes. The cause is later given out to be a gas leak, but when a child disappears in the aftermath, Sarah - a young married woman, bored and unhappy with her life - becomes obsessed with trying to find her. Very soon she's left wondering whether she has really ever known anybody or anything at all as her attempts at investigation reveal that people long thought dead are still among the living, while the living are joining the dead. Her own life however, becomes distinctly less boring. What begins in this peaceful suburb comes to a compelling climax on a remote and unwelcoming Scottish island, as the hunt for the missing child takes Sarah out of her marriage and into a journey with a companion who himself is being hunted by murderous and apparently official forces. This acclaimed first novel sets a cracking pace with a satisfying denouement.