thriller

Watching from the Dark is the follow up to She Lies In Wait featuring DCI Jonah Sheens. I loved She Lies In Wait and Watching From The Dark does not disappoint!

In this book, Zoe, a promising young art student, turns up dead in her flat. Her secret boyfriend appears to have heard her being murdered via an open Skype channel. This leads Jonah and his team down a series of pathways that eventually result in a nailbiting showdown with the real killer.

There's a lovely immediacy and authenticity in the characters and the way they are described, and you feel engaged in their emotions in a way that is all too often rare in crime fiction. Everything has a light touch and moves along at a breathless pace, and I finished it in about three sittings.

Would wholeheartedly recommend to anyone. ( )

This was a slog. It picked up a bit before the end but I feel like it took way too long to finish this
Spoiler Alert for personal reference. It’s the wife ( )

Watching From the Dark by Gytha Lodge is a 2020 Random House publication.

When Adrian Poole logs on the internet to accept a Skype call with Zoe, his girlfriend, he’s annoyed to discover she’s not in the camera’s view.

But, as he continues to watch, he believes something bad has happed to
Zoe. But, because of the circumstances of their relationship, instead of calling the police, like any other concerned person would, he leaves an anonymous message, instead.

It’s not until DCI Jonah Sheen happens across the report that Zoe’s body is found. Once he’s gathered his team, the unit must determine why anyone would want to murder Zoe.

This means interviewing her friends, family, and neighbors. As they dig into Zoe’s life, a complex web of manipulations, secrets, and lies, creates a number of possible suspects and motives, which keeps the team- and the reader- guessing, second guessing, and confused until the bitter end.

The current investigation is alternated with the Zoe’s voice, detailing her life leading up to her death, including her interactions with friends, colleagues, and of course, Adrian Poole.

This approach is one also used in the first installment, and I think it adds a haunting, atmospheric quality to what is, for all intents and purposes, a police procedural- which seldom comes with many bells and whistles.

Lodge again keeps the primary focus on the murder victim and the suspects, although we do get a closer glimpse of Sheen’s complicated private life.

For some reason, the atmosphere here reminds me a bit of Deborah Crombie’s series, only without the personal touches and developed private lives of the star detectives.

I wouldn’t mind if this series added a little more of those personal asides, but since we are only two books in, I’m thinking the recurring characters will slowly develop as the series continues.

As to the criminal case, the plot turns into a fascinating drama, and like the detectives, I thought I knew for sure who the murderer was, only to waffle and change my mind multiple times. I was constantly trying to work it out.

Overall, a fantastic effort by Gytha Lodge. This series is very promising and is one I will not let myself get behind on! I’ve already queued up the next installment!!

4 stars ( )

Another book down.. many more to go. Looking forward to reading the next one in the series as soon as it's up. ( )