ALL THE HIDDEN TRUTHS

(Hodder £12.99)

THIS stunning debut from a poet won prizes as a work in progress — and richly deserves them. It is a searing story of a college shooting in edinburgh.

One May morning, 20-year-old Ryan Summers walks on to a college campus and kills 13 young women, then himself. These horrifying events are seen through the eyes of three women: Moira, Ryan’s mother; Ishbel Hodgekiss, the mother of the first victim; and the newly promoted DI Helen Birch, one of the first officers at the scene.

All three women are transformed by the tragedy as they try to piece together a motive. Slowly, dark truths emerge from the undergrowth of Ryan’s life. Compellingly written, in DI Birch it also has a heroine you can’t help but root for.