Blood will out.

Author : Robert Bryndza
Title : The Girl In The Ice
Published : 17/02/2016
Pages : 394
Format : Paperback
Publisher : Bookouture

When a young boy discovers the body of a woman beneath a thick sheet of ice in a South London park, Detective Erika Foster is called in to lead the murder investigation. The victim, a beautiful young socialite, appeared to have the perfect life. Yet when Erika begins to dig deeper, she starts to connect the dots between the murder and the killings of three prostitutes, all found strangled, hands bound and dumped in water around London. What dark secrets is the girl in the ice hiding?

    

     I was intrigued by the blurb on the back of this book. The idea of a serial killer on the lose in London is one that has played out many time both in real life and literature over the years. But with the mix of social standing in the choice of victims was something new to me. I'd also heard the authors name come up more than once in high esteem.

 

     The charters are a complex mixture. First and foremost we follow Erika as she try's to navigate the case. She is in her own way a broken women. dealing with the problems of her past. She is displaced first from her home country and then from her new city in the north down to London to try and help solve this case.  She gave me the impression of someone who is willing to fight for what she believes in. Even at the cost of her job. While at times she may doubt her ability to work as a police officer. She is not prepared to give up. For the most part she surrounds her self with other officers that will help her through what turns out to be a difficult case. Butting heads with the establishment of the British police force and the upper classes. It was also a nice touch to see how the class system of her own country came in to play even in a country that is not her own when she comes across some one who is. I find it a strange one that just because some is born in to or marries wealth can see them selves as above others.  

 

     Bryndza has given use a taut thriller and one that is well paced. he manages to give us twist in the plot that you cant always see coming.  And with this we get to delve in to the twisted mind of the killer. His use of an upper class family is one that sometimes remind me of the old noir detective story's. Their complexity is one I found interesting as it give layers to motives. I would imagine its being far to easy to play of the socialite as the air head bimbo who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. But this is not the case hear. While as you would expect from a highly connected family the use this influence to try and push the case. Between the distinctive characters and the dark and ever changing plot he mange's to give us a story that you will want to fly through. And that is exactly what I did. At no point did I feel he was adding substance to the story just to fill out pages.

 

     Erika is a character I came to be very interested with her continued adventures are ones I will follow avidly . The author has given us people you will want to learn more about. And a plot that remains gripping the whole way thought.