Pg. 69: Lin Anderson's "Dark Flight"

Today's feature at the Page 69 Test: Lin Anderson's Dark Flight.

About the book, from the author's website:

"... the face that stared at him through the glass was his mum's, but it didn't look like her. Stephen's mouth dropped open and real fear grabbed his stomach. His mum's face was chalk white, her mouth twisted in pain. Behind her was a dark shadow. Stephen dropped the bones."

A six year-old boy has vanished, his mother and grandmother horrifically murdered. At the scene, forensic scientist Rhona MacLeod finds a chilling African talisman, made from the bones of a child. Can she decipher its meaning and track Stephen down before he becomes the next link in the killers' chain?

Among the praise for Dark Flight:

"The house was a bloodbath - the younger woman mutilated, the older woman dead at the hands of a killer she probably didn't even see. In the blood was a footprint belonging to the crime's only potential witness - a six-year-old boy who had vanished, leaving behind a macabre clue - bones tied in the shape of a diagonal cross. It's a gut-wrenching kill that takes forensic scientist Dr. Rhona McLeod from the cold streets of Glasgow to the searing heat of Nigeria, in search of the demons that demand the ultimate sacrifice. Forget Las Vegas, forget Miami, this is CSI Dowanhill and it'll keep your adrenalin pumping from the first terrifying page until the last."
--Daily Record

"The gritty realism with which Anderson evokes her settings is one of the best things about this novel."
--Times

"[a] sexy new rival for old Rebus..."
--The Scotsman

"Lin Anderson is one of Scotland’s national treasures -­ don’t be fooled by comparisons, her writing is unique, bringing warmth and depth to even the seediest parts of Glasgow. Lin’s Rhona MacLeod is a complex and compelling heroine who just gets better with every outing."
--Stuart MacBride, author of Cold Granite and Dying Light

Lin Anderson is an author and screenwriter. Learn more about Dark Flight and the Rhona MacLeod series at her website.

The Page 69 Test: Dark Flight.

--Marshal Zeringue