Dark Water - Caro Ramsay

Dark Water begins at a furious pace. A young woman on her way home from a New Year’s Eve party in 1999, 40 minutes before heralding in the new millennia. Driving conditions are poor and visibility is at a dangerous level on slippery roads. Suddenly a car drives into view and forces her off the road. The time is 23:25.

Caro Ramsay was born and educated in Glasgow. Now in her late thirties, she lives in a village on the West Coast of Scotland with an odd selection of stray dogs including Emily, the demented pit bull terrier. Dark Water is the third book in the Costello/Anderson series it follows Absolution (2008) and Singing to the dead (2009).

One of the main advantages with starting a new book is you really have no idea what you are going to get. We all, as readers, have expectations. However, until you begin the literary journey held within the covers you can never be certain if the pages contain a gripping and well told story or not. Available in Paperback from Penguin.

Dark Water had me from the very first page, the Prologue. It set the scene for the entire book. It was atmospheric, descriptive, suspenseful and gripping.

When a hideously disfigured body is found in the attic of a deserted tenement it began a journey full of discovery and pain that with each turn of the page seemed to multiply. Little do investigating officers DI Anderson and DS Costello know then that the murder would open up old wounds long since closed.

Partickhill police station is on its last legs, DCI Rebecca Quinn is close to retirement and has one big case left in her, solve it and Partickhill’s future is assured, fail and they lose not only the rundown station but a killer walks free. Welcome Mr Click.

Once a formal identity is made, the detectives connect the new discovery with the attempted murder of Emily Corbett a little over 10 years ago. It appears to be a revenge killing and the police focus on solving the murder of Stephen Whyte. Little do they know that when one door closes, another one opens, and another and another.

You’ll have to have your wits about you, Ramsay introduces more than her fair share of characters, each one with their own back-story. It can get confusing at times, there’s so much going on in this book you need to take stock once in a while just to make sure you are on the right track. This by no means is a negative; it’s a book that will keep you thinking until the end.

I had an inkling as to who I thought was responsible but I just couldn’t tie everything together. This is the first time I’ve read a book by Caro Ramsay but I can, with surety, say it won’t be my last.

Set in and around Glasgow the book certainly has that gritty Scottish feel to it. The fog hangs around throughout the book like a bad hangover after Hogmanay. You are effortlessly transported to the sub-zero temperatures, feeling every cold chill the wind and fog bring. Once the book sucks you in, the fog doesn’t lift until the final page – it’ll have you guessing to the end.

Intensly descriptive and with its fair share of Scottish dialogue, Rab C Nesbitt would be a proud man or is that a flatulent dog? You’ll know what I mean when you read the book! Despite numerous murders, attacks and illicit affairs Ramsay has with ease hit the nail squarely on its head with Dark Water.

As enveloping as the dense Scottish fog, this non-stop psychological thriller will astound. Put it down … I dare you!

Highly recommended. Available in Paperback from Penguin.