Heartbreaker (Brennan and Esposito)

Heartbreaker (Brennan and Esposito) by Carver, Tania. paperback edition. ISBN: 9780751557886.

After years of abuse, Gemma Adderley has finally found the courage to leave her violent husband. She has taken one debilitating beating too many, endured one esteem-destroying insult too much. Taking her seven-year-old daughter Carly, she leaves the house, determined to salvage what she can of her life. She phones Safe Harbour, a womens refuge, and they tell her which street corner to wait on and what the car that will pick her up will look like. They tell her the word the driver will use so she knows its safe to get in. And thats the last they hear from her. Gemma Adderleys daughter Carly is found wandering the city streets on her own the next day. Her mothers mutilated corpse turns up by the canal several weeks later. Her heart has been removed. Detective Inspector Phil Brennan takes on the case, bringing in his wife, psychologist Marina Esposito, to try and help unlock Carlys memories of what happened that day. The race is on to solve the case before the Heartbreaker strikes again. . .