Title: The Girls In The Lake
Author: Helen Phifer
Publisher: Bookouture
Publication Date: 9th December 2019
Format: eBook
This book was received from the publishers in exchange for an honest review
About the book:
Peering over the side of the boat, the glare of early morning sun catches on something pale in the inky water. The boy’s curious fingertips break the surface, pulling up a tangle of long blonde hair from the reeds below…
The discovery of a young student floating face down in Lake Windermere, her naked skin almost translucent in the freezing water, looks like yet another tragic teen suicide. But the victim’s lack of clothes make Forensic Pathologist Beth Adams want to investigate further. Anything to distract her from the arrival of her abusive ex-boyfriend’s body on the mortuary table that morning.
With witnesses keeping tight-lipped and any clues washed away by the tides, it’s up to Beth to find the evidence her team needs. But then another girl is found in the lake, this time still clinging to life. She tells them she was at a party on a boat, and that she was pushed…
As more bodies surface, Beth finds tiny traces of boat paint present on each victim. It’s a critical lead that links these attacks back to a tragic accident involving a group of school children years ago.
Faced with a killer hungry for revenge, and with her own life spiralling out of control, it’s going to take every ounce of skill and determination for Beth to catch this monster before he takes another innocent life. But will Beth realise he’s been right beside her all along?
An absolutely unputdownable serial killer thriller that will have you sleeping with the lights on. Fans of Patricia Gibney, LJ Ross and Angela Marsons will have to hold on tight for this nail-biting rollercoaster ride!
What I Thought:
I really enjoyed the first in the Beth Adams series when it was introduced earlier in the year so I was excited to get my hands on this follow up!
Beth finds herself the pathologist on call when a body is found beside a party yacht moored at the lake. With nothing but a hunch to tell her it’s anything more than an accidental drowning there’s little she, or the local detective Josh Walker can do. However when a second body is found in similar circumstances Beth can’t help but investigate herself.
From the very first pages this book caught my attention, I was eager to find out what was happening with Beth after the events at the end of the last story and I wasn’t disappointed. The plot was well paced, and the shortish chapters means it feels like you absolutely fly through the book.
My only concern with this series is how long the concept can continue on for. There’s a certain suspension of disbelief that you have to apply to the book. Beth does things you just wouldn’t expect a forensic pathologist to do, and surely there’s only so many times she can do that before someone with the police force says something. That said TV shows like CSI have had forensic scientists doing things they wouldn’t normally do for decades! I’m more than happy to keep reading them if Helen keeps writing them.
I feel like we didn’t learn that much more about Beth during this book, despite her having to deal with a lot personally, including a death. I hope that in the next book we see her continuing to grow and gain confidence after everything she’s gone through.
I really liked Josh in the first book, I still liked him in this book but there were quite a few places where I would have liked to give him a good shake and tell him not to be so stupid and risk ruining a good thing. I’m pleased by the ending things seemed more positive and I look forward to finding out what comes next.
Final Thoughts
A great continuation of the Beth Adams series from Helen Phifer. I’m looking forward to seeing what’s next for Beth so I’m hoping there will be a third book!
The Beth Adams series – via Goodreads
More Helen Phifer on SWB
About The Author
Helen Phifer is the #1 Bestselling crime and horror novelist of the Annie Graham and Lucy Harwin series. Helen lives in a small town called Barrow-in-Furness with her husband and five children. She has lived in the same town since she was born. It gets some bad press, but it really is a lovely place to live. Surrounded by miles of coastline and not too far away from the beautiful Lake District, where she likes to visit as often as possible. She has always loved writing and reading since the days she learnt how to in infant school. She loves reading books that make the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end and make her afraid to go to the toilet, alone in the middle of the night. She is eternally grateful to Stephen King, Dean Koontz, James Herbert and Graham Masterton for scaring her senseless in her teenage years. Unable to find enough of the scary stories she loves to read, she decided to write her own.
Connect With Helen
Website // Twitter // Facebook // Instagram
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As always if you’ve read the book let me know what you thought! If you’ve not read it yet will my review convince you to pick it up?
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