The Lost Boys (The DS Cross Mysteries #3.5), by Tim Sullivan
The Lost Boys by Tim Sullivan
My rating: Four out of five stars
Tim Sullivan turns a simple accusation into something unsettling. At a care home, a new resident points to Arthur Turnbull, an elderly man with advanced dementia: “That’s the man who killed my father.” The question is not simply whether he is right. Cross must discover what can be trusted when memory has faded, the crime is decades old, and those involved have lived with its consequences.
I liked the compassion with which Sullivan handles this premise, alongside the quiet precision of a police procedural. Arthur is never just a puzzle to solve; his vulnerability gives the investigation emotional weight. Cross’s methodical attention to detail drives the case, while his humanity comes through in the way he treats the people caught up in it.
My only reservation is the length. This is satisfying, affecting detective fiction, but it ends before I am ready to leave Cross and the people around him. Had it been longer, it would have earned five stars.
Four out of five stars.
