On her way to a business meeting, Gaby Struthers' plane is rerouted to Dortmund, and at the airport she encounters a young woman, Lauren. Lauren is on the verge of becoming hysterical and Gaby tries to calm her down. But is it a coincidence that Gaby bumps into Lauren, who was Tim Breary's wife's care assistant, and now Tim's wife, Francine, is dead. Gaby has always been in love with Tim but they had lost touch with each other. When Lauren blurts out that "The wrong man mustn't go to jail", Gaby realises that man is Tim. He's confessed to killing his ailing wife, but admits having no reason for doing so. Nobody believes Tim is the murderer, not even the police who go as far as falsifying parts of Tim's confession because it doesn't make any sense, but they have no other suspect. And no one is telling the whole truth.

THE CARRIER is the eight book in the Zalier and Waterhouse series, and even someone who hasn't read the previous instalments will have no problem following the recurring characters' stories, mainly Constable Simon Waterhouse and his wife Sergeant Charlie Zailer who are working on this bewildering case.

Sophie Hannah takes as much care with the characters that are present in each book, as she is when introducing new ones. And what extraordinary characters they are! The characters are so realistically complex that it's almost unsettling: no one is entirely good or bad, there is no black or white, no one is entirely right or wrong, and the relationships between the various characters are as multifaceted as the people involved. Hannah is also exceptionally skilled at dialogues: the exchanges between the characters, especially between Lauren and Gaby who couldn't be any different in personality as well as in speech, are absolutely dazzling and at times quite hilarious.

THE CARRIER is a fascinating psychological suspense novel where nothing happens quite as expected, and where plot twists abound, especially when characters start revealing all sorts of startling informations. Ms. Hannah has crafted a very intricate and clever plot that ends in dramatic fashion. THE CARRIER's conclusion surprised me quite a bit, and left me a little sad, and that is high praise for the author: Ms. Hannah avoided the easy way out and a formulaic resolution, to remain true to her story arc and her characters. THE CARRIER is a riveting story, spectacularly well written, that will keep you on the edge of your seat.