The Dark Lake – Book Review

Title: The Dark Lake

Author: Sarah Bailey

Number of Pages: 440 pages

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Publication Date: May 24, 2017

Purchase: Thriftbooks//Amazon//Book Depository

My Rating: 2/5 stars

Synopsis from Goodreads:

In a suspense thriller to rival Paula Hawkins and Tana French, a detective with secrets of her own hunts the killer of a woman who was the glamorous star of their high school.

Rose was lit by the sun, her beautiful face giving nothing away. Even back then, she was a mystery that I wanted to solve.

The lead homicide investigator in a rural town, Detective Sergeant Gemma Woodstock is deeply unnerved when a high school classmate is found strangled, her body floating in a lake. And not just any classmate, but Rosalind Ryan, whose beauty and inscrutability exerted a magnetic pull on Smithson High School, first during Rosalind’s student years and then again when she returned to teach drama.

As much as Rosalind’s life was a mystery to Gemma when they were students together, her death presents even more of a puzzle. What made Rosalind quit her teaching job in Sydney and return to her hometown? Why did she live in a small, run-down apartment when her father was one of the town’s richest men? And despite her many admirers, did anyone in the town truly know her?

Rosalind’s enigmas frustrate and obsess Gemma, who has her own dangerous secrets—an affair with her colleague and past tragedies that may not stay in the past.

My Thoughts:

Gemma Woodstock is an awful protagonist and narrator. I wanted nothing to do with her and her world. I wanted her to vanish and someone else take her place. Her life is a mess and she does not seem to want to fix any of it. I had a hard time getting past this because it drains you. Have you ever had a friend who refuses to do anything to help themselves despite having many opportunities? Gemma is that friend.

The writing and plot are amazing. That’s the only thing that salvages this book. The mystery was interesting and left you wanting to know every little twist and turn that goes into it. At the same time, this could have easily been cut by a couple hundred pages.

I wasn’t happy with the ending. The big reveal wasn’t satisfying enough to stick out the 400 pages. It wasn’t surprising or anything like that. It could have been done significantly better.

I’m not likely to recommend this to mystery and thriller fans; however, the writing alone would make me check out the second book in this series.

Have you read this? If so, what were your thoughts?

Lets talk about it in the comments.

This was actually really hard to write, not because my feelings were mixed on the book but my life feels like it has fallen apart in the last couple of days. My sweet Luna has been running around the Rainbow Bridge since Wednesday.