Stolen Souls, Neville - B

                                          This author specializes in really, really bad people in and around Belfast.  There are hardened, vicious traffickers in woman from Lithuania; stupid, brutal local thugs; a serial killing madman from England; and dishonest local cops. Pitted against them is Detective Jack Lennon, who is a member of the Police Services of Northern Ireland, which means that if you're Catholic, you are now shunned by everyone you ever knew. To further complicate Lennon's life, his wife was murdered in a previous book and her family is trying to get his daughter from him. Also, Lennon has an enemy in the Intelligence Services, who keeps trying to get him knocked off. The central character about whom the story is built is Gayla,  from Ukraine, who thought she was going to the EU for a decent job.  Trafficking in young women from behind the old Iron Curtain must be a huge issue, as it frequently comes up in mysteries from the EU.  Lennon saves her from both the Lithuanians and the serial killer, but not himself from the duplicitous local police, and he winds up with a bullet in a shoulder. An awful lot of people get shot, but not Lennon's nemesis, thus assuring a budding series.