Despite loving "The Dark Lake" - the first Detective Gemma Woodstock in the series and being thrown straight into a murder at the start of this book, I found it overall to be slow, and rather repetitive.
When a homeless man - Walter Miller- is found brutally murdered for no apparent reason, Senior Detective Gemma Woodstock is tasked with finding his killer. However a second, similar murder of up and coming actor Sterling Wade, whilst filming for a zombie movie, takes the focus away from Miller's death and into a world of celebrities, fame and high profile egos.
Set in Melbourne, Australia there is plenty of atmospheric descriptions to set the scene and it is a very character driven story focusing on Gemma's previous relationship with the father of her little boy Ben and how she copes mentally with being separated from her son. She is basically a walking disaster, going from man to man, unable to maintain a normal relationship. Her working partnership with Detective Fleet was also very fractured but I actually liked him and preferred him in the story to Gemma.
Something just didn't hit the mark for me in this one as much as it did in the previous book though the last couple of chapters and the ending did redeem it slightly, even if a little predictable.
Sarah Bailey writes exceedingly well and allows for the reader to engage in an easy to follow story, however it was too slow for my overall enjoyment and I'm not sure if I wish to follow Gemma in a further instalment in her troubled life.
3.5 stars
When a homeless man - Walter Miller- is found brutally murdered for no apparent reason, Senior Detective Gemma Woodstock is tasked with finding his killer. However a second, similar murder of up and coming actor Sterling Wade, whilst filming for a zombie movie, takes the focus away from Miller's death and into a world of celebrities, fame and high profile egos.
Set in Melbourne, Australia there is plenty of atmospheric descriptions to set the scene and it is a very character driven story focusing on Gemma's previous relationship with the father of her little boy Ben and how she copes mentally with being separated from her son. She is basically a walking disaster, going from man to man, unable to maintain a normal relationship. Her working partnership with Detective Fleet was also very fractured but I actually liked him and preferred him in the story to Gemma.
Something just didn't hit the mark for me in this one as much as it did in the previous book though the last couple of chapters and the ending did redeem it slightly, even if a little predictable.
Sarah Bailey writes exceedingly well and allows for the reader to engage in an easy to follow story, however it was too slow for my overall enjoyment and I'm not sure if I wish to follow Gemma in a further instalment in her troubled life.
3.5 stars