Dark Water by Robert Bryndza

Detective Erika Foster, Book 3

Synopsis: 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.

Review: I didn’t read the first volume of this series, even if I really should take it because I loved the second one and I was impatient to dive into this third opus and I can tell you that I am delighted again!

We find Erika in a brand new team working on organized crime/narcotics and she’s not very happy about it. So, when on a case she finds the drugs she was looking for with a little girl’s body nearby, our heroine will do everything in her power to be responsible for this new investigation, even if her boss doesn’t want her to. By playing on her relationships, she still manages to do what she wants and yet… This tragic story is also tedious and complicated and Erika may well think that she will never be able to understand what is going on. This little girl who disappeared 26 years ago has left no trace and the mistakes of the old investigation are resurfacing, as is the press, which tracks our heroine at the slightest trace. And who is this man who spies on everything that is done to make sure that no one comes close to the truth?

I really appreciated this story. There are many trails that we follow with delight and that sometimes surprise us a lot. Erika will be quite badly treated and it will really not be easy for her to discover the truth and we can understand it with all the secrets that everyone seems to hide.

It was a breathless thriller full of ideas and and I had another great time with the story! I’m more than eager to read on and find all the characters! A great book!