The Dark Lake by Sarah Bailey
A Mystery/Thriller, 2017 by Allen & Unwin, 440 Pages
What I Didn’t Like:
- Unlikeable MC. Adultery, selfish nature, hidden secrets, and a generally spoiled attitude made her my least favorite kind of character. That made this one very difficult to really enjoy.
- Anticlimactic ending. I wanted more. I wanted something different. This felt rushed or like a last minute decision.
- The victim is a flat character. I kept expecting to get more depth to her as the detectives worked the case but she stayed flat. We know nothing about her as a person (other than that she’s beautiful) even when the book ends.
What I Did Like:
- Setting this one in Australia in summer was a good choice. Often books associate Christmas time with winter and snow. I liked the change and the glimpse at that hemisphere.
- Scott (I think that’s his name) is a good character. Funny he’s the one I picked out since he’s on maybe 10% of these pages and he gets no respect, but he is the one I picked. He’s a good dad and he deserves so much better!
Who Should Read This One:
- Wow, that’s tough. If you want to try an unreliable narrator detective mystery you might like this one more than I did. I usually enjoy the unreliable narrator but this felt like a bad decision since our unreliable narrator is also a detective. I don’t know, something about that just felt too heavy.
My Rating: 2 Stars
- No connection to any characters and an anticlimactic ending are problematic for me in a mystery.
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