*** REVIEW *** 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.

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.

 

 

Dark Water is the third book in the Erika Foster series by Robert Bryndza.  In this episode, Erika fights for a cold case when she finds a child’s skeleton while searching a lake for evidence to arrest some drug dealers.  

Erika puts her team together, including Moss and Peterson, whom she works well with, and some other cops assigned by command who don’t want Erika to succeed.  In addition to this tough case, Erika still carries baggage from an earlier investigation that got several police killed, including her husband.  

The search for the murderer of Jessica Waters was very tense and kept me engaged from beginning to end.  I had several people who popped on and off my culprit list.   However, Bryndza surprised me with his twists and unexpected revelations.  The twists are well done and not obvious.  I was totally fooled.
The story has a little bit of everything,bad cops, a family with secrets, and someone trying to stop the investigation or, at a minimum, turn the investigation in another direction.  

I love Erika Foster.  She is the type of character that interests me.  She isn’t the most lovable person.  She can be short with her staff, angry with her family, and afraid to let anyone close.  In other stories, a character like Erika is often accepted as a male cop, but many people can’t warm up to a gruff and career-focused female character..  It's a shame.  I’m not in that camp.  I enjoy learning more about these damaged characters as the series progresses.  I have a feeling that there is more to Erika that we can't even guess yet.

Dark Water is another excellent addition to this series.  I like the direction Bryndza is going, and I’m anxious to learn more.  Also, I love that my Kindle Unlimited subscription includes both the ebook and the audio. Jan Cramer is one of my favorite narrators.  She know what she is doing and how to captivate the reader. 

5 Stars