Title: The Girls In The Water
Author: Victoria Jenkins
Publisher: Bookouture
Publication Date: August 3rd 2017
Rating: 🌟 🌟 🌟
Goodreads | Amazon UK | Book Depository
When the body of Lola Evans is found in a local park on a cold winter’s morning, Detective Alex King and her new recruit Chloe Lane are called in to lead the hunt for the killer.
Days later, a second girl goes missing. It seems the two shared a troubled history, and were members of the same support group. Who is the monster preying on these vulnerable girls?
As the detectives start to piece together the clues, Chloe realises that she too is in danger – as she uncovers secrets about her own brother’s death which someone will kill to keep hidden.
Alex and Chloe are determined to find the killer before more lives are lost…
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an advance reading copy in exchange for an honest review!
Trigger warning for blood, murder, physical assault.
“SOMETIMES SAYING NOTHING WAS FAR LESS INCRIMINATING THAN SPEAKING THE TRUTH, EVEN WHEN THAT TRUTH FELL FROM THE MOUTH OF AN INNOCENT.”
Note to self: stop requesting books just because they’re set in Wales.
The most interesting aspect of The Girls In The Water was definitely the setting. I loved that I could literally picture the scene unfolding whenever a specific place was mentioned. The body of a young woman is discovered in the river at a local park (which is, unfortunately, a narrative I’m all too familiar with) and detectives Alex King and Chloe Lane are working on this case when a second girl goes missing only days later and it becomes all too apparent there’s a connection between them.
The second most interesting aspect of the book was, of course, the mystery. Is there actually a connection between the cases, or is it completely random? Who is targeting vulnerable young women and why? Can they predict who will be targeted next? In which case, yes. It was a little too predictable for me, but still an interesting turn in the story.
Aside from Alex and Chloe, the other characters in the novel appeared to be flat and all the same. Multiple side characters resulted in multiple perspectives and the shifting of these viewpoints, at times, left me confused. I couldn’t always decipher who ‘he/she’ was referring to without re-reading the passage. That being said, both Alex and Chloe were well-fleshed out as main characters and I appreciated the insights into their pasts and how it conflicted with their presents.
Overall, this was a promising debut and start to a series. Though the ending of this particular book wraps things up neatly, anyone who enjoys the dynamic between the detective duo can read more about their adventures in the sequel, The First One To Die, which is set to be published next month!
headscarves & hardbacks 