[Synopsis]

Beneath the water the body sank rapidly. She would lie still and undisturbed for many years but above her on dry land, the nightmare was just beginning.

When Detective Erika Foster receives a tip-off that key evidence for a major narcotics case was stashed in a disused quarry on the outskirts of London, she orders for it to be searched. From the thick sludge the drugs are recovered, but so is the skeleton of a young child.

The remains are quickly identified as seven-year-old Jessica Collins. The missing girl who made headline news twenty-six years ago.

As Erika tries to piece together new evidence with the old, she must dig deeper and find out more about the fractured Collins family and the original detective, Amanda Baker. A woman plagued by her failure to find Jessica. Erika soon realises this is going to be one of the most complex and demanding cases she has ever taken on.

Is the suspect someone close to home? Someone is keeping secrets. Someone who doesn’t want this case solved. And they’ll do anything to stop Erika from finding the truth.

From the million-copy bestselling author of The Girl in the Ice and The Night Stalker, comes the third heart-stopping book in the Detective Erika Foster series.

[My Review]

Time for the new instalment of the DI Erika Foster series, one of my favourite new crime series – I always look forward to a new novel featuring Erika, and this one certainly didn’t disappoint|! It really carried on the high quality I’ve come to expect from previous books.

As always, the characters featured are so well developed and great to read about – even the horrible characters are really interesting! Despite now working in a slightly different location, Erika is just as feisty as usual, continuing to be a really strong female lead – and I was very pleased to see a few familiar faces return this time too! There was even an element of romance slipped in there – not too cheesy or overdone but just to remind us that Erika needs some ‘comforting’ too, despite still being nowhere near over Mark.

Erika’s sister features for a good portion of the story too, and it’s always interesting to have her back in the narrative though sometimes she doesn’t provide as much moral support for Erika as she should (and she got on my nerves a bit, I’m afraid!) but one thing she does do is bring Erika back to earth when she’s completely absorbed in the case, which she really needs. Erika’s determination make her such a brilliant Detective and a great character to read about, and I really liked that Robert Bryndza doesn’t make her perfect. There are plenty of opportunities where I thought “she could have been a bit more calm” or “she could have handled that better” (not, obviously, saying I could do any better myself, but simply from that high horse that us readers like to sit on!) and so the fact that she isn’t perfect makes her more human and a much more engaging character.

As always I love the mystery and police procedure elements of the story, eagerly enjoying every word and, as always with these novels, not wanting it to end! Highly recommended – but if you haven’t read any of this series before the start from the beginning, so you know all the back story. A really absorbing and fun read – can’t wait for number 4!

[Rating: 5/5]

Many thanks to Bookouture and Netgalley for providing a copy of this novel in return for an honest review!

Have you read any of this series? If so what did you think?

Buy your copy of Dark Water – it’s out today (20 October).