Dark Water by Robert Bryndza

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.   

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I first stumbled upon the DCI Erika Foster series when I was on Amazon searching for a good crime/mystery book. The reviews seemed positive, but I still wasn't too sure about it. Then, not too long after I saw a review for it up on Czai's blog, and she basically had me sold. I really enjoyed the first book in the series, The Girl in the Ice and quickly moved onto the next, The Night Stalker. It's no surprise then that I have been eagerly anticipating the release of the third book, Dark Water. I honestly think I love this series nearly as much as I love J.K. Rowling's Cormoran Strike series. It's that good!

Usually when I read a crime/mystery book and it's the first in a series I'm satisfied reading just the one book, because most of the time they can be read as a standalone, which is great. I'm also usually in it for the mystery, so character likability, etc doesn't much matter to me. However, like the Cormoran Strike series it's both the mystery and characters that has me devouring these books.

The thing I love about this series is that it keeps you guessing. It's a really well done whodunnit, that isn't at all predictable. Dark Water features another great mystery, and although I wouldn't say it's my favourite mystery so far it still played out brilliantly. On the character side of things I liked the growth Erika goes through, it was great seeing her develop. She is a no nonesense kind of main character, whose tell it like it is attitude I adore. 

One last thing I want to mention before I wrap this review up is diversity. It's something I find lacking in the Cormoran Strike series, which sucks because London is a really diverse place. So, it's been great seeing so much of it in this series. What I like about how it's been handled here is that it's not just been thrown in there for show, it comes across as genuine.

Overall, I flew through Dark Water and am really looking forward to book 4!

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