Back From the Dead (Chris Petit, 1999)

Another from the piles of thrillers I've got clogging up the shelves, Back From the Dead is an odd tale. An aging rocker, McMahon, is receiving letters from Leah, a girl who supposedly died 15 years earlier in uncertain circumstances, so he asks cop-moonlighting-as-security Youselli to get to the bottom of it. So far so Harlan Coben, but the book takes a number of strange turns and ultimately doesn't provide a satisfying resolution. I never did work out who the girl was who wrote the letters. 

Youselli is an interesting lead, he takes advantage of a grieving widow, sleeps with his older psychiatrist information, Edith, and ends up obsessed with the author of the letters - going so far as to commit manslaughter in his pursuit of her. None of the other characters come out of the tale too well either, with Edith's relationship breaking down with her daughter, and her abuse of a rehabilitated child murderer. Having said this, Back From the Dead's grey characters were interesting and made me want to read on. I just lost track of the mystery along the way and felt a bit cheated by the odd ending. Another one for the charity shop then!