Just at the point where I had decided I simply didn’t have the capacity to take on anything new for the blog, I was invited to participate in the blog tour for Leave No Trace by Jo Callaghan. My willpower lasted less than a nanosecond and it feels a real privilege to participate by sharing my review today.

I adored Jo Callaghan’s first book In the Blink of an Eye (reviewed here) and it was one of my favourite reads in 2023, so I simply couldn’t resist Leave No Trace and would like to thank  Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part.

Leave No Trace is published by Simon and Schuster today, 28th March 2024 and is available for purchase through the links here.

Leave No Trace

DCS Kat Frank and AIDE Lock return in the provocative new thriller from the author of In the Blink of an Eye.

One detective driven by instinct, the other by logic.
It will take both to find a killer who knows the true meaning of fear . . .

When the body of a man is found crucified at the top of Mount Judd, AIDE Lock – the world’s first AI Detective – and DCS Kat Frank are thrust into the spotlight as they are given their first live case.

But with the discovery of another man’s body – also crucified – it appears that their killer is only just getting started. With the police warning local men to be vigilant, the Future Policing Unit is thrust into a hostile media frenzy as they desperately search for connections between the victims. But time is running out for them to join the dots and prevent another death.

For if Kat and Lock know anything, it’s that killers rarely stop – until they are made to.

My Review of Leave No Trace

A man has been crucified.

I had been slightly apprehensive about Leave No Trace because I thought In the Blink of an Eye was magnificent and was afraid it might not be possible to match it. I was wrong. Leave No Trace us every bit as good, and it sets up the next book in the series perfectly. Whilst this is the second novel featuring Kat and Lock, their back story is so skilfully interwoven that there’s no need to have read In the Blink of an Eye before Leave No Trace, though I strongly suggest you do.

Leave No Trace is just brilliant. It’s enthralling, perfectly plotted and totally absorbing. I thought it was wonderful.

Very early on in Leave No Trace Jo Callaghan enraged me. Not because of the brutal murder DCS Kat Frank is investigating, but because of the reckless disregard for facts and the feelings of the victim’s family displayed by the press, and the infuriating social media comments from the public. And that’s the point. I made assumptions about those elements that made me realise I was almost as bad as those whom I was judging. The author captured to perfection modern society’s disregard for truth to the extent that I was completely hooked into the story, desperate to know what might actually transpire to be the facts of the case. She also peeled back the layers of societal expectation and attitude so that Leave No Trace is impactful and thought provoking. 

I loved the physical structure of the book; the police interview transcripts, the timed and dated chapters, the italicised interjections from the killer. These all added interest and detail that I found gripping. With short, snappy chapters and frequent mini cliff-hangers at the end of them, Jo Callaghan tantalises the reader, making Leave No Trace enthralling. 

What is so wonderful is that Lock is the epitome of logic and yet is so frequently the light relief, providing the humour that tempers the more disturbing or emotional moments in the story. He’s also the source of considerable emotional growth – both for Lock and the reader. Jo Callaghan has such a brilliant lightness of touch that she manages to convey grief, loneliness, hatred, friendship, respect and all manner of human responses so convincingly through an AI being. 

Leave No Trace is a brilliant police procedural thriller that is incredibly entertaining, but what elevates it beyond an exciting, fast paced read is the way Jo Callaghan takes huge themes like misogyny and distils them into a microcosm at a personal level so that she exemplifies modern society so skilfully. Leave No Trace can be enjoyed on many levels.

I absolutely loved Leave No Trace. Jo Callaghan writes with a mature understanding of humanity, of society and of the complexity of relationships. Her stories resonate with humour and warmth as well as being assiduously researched, written with sophistication and totally gripping. If you’ve yet to meet Kat and Lock, you must do so immediately. They are sensationally good! 

About Jo Callaghan

Jo Callaghan works fulltime as a senior strategist, where she has carried out research into the future impact of AI and genomics on the workforce. After losing her husband to cancer in 2019 when she was just forty-nine, she started writing In the Blink of an Eye, her debut crime novel, which explores learning to live with loss and what it means to be human. In The Blink of an Eye was selected for BBC 2’s ‘Between the Covers’ in Spring 2023, and Jo was a featured debut at Harrogate Crime Festival and Bloody Scotland Festival. She lives with her two children in the Midlands. Leave No Trace is her second novel

For further information, follow Jo on Twitter @JoCallaghanKat or Instagram.

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