When first time novelist Belinda Bauer arrived on the scene with a veritable bang last year, so much so, winning the 2010 CWA Gold Dagger with Blacklands, she made the literary world stop, catch its breath and introduce a new audience to the pleasures of a small village named Shipcott – Exmoor.

Darkside by Belinda Bauer

Bauer undoubtedly had a lot to live up to with her follow up Darkside, her second crime novel set in the same quaint village with all its idiosyncrasies and interesting characters, she certainly moves up a gear and delivers a very different and thought provoking novel.

Believe it or not, as the title alludes to, Darkside is dark – very dark! There is no light and shade, just a deep and deadly black – apart from when the snow falls that is. There is no let up, the book is intense – it’s as if Belinda has suddenly grown up and reached puberty (I say that tongue in cheek and with due deference of course!). This is an adult book make no bones about it, gone is the young hero from Blacklands and in his place, a variety of policemen hell-bent on catching a prolific killer.

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The narrative is strong, powerful and all-consuming – Very well paced from beginning to end, I read the book from cover to cover over the course of two exciting days. Bauer’s characterisation is flawless taking great care to introduce, backfill and develop each character with the same attentiveness no matter how key they were to the story – it was also nice to revisit Steven Lamb, now a teenager, competent skateboarder and paperboy at £11.50 a week.

Margaret Priddy lies paralysed in her own home following a horse-riding accident three years earlier. She hears a noise and realises an intruder has entered her home. There’s nothing she can do – she screams – but no noise is evident. All she can do is lie and wait for the inevitable. The killer strikes – for Margaret Priddy her life is over.

Local bobby Jonas Holly is out of his depth and calls in Detective Chief Inspector Marvel and his crime squad. Side-lined, Jonas tries in vein to make his presence felt but Marvel has no intention of allowing this country yokel into his team. DCI Marvel is a know it all copper, a loathsome character who likes a drink or two and the only good idea is a Marvel idea.

‘I feel like Elmer Fudd’, said Reynolds, and when Marvel showed no recognition, added, ‘Where da wabbit’?

Belinda Bauer

Marvel and Holly clash relentlessly and no matter how hard Holly tries to prove himself, he is always on the outside looking in. When Holly discovers a second body the investigation intensifies and a connection is made between the two murders by virtue of a human hair. There’s no let-up in the case and the killer strikes again – a vicious and unjust crime that has the village in shock. Can they solve the murders, are they related and who could have such little disregard for human life?

The final 40 pages were captivating. I couldn’t turn the pages quickly enough – my desperation escalating as my thought process went into overdrive. Surely he’s the killer – maybe it’s her – I didn’t see that coming! What a climax! Exhausted, I closed the back cover, set the book down and reflected on what had gone before.

A magnificent novel, Darkside will keep you guessing right to the very last second. Intensely atmospheric, it’ll have you holding your breath in parts; such is the effortless narrative the book affords. Belinda Bauer is back with a vengeance – although not as strong as her first novel Darkside is intense and well worth a read – as we say in Wales – Ardderchog! (Excellent!).

Published by Transworld “Darkside” is available from Book Depository & Amazon Now