The Girl in the Ice

The Girl in the Ice

• Monday, 15 February 2016

• Publisher: Bookouture (February 12, 2016)
• Publication Date: February 12, 2016
• Sold by: Amazon
• Language: English
• ASIN: B019G6DSDE

• ISBN 9781910751763

  3 Star review

  Excerpt from publishers summary:

  "When a young boy discovers the body of a woman beneath a thick sheet of ice in a South London park, Detective Erika Foster is called in to lead the murder investigation.

  The victim, a beautiful young socialite, appeared to have the perfect life. Yet when Erika begins to dig deeper, she starts to connect the dots between the murder and the killings of three prostitutes, all found strangled, hands bound and dumped in water around London."

  My Review

  I don't like to disagree with everyone else, but I was asked for an honest review in return for my Netgalley ARC and this is it.

  The prologue, written from the victims point of view, seemed promising, full of intrigue and tension, and the anticipation of getting a good read hooked me. Sorry to say it, but for me it all went downhill from there on, my disillusionment began with Erika. Erika is the lead character and, like so many fictional female detectives, is emotionally damaged and socially inept. She resents authority and goes her own way against all orders and common sense. She is hell bent on her own theory and won't cooperate with anyone else. That her presence will engender resentment from her new colleagues pretty much goes without saying. I'm not even sure she should even have been placed in that particular setting. Would the Metropolitan Police Force, with all their resources really bring in an officer from another territory to investigate a murder? Would the officers really act in the manner portrayed? I don't think it likely, not these days but then, I'm sure the author would have used the services of a police media advisor.

  There were far too many stereotypical characters for my liking, even the old prostitute is a dirty, foul mouthed, ill mannered, drug addicted woman with crooked brown teeth. The working classes and criminals are portrayed as arrogant and ill mannered because they are poor, and the are rich portrayed as arrogant and ill mannered because they are privileged.

  I thought it was a real shame because the actual plot itself is quite good and that is what earns it the 3rd star. It failed for me though because the whole story ran along predictable lines, including the usual part where the protagonist finds herself facing almost certain death (and that's not a spoiler because we know it's a serial). Having said that, judging by the number of 5 stars and the gushing comments, this style of writing must be exactly what many people want to read, I'm just not one of them.

  ARC provided by Netgalley and Bookouture in return for an honest review.