Detective Kay Sharp vowed she’d never return to her childhood home. On the night of her thirteenth birthday her broken family was shattered beyond repair, and leaving was the only option. Unable to fix her own past, she’s been an FBI profiler for over a decade, desperate to save others.
But now Kay’s back and only she can solve the crime that has rocked the tight-knit community of Mount Chester to its core. A dead woman has been found by Silent Lake under the dew-covered Fall leaves, her hair braided and her body wrapped in a blanket. This small town may be a stranger to murder, but Kay recognizes the signs of a serial killer. She’s certain that the ritualistic nature of the scene means it’s just a matter of time until he strikes again––unless she catches him first.
As yellow do-not-cross tape flaps in the biting wind, another woman is reported missing. Kay leads a frenzied search for out-of-towner Alison Nolan and when she locates her car, Kay’s blood turns to ice as she shines her flashlight on the backseat and sees a teddy bear. Alison’s six-year-old little girl, Hazel, has vanished too.
Kay knows the missing-person investigation could turn into a murder case at any second. But as she hunts for the culprit, her own past closes in on her. Can she find the killer before it’s too late? And will the secret she thought she’d buried stay that way.
Review
The Girl from Silent Lake is the first book in a new series featuring Kay Sharp, a trained FBI Profiler. When Kay’s brother is jailed for 6 months, Kay leaves her lucrative job with the FBI and heads home to Mount Chester. While at home, she discovers that her small childhood town is being stalked by a serial killer who is targeting women. Kay offers to help the local detectives find the killer before he strikes again.
The story begins with Kay’s trip back home and this part had me scratching my head. I wondered why she needed to leave her job to basically go house sit although she also planned to visit her brother in jail. Why not hire someone to take care of the home? Well, this part of the mystery was solved with a jaw –dropping twist that I never could have guessed.
With multiple narrators including the Unsub, I was kept at the edge of my seat waiting for detectives to solve the mystery. The Unsub was cold, calculating, extremely smart and just as equally disturbed. At some point, I started thinking that the detectives will never catch the person. This killer knew all about concealing evidence and his MO was so complex that the detectives had more than one puzzle to solve.
There is a lot to love about this book. Unfortunately, I struggled a bit with some of the sections that I felt dragged on a little. I also feel like I am getting tired of the ‘lone female lead detective who rebels and solves the case on her own’ trope. I mean Kay is smart and I love that she was a profiler. However, she seemed to run the show almost single handedly with the other detectives looking a bit incompetent in the end.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed this book and can’t wait for the second book. Suspenseful, action-packed, unpredictable with a dark, twisted Unsub, fans of serial –killer cop procedurals will enjoy this one.
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