Bøker av Pete Dover

For those parents who lose a child in criminal circumstances, it is tough to judge which is worse: is it harder to bear the certainty that a loved one has been killed, murdered with all the fear and guilt that brings? Or does the suffering reach even greater proportions when that child is missing, presumed - but not certainly - dead? Is the inevitable hope such a condition brings a small benefit or an added torture?The family of Kimberley Moreau may have a view on the subject, having been exposed to the greatest, and as yet unresolved, trauma of losing their daughter or sister. More than thirty years of trauma. Certainly, Kimberley has, for many years, been declared officially deceased but knowing her fate for sure has eluded the family. It still does. Similarly, despite their suspicions, they do not know for certain who perpetrated the crime which led to her disappearance.When people are missing for many years; history stops. 'They will not grow old, as we grow old; age will not weary them...' Laurence Binyon's words were written for his compatriots killed in the first world war. But they apply in situations such as Kimberley's. She is forever a teen. Her hairstyle is forever 1980s; short, curled, of its age.Time stopped for her, it would seem, in that decade of excess. But, as in the case of others lost, presumed dead, her story needs to be told. It helps to keep her memory alive.

Imagine having kids who can speak five languages by their mid-teens. Daughters who are described by an experienced, senior childcare professional as the most intelligent she has come across in thirty years of working with adolescents.Can there be a greater dream for loving parents? College awaits, then a top job with all that brings in terms of comfort and lifestyle. Who knows, these caring kids might even look after their mom and dad in old age. But the dream turned into a nightmare for one parent of super-intelligent children.Linda Andersen's daughters certainly fitted that high IQ category; but unlike other clever kids, they used their intelligence for the most disingenuous of reasons: to plan the murder of their mother.

Michelle and David Knotek lived just outside of Raymond, Washington. Their home was one of the better ones in the area - on the outside at least. Theirs was a large and beautiful farmhouse sitting in its own four acre plot. The idyll was furthered by the large number of well cared for animals that roamed the farmhouse's extensive grounds. But inside the warm walls life was very different; three people were murdered viciously within that plot; two following months of monstrous torture after which their bodies simply stopped working.

Dawn Magyar led a seemingly idyllic life with her high school sweetheart Don. The two married young, had a young son and seemed destined for a happy life....until one Saturday afternoon when Dawn went grocery shopping, never to be seen again. Her body would eventually be found with Dawn the victim of a brutal homicide. The murder shocked the Michigan small town as the killing would remained unsolved for thirty years had it not been for some foresight of the detective at the time. The case would not be solved during his career, but thanks to the DNA saving measures he made, Dawn's killer would eventually be brought to justice...