Jillian Creasy

I was gripped by David Videcette's book. I found myself skipping to the end to put myself out of suspense, but then reading the whole with great interest. I remember the Suzy Lamplugh story so well - at the time and all the subsequent work by her mother to raise the issue of keeping women safe. I learnt a lot about how the police work and that personal issues, lack of resources, pressure from media and family all have a huge issue on how an investigation proceeds and the (often false) conclusions drawn. I have my doubts about DV's alternative hypothesis - that is also internally inconsistent in some respects. But it certainly opens up new questions and new ways of approaching the mystery. Central to this is debunking the myth that women are most likely to be harmed by random strangers. The "public" wants (or the media wants the public to want) to divide us into perfectly innocent and perfectly culpable. Almost everyone - from Suzy heself to key witnesses, to the police and her parents - is far more complex than this. If nothing else, DV manages to remain dispassionate and generous in his assessment of everyone he interviews and every piece of evidence he considers. If nothing else, the book teaches us the value of open-mindedness.