I have read a couple of Katerina Diamond’s novels previously and enjoyed them, so I was very pleased to be invited onto the blog tour for her latest book Woman in the Water.
Woman in the Water begins with the discovery of a woman, alive after being submerged in icy water. She is dragged out by Detective Adrian Miles but refuses to give her name or say what happened to her. When she then disappears from her hospital bed Adrian and his partner Imogen Grey start to investigate. When a second body is found, the Detectives’ investigations lead them to a local couple. The woman is eventually identified and it seems as if she is an abused woman who refuses to implicate her husband in any crime. However as Adrian delves deeper into the case, he soon starts to struggle as memories of his childhood start to surface and a horrific attack causes him to start questioning himself and his relationships.
Woman in the Water was a good read. I really enjoyed Katerina’s writing style. From the discovery of the body (which nearly made me jump out of my seat whilst reading) through the gripping build up of the case surrounding the mystery woman via the relationship between Adrian and Imogen this was a rollercoaster read. It is certainly not for the fainthearted. There were some quite graphic scenes and one particularly brutal episode was hard to read and changed the focus of the book. Covering domestic abuse, corruption, rape, murder this is a dark disturbing read, but is dealt with in a sensitive way and I don’t think these are issues that should be shied away from.
I like the main characters although as I haven’t read all of the previous novels by Katerina Diamond I would probably have had more empathy with Adrian and Imogen had I known their whole backstory. This would probably have helped understand a bit more as to why they acted the way they did, especially in their interactions with each other. However this story does still work as a standalone. It is a gripping read that is hard to put down.
I would recomend this novel, although I would suggest reading the series from beginning. The missing chunks of background intrigued me enough to want to go back and start the whole series from the beginning, which is exactly what I think I might do!
Woman in the Water is available here
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