The Dark Lake

By: Sarah Bailey

Narrated by: Kate Hosking

In a suspense thriller to rival Paula Hawkins and Tana French, a detective with secrets of her own hunts the killer of a woman who was the glamorous star of their high school.

Rose was lit by the sun, her beautiful face giving nothing away. Even back then, she was a mystery that I wanted to solve.

The lead homicide investigator in a rural town, Detective Sergeant Gemma Woodstock is deeply unnerved when a high school classmate is found strangled, her body floating in a lake. And not just any classmate, but Rosalind Ryan, whose beauty and inscrutability exerted a magnetic pull on Smithson High School, first during Rosalind's student years and then again when she returned to teach drama.

As much as Rosalind's life was a mystery to Gemma when they were students together, her death presents even more of a puzzle. What made Rosalind quit her teaching job in Sydney and return to her hometown? Why did she live in a small, run-down apartment when her father was one of the town's richest men? And despite her many admirers, did anyone in the town truly know her? Rosalind's enigmas frustrate and obsess Gemma, who has her own dangerous secrets - an affair with her colleague and past tragedies that may not stay in the past.

Brilliantly rendered, The Dark Lake has characters as compelling and mysteries as layered as the best thrillers from Gillian Flynn and Sophie Hannah.

©2017 Sarah Bailey (P)2017 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"Sarah Bailey combines the very best elements in this stunning debut thriller - a troubled detective still trying to find her way as a female investigator, a small town haunted by secrets both past and present, and a beautiful victim whose unsettling allure appears to be her biggest asset and largest downfall. With clever twists and all-too-human characters, this book will keep you racing toward the end." (Lisa Gardner, number one New York Times best-selling author of Right Behind You and Find Her)

Great Book...

I can honestly say, I enjoyed the book from start to finish. Sarah Bailey did an awesome job with her characters and Gemma lol I had to put her separated. Again, great read!

twists and turns.

I did live it. One of those books, you need to get through the first few chapters... Then you're hooked.
Great surprise ending

Couldn’t put it down

Audiobook was a great way to read/experience this book. Well done Sarah! I’ll look for more of her books.

Story moved slow.

The characters were not interesting. There were suspenseful moments within the story but not very many. I was surprised at the end, which made my reading the book worthwhile.

Good but could be better

I felt like this story needed a bit more time on an emotional conclusion and a bit less on catching the killer, who seemed obvious by halfway through. Overall good writing and narration, so I listened eagerly to the end to confirm how things ended!

Great book.

I enjoyed listening to this book. I thought the story was good. The characters were interesting and seemed real.

Good Story - main character

I started out really enjoying the book. However, by the end of book I couldn’t stand the main character. Just a terrible person.

Too much angst

Not enough detective story
Xxx xxx cxxx xxx xxx ccc ffff dddd ddd did ddd

This is a NOPE. I tried to keep listening

But found the protagonist is unlikable and the story line not engaging. This is not my first book by this author. This book however is tedious.
The one good moment was the quote from another book, The Velveteen Rabbit

2 stars might be generous...

I'm torn, it was entertaining at times but I found the reader sort of obnoxious... that may have been due to the sentence structure. It felt like a low budget movie where they cut from shot to shot too quickly and it read awkwardly, like there were too many periods.

I hated the protagonist so that basically ruined it for me overall but she literally suuuucks and I couldn't root for her.