This and the everyday family dramas, such as husband Chief Constable Kevin Bright's leg injury, worries over their dog Wookie, and Sam's problems, combine to leave Cat feeling exhausted. This is a somewhat uneven entry in what has become the Serrailler soap opera: some of the storylines have stultified, particularly the case with Cat and her family where tiny issues are given unwarrantable page space (Kieron's pulled ligament, the lost dog, Cat writing to the Health Secretary to complain about a single patient's treatment on a local hospital ward). As always, a network of minor storylines add depth and colour to the main themes and Simon’s sister Cat is the beating heart of the drama. It is his sister, Dr Cat Deerbon and her family, who provides the familial roots and stability to a Serrailler who has up to this point been a commitment phobe when it comes to women and relationships, although a meeting with a lover from his past, Rachel, push him towards considering permanent change.

Here we have Brookie, one of four sons of a working class single dad, who falls into the clutches of Fats, the local dealer receiving packages along County Lines from Manchester; in contrast we have Olivia, daughter of a middle class paralegal secretary in a single mother family. If you’re a committed reader of this series, then you’re probably invested enough to care about Simon’s domestic circumstances, his sister’s kids’ careers and love lives, and the endless ‘will he, won’t he’ saga of his own commitment issues, but I’m not and I didn’t.Serrailler does his own fair share of pondering whether he’s ready to allow a woman to share his life. The pavements of Starly village were greasy under a day of drizzle and there was an unhealthy mildness in the air. While she has more control, there are still drawbacks and she has encountered poor care of a patient in hospital. If Liv didn't do as he says some of his friends would be enjoying her - if she understood what he meant. Her description of how innocent lives can be gradually corrupted by those wicked enough and desperate enough to do that, is perfectly credible.

As a teacher in a rural community, County Lines has been one of the principal child welfare concerns for about five years and probably has been the central concern for policing for so long that Serrailler seems a fair way behind the times and out-of-date. A mule might know the name (although it probably wouldn't be the correct one) of the person who was running him but he certainly wouldn't know anything about those higher up in the organisation. I feel like the characters are believable and I could imagine the desperation of these kids’ parents. Small-time dealers are picked up outside the local secondary school, they're given a fine or suspended and away they go.And maybe that was deliberate, encouraging us all to remain vigilant even if we do not fit the stereotype of victims of County Lines; or maybe it showed a lack of understanding on Hill’s behalf.

After separating from your partner, you may receive some benefits or tax credits that you were not able to get when living with a partner, or you might get an increased or decreased amount of the same benefits and Tax Credits. Your claim might be stopped or reduced if you do not report a change straight away or you give incorrect information. Complex in other ways, his character seeks love and connection that relates back to his heartbreak from the very first book in the series that wowed the reader. Serrailler is, frankly, often annoying in his approach to his personal life, which is realistic and quite deliberate by Hill and which I rather admire – although there is a hint of more settled things to come.

It’s an odd ending to the drugs case, almost as if a television drama stopped five minutes before the end. In this latest of Hill’s series, the Simon Serailler story continues with his position at Lafferton Police keeping him more at his desk than in the past as he manages his team. Just as the story was coming to a head, things came to an abrupt end with a toe-curling Mills and Boon flourish. Although there’s a police team working alongside Serrailler the main focus in this book is on him and Kieron, although it seems as if DC Denzil Aberra is a very keen and likeable addition to the team. The police work seems so well portrayed as well, with red herrings and false leads, a few happy resolutions, but many more sad endings, and sometimes no resolution at all, just the realization that there are a lot of bad people out there.