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newt90's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
5.0
Absolutely brilliant read. The characters are brilliant. Monica is a fantastic character. I liked it so much I’ve bought the other 2
jane_kelsey's review
5.0
Amazing. Solid 5 stars. Need to recover after reading it ❤
___
There is nothing that will prepare you for the full force and dark atmospheric of Dark Waters by GR Halliday. This book will sweep you off your feet and carry you on a disturbing journey where every detail matters in the fight for survival…
Halliday is a master storyteller and since his debut novel From the Shadows, his skill level has increased tenfold. Dark waters is darkly captivating without flourish or artificial methods because Halliday’s writing style draws you in by using the vivid elements into this world to influence how the reader reacts.
Halliday is clearly remarkably familiar with Inverness, the location for his novels, and is able to use that for full artistic effect. The dense forest it fells oppressive and almost alive, claustrophobic which Monica herself feels as she is looking for clues, the dark caves and deep burrowing tunnels are hellish in appearance…
And all these elements marry together beautifully through the plot of the story, resulting in a dark, suspenseful, and eerie story that made my heart beat so much faster (I actually noted on page 63 that I’m forgetting how to breathe and my heart is racing). The story is told mainly from the POV of DI Kennedy, but occasionally to flick to other character’s perspectives, usually Annabelle, and I think it added so much more to the story to almost know what is happening, but not really giving you anymore and increasing suspense. The pacing is brilliant, slow in places to build the momentum, then your heard is going wild with so much anxiety for the characters – I almost screamed at them a few times out loud!, and the short chapters will keep you turning the page.
Also, the cogs moving the plot forward have logical sense and I did not sense any artificiality to get the story from A to B, instead the characters moved it all along beautifully.
In Dark Waters we get to know more about Monica’s team, delve deeper into their lives, all with purpose and meaning. It is clear that Halliday has been doing his homework and knows plenty about Police procedures and investigations. Made me chuckle a few times as in true detective style, nobody is bothering to take their radios with them and it made me stupidly happy that some typical thriller/horror clichés were considered for 0.5 seconds, then dismissed and did the rational thing! YESSSS!!!!
___
There is nothing that will prepare you for the full force and dark atmospheric of Dark Waters by GR Halliday. This book will sweep you off your feet and carry you on a disturbing journey where every detail matters in the fight for survival…
Halliday is a master storyteller and since his debut novel From the Shadows, his skill level has increased tenfold. Dark waters is darkly captivating without flourish or artificial methods because Halliday’s writing style draws you in by using the vivid elements into this world to influence how the reader reacts.
Halliday is clearly remarkably familiar with Inverness, the location for his novels, and is able to use that for full artistic effect. The dense forest it fells oppressive and almost alive, claustrophobic which Monica herself feels as she is looking for clues, the dark caves and deep burrowing tunnels are hellish in appearance…
And all these elements marry together beautifully through the plot of the story, resulting in a dark, suspenseful, and eerie story that made my heart beat so much faster (I actually noted on page 63 that I’m forgetting how to breathe and my heart is racing). The story is told mainly from the POV of DI Kennedy, but occasionally to flick to other character’s perspectives, usually Annabelle, and I think it added so much more to the story to almost know what is happening, but not really giving you anymore and increasing suspense. The pacing is brilliant, slow in places to build the momentum, then your heard is going wild with so much anxiety for the characters – I almost screamed at them a few times out loud!, and the short chapters will keep you turning the page.
Also, the cogs moving the plot forward have logical sense and I did not sense any artificiality to get the story from A to B, instead the characters moved it all along beautifully.
In Dark Waters we get to know more about Monica’s team, delve deeper into their lives, all with purpose and meaning. It is clear that Halliday has been doing his homework and knows plenty about Police procedures and investigations. Made me chuckle a few times as in true detective style, nobody is bothering to take their radios with them and it made me stupidly happy that some typical thriller/horror clichés were considered for 0.5 seconds, then dismissed and did the rational thing! YESSSS!!!!
windy_witch's review
5.0
This book got me from the beginning. A fast-paced dark thriller set in the Scottish Highlands, a story of true survival.
This is the second book from the DI Monica Kennedy series and the first of the series I have read.
DI Monica Kennedy is called to action when a mutilated body turns up in the water. Who is the victim? And who killed him?
Annabelle goes missing while driving in the Scottish Highlands, she crashes her car and is found by a sick individual who keeps her captive and performs horrific surgeries on her.
The story follows DI Kennedy as she hunts for a killer and the links between the unidentified body and the missing girl.
This book was pretty dark and twisted and I really enjoyed every part of the writing.
cbt00004's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
A gripping story, I genuinely could not put it down- and when I had to I was thinking about when next I could pick it up.
The quote from Yrsa Sigurðardóttir on the back sums it up perfectly, “Dark and disturbing… will keep you reading into the night”.
The quote from Yrsa Sigurðardóttir on the back sums it up perfectly, “Dark and disturbing… will keep you reading into the night”.
melaniesreads's review
4.0
With an adrenaline pumping opening chapter this then turns very dark. After the last case nearly ended in tragedy Monica has been taking a break from MIT to spend time with her daughter Lucy and working in the traffic department. During a cinema and burger trip with Lucy she gets a call from her boss and she is back to MIT and working again with Crawford and Fisher.
Yet again the author has used the setting to full effect bringing a real claustrophobic atmosphere. This book certainly isn’t for those with a weak stomach but for my dark hearted constitution I revelled in glee at the dismembered bodies and almost horror qualities within this crime novel.
The characters have become more developed and are now starting to feel like friends and I really liked the introduction of Detective Khan to the team. However this can be read as a stand alone so don’t worry if you haven’t read the first book.
The writing has really developed and I’m happy that there weren’t quite so many mentions of Monica’s height this time. Looking forward to Book three.
Yet again the author has used the setting to full effect bringing a real claustrophobic atmosphere. This book certainly isn’t for those with a weak stomach but for my dark hearted constitution I revelled in glee at the dismembered bodies and almost horror qualities within this crime novel.
The characters have become more developed and are now starting to feel like friends and I really liked the introduction of Detective Khan to the team. However this can be read as a stand alone so don’t worry if you haven’t read the first book.
The writing has really developed and I’m happy that there weren’t quite so many mentions of Monica’s height this time. Looking forward to Book three.
kba76's review
4.0
In our second encounter with Detective Kennedy we have another puzzling crime, that goes beyond the worst thing you can imagine, and we learn a little more about this character and her backstory.
This took a little time to come together as the strands were so varied. Two mutilated bodies are found, and nobody can be sure if they’re linked, but the methods used on both bodies is eerily similar. Alongside this, we have a young woman (Annabelle) visiting the Highlands who is caught in a horrific crash when she swerved to avoid a young girl on the road. There’s also Scott, a Canadian tourist, who gets scared by some hostile behaviour towards him and then he meets a similarly awful fate which is linked to the mysterious appearance of a young girl immediately beforehand.
For a long time we switch between Annabelle’s experience waking up chained in a room and the investigation being led by Monica Kennedy. This lends a disconcerting quality to the book, where things take a long time to really get going. We know every detail will be relevant but there was almost a ‘real time’ quality to this that meant things didn’t happen at an implausibly rapid pace.
This is not one for the squeamish, and I was appalled at the levels of depravity shown by the characters in the book. Once again, I found myself curious to get more information about Detective Kennedy and what motivated her.
A gritty read, but well worth it. Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for allowing me to read this prior to publication in exchange for my honest thoughts.
This took a little time to come together as the strands were so varied. Two mutilated bodies are found, and nobody can be sure if they’re linked, but the methods used on both bodies is eerily similar. Alongside this, we have a young woman (Annabelle) visiting the Highlands who is caught in a horrific crash when she swerved to avoid a young girl on the road. There’s also Scott, a Canadian tourist, who gets scared by some hostile behaviour towards him and then he meets a similarly awful fate which is linked to the mysterious appearance of a young girl immediately beforehand.
For a long time we switch between Annabelle’s experience waking up chained in a room and the investigation being led by Monica Kennedy. This lends a disconcerting quality to the book, where things take a long time to really get going. We know every detail will be relevant but there was almost a ‘real time’ quality to this that meant things didn’t happen at an implausibly rapid pace.
This is not one for the squeamish, and I was appalled at the levels of depravity shown by the characters in the book. Once again, I found myself curious to get more information about Detective Kennedy and what motivated her.
A gritty read, but well worth it. Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for allowing me to read this prior to publication in exchange for my honest thoughts.
mardana's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Death
Moderate: Body horror, Murder, Gore, Torture, and Confinement
Minor: Incest
rainnbooks's review
5.0
Many Thanks to Net Galley, Random House UK and the author for a chance to read and review this book.
#DarkWaters #NetGalley
Oh God, what have I just read? One of the most disturbing and troubling book that I have come across in some time, G R Halliday’s Dark Waters is terribly dark, so dark that I would like to give fair warning to readers that there are descriptions of dismembered bodies so gruesome that can make you feel nauseated.
Fans of thrillers have nothing to worry, Dark Waters with Monica Kennedy is a book that need to be read and have to say this, to be READ in order to understand the whys and whats of Monica’s trauma. This is book #2 and like always with me, haven’t read the first one, and there’s quite a bit of references to the previous case that has affected her and her team. Dark Waters continues from that previous case where in DI Monica has become so paranoid and worried about her young daughter Lucy that she’s taken to sleeping on the couch. I loved her team of Crawford, Fisher and Khan. Khan’s character is yet to be fleshed out fully but there’s a sense of solidity to her presence.
Anabelle is on a road trip to the highlands when she meets with an accident. But as her blackness recedes, Anabelle discovers that her troubles are just beginning. The story alternates between Anabelle and the investigation into the discovery of the 2 corpses found in the glen, dismembered and mutilated. Monica’s enquiries take her deeper into her own mental anguish as Lucy begins sleep-walking and giving out cryptic and distressing warnings.
There’s a sense of otherworldliness throughout the book with its setting in Inverness and the glens, the dam and its tunnels, the story gliding thru many POV’s before the adrenaline pumped climax. I loved how the author has used the bleakness of the place in creating a menacing and scary thriller that would probably leave me with nightmares with the kind of visceral images that the story left me with. It was interesting to see how the readers are made aware of Annabelle’s plight and about her captors but the grab your throat tension never lets up steam as Monica inches closer to the finish line.
Incredibly well-written, Dark Waters by G R Halliday is a must read for fans who love atmospheric thrillers.
#DarkWaters #NetGalley
Oh God, what have I just read? One of the most disturbing and troubling book that I have come across in some time, G R Halliday’s Dark Waters is terribly dark, so dark that I would like to give fair warning to readers that there are descriptions of dismembered bodies so gruesome that can make you feel nauseated.
Fans of thrillers have nothing to worry, Dark Waters with Monica Kennedy is a book that need to be read and have to say this, to be READ in order to understand the whys and whats of Monica’s trauma. This is book #2 and like always with me, haven’t read the first one, and there’s quite a bit of references to the previous case that has affected her and her team. Dark Waters continues from that previous case where in DI Monica has become so paranoid and worried about her young daughter Lucy that she’s taken to sleeping on the couch. I loved her team of Crawford, Fisher and Khan. Khan’s character is yet to be fleshed out fully but there’s a sense of solidity to her presence.
Anabelle is on a road trip to the highlands when she meets with an accident. But as her blackness recedes, Anabelle discovers that her troubles are just beginning. The story alternates between Anabelle and the investigation into the discovery of the 2 corpses found in the glen, dismembered and mutilated. Monica’s enquiries take her deeper into her own mental anguish as Lucy begins sleep-walking and giving out cryptic and distressing warnings.
There’s a sense of otherworldliness throughout the book with its setting in Inverness and the glens, the dam and its tunnels, the story gliding thru many POV’s before the adrenaline pumped climax. I loved how the author has used the bleakness of the place in creating a menacing and scary thriller that would probably leave me with nightmares with the kind of visceral images that the story left me with. It was interesting to see how the readers are made aware of Annabelle’s plight and about her captors but the grab your throat tension never lets up steam as Monica inches closer to the finish line.
Incredibly well-written, Dark Waters by G R Halliday is a must read for fans who love atmospheric thrillers.
quietlyreading_'s review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5