by M. R. Hall
Independent
‘Intelligent and intricate, and grips from beginning to end’
Woman & Home
‘A substantial and satisfying novel which adroitly combines the personal and the political into an engrossing narrative that is ultimately about international paranoia’
Daily Express
Praise for The Coroner,
the first in the Jenny Cooper series
‘It’s a tribute to the author’s skill that I read this book supposing it to be autobiographical . . . He really gets under the skin of his heroine . . . an outstandingly interesting first novel’
Literary Review
‘This big, well-executed debut novel by screenwriter and producer M. R. Hall has meaty characters and a chewy plot in the Lynda La Plante style’
Guardian
‘Strongly characterized, The Coroner holds attention from the first to the last’
Daily Express
‘A fast paced debut thriller’
The Times
‘M. R. Hall . . . writes convincingly and compellingly of the difficulties facing anybody who dares to challenge a crushing and often corrupt system in an attempt to establish the truth’
Daily Mail
‘A brilliant, original and gripping crime novel’
Sophie Hannah
THE DISAPPEARED
M. R. Hall is a screenwriter, producer and former criminal barrister. The Disappeared is his second novel in the Jenny Cooper series. Educated at Hereford Cathedral School and Worcester College, Oxford, he lives in Monmouthshire with his wife and two sons. Aside from writing, his main passion is the preservation and planting of woodland. In his spare moments, he is mostly to be found amongst trees.
Also by M. R. Hall
The Coroner
For Bob and Romayne
and many brave years
First published 2010 by Macmillan
This edition published 2010 by Pan Books
This electronic edition published 2010 by Pan Books
an imprint of Pan Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
Pan Macmillan, 20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR
Basingstoke and Oxford
Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com
ISBN 978-0-230-75211-5 PDF
ISBN 978-0-230-75210-8 EPUB
Copyright © M. R. Hall 2010
The right of M. R. Hall to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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Table of Contents
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-One
Twenty-Two
Twenty-Three
Twenty-Four
Twenty-Five
Twenty-Six
Twenty-Seven
Twenty-Eight
Epilogue
