Books like Blacklands by Belinda Bauer

Belinda Bauer’s debut Blacklands follows twelve‑year‑old Steven Lamb, who quietly digs in the Exmoor moor hoping to find the body of his missing uncle—a boy who vanished at eleven and is feared to have fallen victim to the serial killer Arnold Avery. While Steven’s classmates trade football stickers, he is consumed by the ghost of his uncle’s disappearance, seeking closure for his fractured family. His Nan, who remains convinced the boy is still alive, watches helplessly from the front window as the family becomes increasingly torn apart. Determined to heal these wounds, Steven crafts a letter to Avery in prison, initiating a dangerous dialogue between the desperate child and the bored killer. The novel weaves suspenseful investigation with psychological depth, as a young boy confronts the reality of serial murder in his own England.

First publish date: 2010