‘Human Remains’ is the third time that we meet Kat and Locke, our Warwickshire murder-solving duo. And it did not disappoint – in fact, far from it. I was not expecting to have quite so many feels as I read this book – but it happened.
As my posts have to be spoiler free, I cannot possibly reveal how a police procedural novel about solving murders could create quite so much of an emotional reaction, but it happens and you are just going to have to read it to find out why. But you also should read it because it is just as brilliant as the two books that came before it.
This time we catch up with Kat and Locke as a body is discovered by a local fisherman. A body that has been there for quite some time. As Kat (I love that I am on first-name terms with this character) and her team investigate who the victim may be, they uncover a whole host of local history, which leads them to solve another, much older mystery along the way. However, as you can imagine, nothing about this story is quite so straightforward as it would seem, and Kat is soon forced to face up to her past – rightly or wrongly.
This is just a page-turner of a read, because you feel like you are back amongst old friends as they work their next case. Even Locke feels like a friend, even though he is AI and we all know he can not work or express himself as a human. However, Jo Callaghan very cleverly deals with him learning to be that little bit more human and the questions that could raise as he does so. A fascinating debate for the modern age – and a real moral debate you will have with yourself as the book develops.
I think it is just fair to say that I absolutely loved this book; I read past my bedtime to make sure I finished it, and a learned a little bit of Warwickshire history too. I really can’t wait for the next time we will be in the company of Kat, Locke and the team; even though we know it will be the last, it just means I will have to go back to the beginning and start again.