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nietzschesghost's review
4.0
Girls in the Water is the first book in the newly created Detectives King & Lane #1 by Victoria Jenkins. This first book has received excellent reviews on Goodreads and Amazon. The second book is expected on November 15th 2017. Victoria Jenkins is relatively unheard of in the wider world - outside of the bookish one that I live in, but that will not last long if she keeps writing thrillers as well as this one! I, for one, will be reading #2.
Detective Alex King and her new recruit Chloe Lane are called in to lead the hunt for lola Evans' killer. Her body was discovered in the local park on a very chilly winter's morning. Then, only a few days later, another girl goes missing. As always in cases like these e.g multiple missing persons in the same area, multiple murders in the same area etc, King and Lane investigate to see if there is anything that ties the two girls together, something they both have in common. This is an excellent strategic choice thst they hope will lead them to the murderer.
So, is there any connection between the two girls that might indicate that they were taken by the same person(s)? After looking into it they find that the two girls shared a troubled past, and happened to both be members of the same support group. Finding this monster has become even more crucial as it's thought that he is targeting vulnerable young girls. But why target these particular girls? Who would sink so low?
As the detectives piece together all the evidence collected, Chloe realises that she too is in danger - as she uncovers secrets regarding her own brother's death which someone will kill to keep under wraps. Will Alex and Chloe find the killer before more lives are lost?
Although the story is not unique to this book and there are many other recent novels playing around with the same story, I still really enjoyed this. Te reason I have not given 5 stars is due to the storyline being one that's been used many times before. I know from writing myself that it's difficult to cook up a truly unique and enthralling book.
What a way to kick off a series, very promising! An entrancing ride through the pages and a dark, twisted tale which is exactly what I love. The characters I found most interesting - I liked that there was some backstory to them and I hope they can be developed further and we can get to know them and their motivations much more in the second novel. For these books where there are recurring characters throughout the series e.g. Alex King & Chloe Lane, people need to find that these characters are relatable - that we can understand and perhaps even admire them.
Bookouture -
I would also like to mention the publisher and just how special they are! I wouldn't normally write about a publisher during a book review but this is how I feel and wanted to express it. I discovered Bookouture while scouring the NetGalley recently added titles and I noticed right away after reading the synopsis for a handful of their books that every synopsis I had read, for what had been classed as mystery/thriller/crime title, sounded so damn exciting that I wanted to request and read them all. I knew from then that they were going to be a massive part of my NetGalley journey as quite frankly they just have so mzny fantastic books. I ended up limiting myself until they get to know me more and Girls in the Water by Victoria Jenkins was one of my picks.
I have read that Bookouture only choose a small selection of great books for a reason - so they can focus all their attention on helping those select few succeed. This doesn't just help the writer but also helps a reader like me as I know that their mystery/thrillers are something I can rely on to be right up street! So, as you can see, I have quite the thing for Bookouture! I can see that this will be a publisher I will be reading (hopefully) and reviewing a lot through NetGalley. Seriously, if you are a fan of mystery/thriller novels you NEED Bookouture in your life!
I am hoping that The First to Die (Detectives King & Lane #2) will live up to my expectations when it arrives in the not so distant future.
I would like to thank Victoria Jenkins, Bookouture and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest and impartial review.
Detective Alex King and her new recruit Chloe Lane are called in to lead the hunt for lola Evans' killer. Her body was discovered in the local park on a very chilly winter's morning. Then, only a few days later, another girl goes missing. As always in cases like these e.g multiple missing persons in the same area, multiple murders in the same area etc, King and Lane investigate to see if there is anything that ties the two girls together, something they both have in common. This is an excellent strategic choice thst they hope will lead them to the murderer.
So, is there any connection between the two girls that might indicate that they were taken by the same person(s)? After looking into it they find that the two girls shared a troubled past, and happened to both be members of the same support group. Finding this monster has become even more crucial as it's thought that he is targeting vulnerable young girls. But why target these particular girls? Who would sink so low?
As the detectives piece together all the evidence collected, Chloe realises that she too is in danger - as she uncovers secrets regarding her own brother's death which someone will kill to keep under wraps. Will Alex and Chloe find the killer before more lives are lost?
Although the story is not unique to this book and there are many other recent novels playing around with the same story, I still really enjoyed this. Te reason I have not given 5 stars is due to the storyline being one that's been used many times before. I know from writing myself that it's difficult to cook up a truly unique and enthralling book.
What a way to kick off a series, very promising! An entrancing ride through the pages and a dark, twisted tale which is exactly what I love. The characters I found most interesting - I liked that there was some backstory to them and I hope they can be developed further and we can get to know them and their motivations much more in the second novel. For these books where there are recurring characters throughout the series e.g. Alex King & Chloe Lane, people need to find that these characters are relatable - that we can understand and perhaps even admire them.
Bookouture -
I would also like to mention the publisher and just how special they are! I wouldn't normally write about a publisher during a book review but this is how I feel and wanted to express it. I discovered Bookouture while scouring the NetGalley recently added titles and I noticed right away after reading the synopsis for a handful of their books that every synopsis I had read, for what had been classed as mystery/thriller/crime title, sounded so damn exciting that I wanted to request and read them all. I knew from then that they were going to be a massive part of my NetGalley journey as quite frankly they just have so mzny fantastic books. I ended up limiting myself until they get to know me more and Girls in the Water by Victoria Jenkins was one of my picks.
I have read that Bookouture only choose a small selection of great books for a reason - so they can focus all their attention on helping those select few succeed. This doesn't just help the writer but also helps a reader like me as I know that their mystery/thrillers are something I can rely on to be right up street! So, as you can see, I have quite the thing for Bookouture! I can see that this will be a publisher I will be reading (hopefully) and reviewing a lot through NetGalley. Seriously, if you are a fan of mystery/thriller novels you NEED Bookouture in your life!
I am hoping that The First to Die (Detectives King & Lane #2) will live up to my expectations when it arrives in the not so distant future.
I would like to thank Victoria Jenkins, Bookouture and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest and impartial review.
sarahwithersblogs's review
4.0
This book was received from the publisher in return for an honest review
I first read The Girls In The Water back in 2017, but for some reason it slipped through the cracks and I never reviewed it. I rated it a four on Goodreads at the time so I’d obviously enjoyed it. I have the next two books in the series on my Kindle waiting to be read and as I didn’t remember too much about this. So I thought I’d take advantage of my time off to reread ahead of getting started on the others.
DI Alex King and DC Chloe Lane are called to a scene when the body of a tortured young women washes up on the banks of a river running through the park next to Cardiff Castle. King and Lane face the daunting task of hunting down the killer, then a second woman is reported missing and the stakes get higher…
I thought this was a fantastic introduction to the series. The plot cleverly mixed two strands together, the main case and one with a personal link to DC Chloe Lane. At the same time Victoria manages to create a connection to the central characters which means by the time you reach the dramatic conclusion you’re invested and desperate for everything to work out.
Onto the characters, the story centres around DI Alex King and DC Chloe Lane and as a result these are the two characters I feel like I knew best by the time the story reached its conclusion. DI Alex King has been in post for a little while, we get a little background on her, the fact she’s divorced and struggled with fertility which is perhaps one of the reasons her marriage ended. The thing that interested me most about Alex’s history is something we only get small snippets of, the idea that some case went wrong, and nearly resulted in Alex resigning from the force. I NEED to know more about this, it sounds like it would make such a good book! Alex makes some questionable decisions regarding her ex, but who hasn’t done that! Overall I found her a really likeable character and competent detective.
Chloe was a really interesting character, I think that probably has a lot to do with the second plot strand that revolves around her and her history. No spoilers but the conclusion of her story was both thrilling and heartbreaking at the same time. Her backstory made me really feel so much for her. She definitely makes some unwise decisions and she pays the consequences for them, but if I was in her position, honestly I couldn’t swear I wouldn’t have done the same thing.
Final Thoughts
I’m certainly looking forward to catching up with the detectives again! This was a wonderful start to the series and I can’t wait to see what Victoria has in store for them next.
I first read The Girls In The Water back in 2017, but for some reason it slipped through the cracks and I never reviewed it. I rated it a four on Goodreads at the time so I’d obviously enjoyed it. I have the next two books in the series on my Kindle waiting to be read and as I didn’t remember too much about this. So I thought I’d take advantage of my time off to reread ahead of getting started on the others.
DI Alex King and DC Chloe Lane are called to a scene when the body of a tortured young women washes up on the banks of a river running through the park next to Cardiff Castle. King and Lane face the daunting task of hunting down the killer, then a second woman is reported missing and the stakes get higher…
I thought this was a fantastic introduction to the series. The plot cleverly mixed two strands together, the main case and one with a personal link to DC Chloe Lane. At the same time Victoria manages to create a connection to the central characters which means by the time you reach the dramatic conclusion you’re invested and desperate for everything to work out.
Onto the characters, the story centres around DI Alex King and DC Chloe Lane and as a result these are the two characters I feel like I knew best by the time the story reached its conclusion. DI Alex King has been in post for a little while, we get a little background on her, the fact she’s divorced and struggled with fertility which is perhaps one of the reasons her marriage ended. The thing that interested me most about Alex’s history is something we only get small snippets of, the idea that some case went wrong, and nearly resulted in Alex resigning from the force. I NEED to know more about this, it sounds like it would make such a good book! Alex makes some questionable decisions regarding her ex, but who hasn’t done that! Overall I found her a really likeable character and competent detective.
Chloe was a really interesting character, I think that probably has a lot to do with the second plot strand that revolves around her and her history. No spoilers but the conclusion of her story was both thrilling and heartbreaking at the same time. Her backstory made me really feel so much for her. She definitely makes some unwise decisions and she pays the consequences for them, but if I was in her position, honestly I couldn’t swear I wouldn’t have done the same thing.
Final Thoughts
I’m certainly looking forward to catching up with the detectives again! This was a wonderful start to the series and I can’t wait to see what Victoria has in store for them next.