‘In the world of missing persons every second counts, but with the clock ticking…’
In Deep Water is Book 2 in the Cat Connolly police/crime fiction series from Sam Blake. Published by Bonnier Zaffre on 6th April 2017 (today!!!), this was a book I had been eager to get my paws on for quite some time. So my thanks to Bonnier Zaffre and Sam Blake for my ARC which I have reviewed unbiased and voluntarily.
Please continue reading for my thoughts…
Book Blurb:
Good intentions can be deadly . . .
Cat Connolly is back at work after the explosion that left her on life support. Struggling to adjust to the physical and mental scars, her workload once again becomes personal when her best friend Sarah Jane Hansen, daughter of a Pulitzer-winning American war correspondent, goes missing.
Sarah Jane is a journalism student who was allegedly working on a story that even her father thought was too dangerous.
With Sarah Jane’s father uncontactable, Cat struggles to find a connection between Sarah Jane’s work and her disappearance. But Sarah Jane is not the only one in deep water when Cat comes face to face with a professional killer . . .
For fans of TENNISON and MISSING PRESUMED, comes the gripping follow-up to the number 1 bestseller, LITTLE BONES.
Having read and thoroughly enjoyed Little Bones, Book 1 in the Cat Connolly series from Sam Blake (See review HERE), I knew i could expect a good read with In Deep Water.
Cat Connolly is back on the force after an horrific crime-related explosion that nearly took her life. Refusing to let the trauma relating to the incident consume her, Cat is back in the gym, intent on regaining her position as a top kick boxing champion. Honestly, reading about the exercise regime of this woman would wear you out!!!! She’s a phenomenal athlete with steely determination and a drive to be the best at everything she does.
Reunited with her colleagues, Cat is readjusting to her busy schedule when she discovers that her closest friend, Sarah Jane Hansen, has gone missing. Her immediate gut reaction is that something serious is after happening. Sarah Jane is the daughter of a CNN journalist, Ted Hansen, a man who has travelled to some of the most dangerous locations in the world. After separating from his wife, Sarah Jane became the product of a broken marriage but she was not one to garner sympathy. She worked hard, always fighting against the image the world had of her and willing to prove, to herself and all, that she was just so much more than a pretty face. Cat knows, although at time scatter-brained, it was not like Sarah Jane to just disappear on a whim.
Cat confides in the one person she knows she can trust and who also knew Sarah Jane, her boss DI Dawson O’ Rourke. Initially O’ Rourke is skeptical. Sarah Jane is an adult. She has the right to disappear for awhile if she wishes.
But O’ Rourke and Cat have a very strong bond and he trusts her instincts. These instincts have been correct many times in the past, though with some dire consequences, yet O’ Rourke decides to take on board Cat’s concerns and starts to look into the possibility of Sarah Jane’s life being in trouble.
As they follow a trail that keeps leading them up a dead end, Cat and O’ Rourke begin to suspect that Sarah Jane has got herself involved in something that is way over her head. As they trawl through CCTV cameras and question those who were aware of her last known location, Cat begins to seriously worry about her friend’s safety.
In Deep Water is a book that will keep you completely immersed in it’s pages. With the backdrop of Dublin city and the hills of Wicklow, the reader is taken on a fast paced, seriously heart-thumping race to the finish. Cat Connolly is a gutsy heroine. She is a born fighter…’The Boss called it her fight instinct. The raw emotion – aggression, if they were truthful – that made her a winner. Fight and win. Kill or be killed.’
Sam Blake takes the reader on a journey revealing a very seedy, dark world that exists behind closed doors. The fear of some of the characters is palpable. There is a loneliness etched into many of the pages which you will have to read to understand what I mean. We are exposed to a cast of unsavory personalities who have little respect for a life lost. There are scenes in this book that will make your stomach turn, to think that there are human beings in our civilised culture capable of such acts of debasement and exploitation.
In Deep Water is a crime/police procedural but it is also more than that. There is a very human story running through the pages. Not alone do we get to learn a little more about Cat Connolly but we also get to learn more about the society that we have created today. It is a very frightening depiction and yet, unfortunately very real.
Purchase Link ~ In Deep Water
Sam Blake is a pseudonym for Vanessa Fox O’Loughlin, the founder of The Inkwell Group publishing consultancy and the hugely popular national writing resources website Writing.ie.
She is Ireland’s leading literary scout and has assisted many award winning and bestselling authors to publication. Vanessa has been writing fiction since her husband set sail across the Atlantic for eight weeks and she had an idea for a book.
You can find out more about Sam Blake at Sam Blake Books and @samblakebooks
To find out more about Vanessa you can check out writing.ie and The Inkwell Group and on Twitter
The Inkwell Group ~ @inkwellHQ
writing.ie ~ @writing_ie
I’m so looking forward to this one!
It’s fab Noelle. Gritty and fast paced. I loved it.. x