It's the Mother of All Crimes.

DCI Robert Kett’s efforts to return to a normal life are dashed after he receives a phone call from his mother, Mary—a woman he hasn’t spoken to in almost two decades. When she invites him and the girls to visit her in the isolated village where she has been staying, Kett sees an opportunity to heal their fractured relationship.

But this is no family reunion.

Mary Kett needs his help. A young couple have been brutally murdered and their newborn son is missing—a note left in his crib saying that the baby will die if the police are called.

Forced to go undercover with Porter and Savage, Kett discovers that somebody here has everything to hide and nothing to lose. And with time running out fast—not just for the missing child, but for an entire community—Kett must solve one of the darkest and most terrifying mysteries of his life.

A mystery that threatens to tear his own family apart.

Relentless action, compulsive mystery and dark humor abound in the internationally bestselling series that Thrilling Fiction calls "Heart-stoppingly gripping!" from the million-selling author that James Patterson described as "fresh and ferocious!"

Binge the series now:

Paper Girls

Bad Dog

Three Little Pigs

Whip Crack

Run Rabbit Run

Stone Cold Dead

Every Mother’s Son

Sweet Briar Rose

Jaw Breaker

Knock Knock

King Rat

Knuckle Bones

Lucky Number Seven

Alex Smith wrote his first book when he was six. It wasn’t particularly good, but it did have some supernatural monsters in it. His latest books, the DCI Robert Kett thrillers, have monsters in it too, although these monsters are very human, and all the more terrifying for it. In between these two books he has published thirteen other novels for children and teenagers under his full name, Alexander Gordon Smith—including the number one bestselling series Escape From Furnace, which is loved by millions of listeners worldwide and which is soon to become a motion picture. He lives in Norwich with his wife and three young daughters.