It's a British author so you get the quirkiness of British slang and colloquialism but the characters are so real - screwed up in their own way. The issues she deals with in each book from post-traumatic stress disorder to the perils of motherhood to cot deaths really hit you and she leaves you twisting until the very end. The crimes are so convoluted that this isn't really a simple whodunnit gambit but the intricacies woven through each plot and each character leaves you thinking about the book long after you've finished reading it.
If anyone reads it, start with Little Face, and I would love to discuss what you think about it

