Book reviews

Book review: Woman in the Water by Katerina Diamond


Title: Woman in the Water

Author: Katerina Diamond

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Publisher: Avon

Publication date: 11th November 2019

My rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Summary:

“I’m alive. But I can’t be saved . . .

When a woman’s body is found submerged in icy water, police are shocked to find she is alive. But she won’t disclose her name, or what happened to her – even when a second body is discovered. And then she disappears from her hospital bed.

Detectives Adrian Miles and Imogen Grey follow their only lead to the home of Reece Corrigan, and when his wife Angela walks in, they immediately recognise her. She’s the woman from the river, with her injuries carefully masked.

The more they dig into the couple, the less they understand about them.

Why have people in their past been hurt, or vanished?

And why doesn’t Angela want to be saved?

My review:

A woman is found horribly bruised in a river and moments after a man’s body is also discovered close by. The team of experts, comprising of detectives Adrian Miles, Imogen Grey and their teammates, are working against time to solve the puzzle in order to protect the woman and avoid another murder.

The beginning of this book was exceptional. The first few chapters captured my attention and I was glued to the book as I read on, trying to understand why the mystery woman ran away from the hospital during a murder investigation. The plot thickened as the mystery woman was identified as Angela Corrigan and more characters were introduced who were later revealed to be enemies of her powerful and abusive husband, Reece Corrigan. The pace was steady and seemed perfect for this stage of the novel, with just enough details disclosed to pique the reader’s interest.

Around the halfway point the story line shifted from the murder investigation to Adrian’s and Imogen’s relationship and it was at this point that I lost interest. Although I enjoy seeing snippets into the detectives’ lives in a crime series, I felt that the author took it a little too far in this book as at one point the main crime appeared to be completely forgotten. A series of events lead to a tragedy in Adrian’s story line and, although the author handled this with care and sensitivity, it felt too brusque and unnecessarily detailed. The constant interaction between Adrian and Imogen became stale and the reminders of how inappropriate their relationship is in their professional environment were too repetitive. I was completely invested in the Corrigan’s connection to the murder investigation but had no desire to delve into the detectives’ personal lives.

Several sensitive topics were discussed in Woman in the Water and the author handled them with care. I would have preferred a deeper focus on the crime and less of an emphasis on the recurring characters however I understand that this book is part of a series which also features the detectives so it is fair to bring up past character traits and relationships. An unexpected ending and shocking twist helped to assemble the last few lose ends in a fast-paced and exciting conclusion. Overall, Woman in the Water features a series of interesting characters and despite the few issues I had with this book it still remains a solid addition to the series.

Woman in the Water is out to buy next Monday!

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing a free advanced reader’s copy in exchange for my honest review.

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