COUNTY Durham crime-writing queen Sheila Quigley rings the changes yet again with a serialkiller thriller which ventures into Val McDermid territory.

But fear not, for Quigley remains true to her Houghtonle- Spring roots and this miner's daughter tells it like it is in today's anarchic social environment and continuing economic deprivation.

Houghton is a brutal, unforgiving place, but it has never known anything like the psychopathic White Rose killer who, after killing young women and cutting out their hearts, then inserts a white rose in their breasts.

Det Insp Lorraine Hunt is under increasing pressure to track down the maniac, pressure which seems almost unbearable when the daughter of her partner is attacked and left for dead.

Quigley presses the fear button right from the start and keeps the tension cranked up high right up until the explosive climax.