This book starts in the past, with a mother punishing her son for looking at a porn magazine. He then threatens that one day he will get his revenge and kill her. The book then jumps to the first victim Lola being found and now Detectives Alex King and Chloe Lane are on the case before the killer strikes again. I have to say this part of the story was very slow-paced and felt very dragged out and then eventually when the killer was caught it seemed rushed. The other storyline is about Chloe Lane, she has been getting messages from someone known as The Serpent about the case of Emily Phillips. Years ago, Emily's suicide was staged to cover up the murder. Chloe's brother Luke was arrested and convicted of murder, but before he could be officially charged it was said that he took his own life and committed suicide by driving off a cliff. Chloe knows her brother loved Emily and would never have killed her. During both investigations, the team will work out to uncover the truth. Will Chloe though be happy when she discovers what really happened to both Emily and Luke? The Girls in the Water by Victoria Jenkins overall was a good read, but definitely, more on the slow-burn side that often you find with books that are set in the UK whereas US thrillers are more fast-paced.

The girls in the water by Victoria Jenkins.
Detectives King and Lane Book 1.
When she woke, she found herself in darkness. She couldn’t move. She was going to die and she had no idea why…
Early one icy winter morning, Detective Alex King is called to a murder scene at a local park. The river is running high, and in the water lies the body of a woman, her wrists tied, and all her fingernails missing.
The victim, beautiful, young Lola Evans, had a troubled past, but Alex’s team can’t find a reason why anyone would want to kill her. The pressure to solve the case keeps mounting, but all their leads run dry.
Then, another body is found in the water.
A disturbing clue suggests how the girls are connected. But who would target such vulnerable girls, and does this mean another life is at risk? Just when Alex thinks she has cracked the case, she realises one of her own team is in terrible danger.Alex is caught in a race against time to reach the next victim before it’s too late... and some of her team must face terrifying truths from their own lives if they’re to have a chance of catching the killer. 
A brilliant read. A great start to a new series. Looking forward to the next book. 5*.

57%. That's how long it took before I was really very interested in the story or our characters.

Gripping, this wasn't.

The first half of the book or so is mildly interesting. The character I was most interested in ended up being largely unimportant in the end of everything.

After the halfway slog, I found myself finally invested in some of the characters (especially Chloe) and in why all this was happening.

I finished it, but wasn't interested in continuing the series.

This is a solid thriller. It kept me interested and had a really good pace. I would definitely recommend it

I found this to be an OK read. It had my interest enough and kept my attention.

A girls body found in the water, obviously been murdered and of course a need to find who dunnit. Then a secound body is found in the same way.

Serial killer on the loose.

There’s much more to it than this. Maybe I’m a bit over this kind of read as it’s blurring into one another? But I’m still going to press on to book 2.

I want to experience the development of characters.

A cracking wee read for all psychological thriller readers. A decent debut from what promises to be a reader that will appear highly on my author list

Read for an honest review. Thank you Ms Jenkins, Netgalley and Bookouture

I first read The Girls In The Water back in 2017, but for some reason it slipped through the cracks and I never reviewed it. I rated it a four on Goodreads at the time so I’d obviously enjoyed it. I have the next two books in the series on my Kindle waiting to be read and as I didn’t remember too much about this. So I thought I’d take advantage of my time off to reread ahead of getting started on the others.

DI Alex King and DC Chloe Lane are called to a scene when the body of a tortured young women washes up on the banks of a river running through the park next to Cardiff Castle. King and Lane face the daunting task of hunting down the killer, then a second woman is reported missing and the stakes get higher…

I thought this was a fantastic introduction to the series. The plot cleverly mixed two strands together, the main case and one with a personal link to DC Chloe Lane. At the same time Victoria manages to create a connection to the central characters which means by the time you reach the dramatic conclusion you’re invested and desperate for everything to work out.

Onto the characters, the story centres around DI Alex King and DC Chloe Lane and as a result these are the two characters I feel like I knew best by the time the story reached its conclusion. DI Alex King has been in post for a little while, we get a little background on her, the fact she’s divorced and struggled with fertility which is perhaps one of the reasons her marriage ended. The thing that interested me most about Alex’s history is something we only get small snippets of, the idea that some case went wrong, and nearly resulted in Alex resigning from the force. I NEED to know more about this, it sounds like it would make such a good book! Alex makes some questionable decisions regarding her ex, but who hasn’t done that! Overall I found her a really likeable character and competent detective.

Chloe was a really interesting character, I think that probably has a lot to do with the second plot strand that revolves around her and her history. No spoilers but the conclusion of her story was both thrilling and heartbreaking at the same time. Her backstory made me really feel so much for her. She definitely makes some unwise decisions and she pays the consequences for them, but if I was in her position, honestly I couldn’t swear I wouldn’t have done the same thing.


Final Thoughts
I’m certainly looking forward to catching up with the detectives again! This was a wonderful start to the series and I can’t wait to see what Victoria has in store for them next.

In her debut novel Victoria Jenkins introduces Detective King and Constable Lane and a deadly killer:

Detective Alex King and Constable Chloe Lane are assigned to horrific murder of a woman found in the water, bound hands, fingernails missing, clear signs of torture. The victims is a woman with a troubled past but King and Lane can not find any enemies or reason for her to be targeted. Then another body is found in the water and King and Lane find a disturbing connection between the two. But Lane is distracted, she is pursuing a historical case that is personal to her and is she is not careful she could not only lose her job but her life too.

This was a good debut novel and I really appreciated Jenkins writing style. I also enjoyed that she decided to take on a lot by have two cases interwoven in the narrative. However, overall I did not have that edge of my seat feeling or thrills that I was expecting while reading this book. The mystery was well thought out and executed but just not that interesting at times, in that it seemed like it had all been done before.

I liked that it was two female officers that were partners as this is against the norm for some reason. A lot of the books that have a female detective lead are normally portrayed as not easy to work with, going against authority but don't worry they have a male counterpart to smooth things over as this is normally a male dominated profession (honestly, some of my favourite authors in this genre have this and it took this book for me to realize that). So I appreciated the fact that Jenkins had two female police officers that at one point or another are looking out for the other one and don't have the judgement against them for being female. It was also interesting to see some of the sexism that came out with regards to Lane's past.

I felt that there was a previous book to this that explained more of King and Lane's history together. You can tell throughout their conversions in this book that this is not the first case that they have worked together and while Lane may be the rookie/new recruit on the team she did not have that rookie feel to her character. Additionally, King made statements about how Lane was not up to usual professionalism which also made it appear that they had worked sometime together.

I'm going to continue on with this series as I really did enjoy King and Lane's relationship and I think that Jenkins has a great ability to tell a good mystery story I just hope there is something a bit less farther from the norm next time around.

Enjoy!!!

Thank you very much to Netgalley and Bookouture for the advance copy of this book in return for an honest review. I enjoyed this book but i found it slow moving and reminded me of other books I've read before but I still enjoyed it and I will definitely read more books by this author in the future.

I love a good police procedural. As crime genres go, it might actually be my favourite one. The Girls in the Water is the first in a series - of which I think there are four, so far - featuring DI Alex King and her young DC, Chloe Lane, here investigating a serial killer of young women - the girls in the water. On the evidence so far it’s a great addition to the genre.

I liked both Alex, who is compassionate, dedicated and tenacious, and Chloe, a talented detective who is dealing with her own issues and agendas (and she definitely has a lot to deal with). My heart did sink a bit at the prospect of yet another serial killer brutalising young women, particularly after an unpleasant early scene. However on the whole it is not overly graphic.

Very enjoyable and intriguing read, and I look forward to seeking out the further adventures of DI King and DC Lane.

Detective Alex King is called to investigate the death of a young woman found in a pond at a local park. It's obviously murder .. her wrists are bound and her fingernails are all missing.

King's investigation finds no apparent motive for this crime as the victim seemed to be well liked by friends and loved by family. Without any leads, the case comes to a standstill.

Then, another body is found in the water.

What's the connection between these young women? When the detective jumps in with both feet, she finds that danger is much closer than she imagined. She must catch this killer before another life is taken.

This is an exciting beginning of a police procedural series. The characters are solid and well drawn. Full of twists and turns, this crime story is action-packed with excitement on every page. The ending comes as a total eye-opener shocker. I look forward to reading the entire series.

Many thanks to the author / Bookouture / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime fiction. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

Sometimes falling behind in a series really does have its advantages. I have just finished this corker of a read and I get to go right into book 2.
Detectives King & Lane Book #1
This was one of those books that you know once you start it, it's going to be difficult to put it down. I thoroughly enjoyed this read. It was a book that dragged me into the pages, and didn't let me go until I got to the end. Not only is this a fab police procedural, the characters are believable and enjoyable to read about. The characters of King and Lane are ones I know I'm going to like more and more over this series. I love a series where not only do you get stuck into the crimes of each book, but you can follow the lives of the main characters to the point you really look forward to having a book reunion with them. For me these two characters are going to be book friends in future books.
The story line was first class, believable and gripping.
I really wouldn't have any problems recommending this story to anyone.
Pick it up and enjoy it.

This is the first book in a new series featuring King and Lane, and honestly, I can not wait to get my hands on the next book. I read a lot of crime fiction, and some of them are really just blah, but this one was brilliantly written, the story line quick paced and the plot unfolding very well done. I really enjoyed this book, and can honestly highly recommend it!

The Girls in the Water by Victoria Jenkins
Series: Detectives King & Lane Book #1
Publisher: Bookouture

Thanks to NetGalley and publisher Bookouture for the ebook ARC of The Girls in the Water by Victoria Jenkins in exchange for an honest review.

“The first one had been an accident. He had never intended to kill her. But as he looked down at her body, he knew there would be a next one…”

Lola Evan’s body was found in a local park on a cold winter’s morning. Detective Alex King and the new recruit Chloe Lane are called in to lead the hunt for the killer.
A second girl goes missing days later. Both girls each shared a trouble history and were also members of the same support group. Chloe realizes that she too is in danger, as she uncovers secrets about her own brother’s death which someone will kill to keep hidden. Soon Alex and Chloe are fighting for their lives, in a race against time to reach the next victim before it’s too late…
Who is the monster preying on these vulnerable girls?

I give this book a rating of 4 stars. This was Victoria Jenkin’s debut novel. I found that the book starts out kind of slow but it very quickly picks up the pace. It kept me guessing until the end. And then I found it very hard to put it down. I really liked the characters in the book and found that they were very likeable. I highly recommend it and I can’t wait to read the second book in the series, The First One to Die!

I love a new crime series and I finished The Girls in the Water knowing I had found one that I am really going to enjoy. Alex and Chloe are both fantastic characters and I haven’t enjoyed reading about two new characters as much since I first read Angela Marsons and met Kim Stone.

The storyline here in The Girls in the Water was fantastic. It took me a while to get into the book itself, but that was more because I was having trouble concentrating on reading than anything to do with the story. The basic premise is that we have two girls murdered who were attending the same support group. Whilst this link has been found, there’s only one or two suspects in the frame and Alex and Chloe struggle to make them fit into the puzzle of why one of them had reason to kill both girls. It’s a brilliantly plotted story and I had no idea where it would ultimately lead to which is why I enjoyed it so much.

Alex is a wonderful character and I especially loved the motherly relationship that formed between her and Chloe as the story progressed. Whilst I’m not sure how close a boss would be to one of her team, I felt the relationship and friendship between them was very believable and I can’t wait to see it explored further in future novels. Alex seems to have her head screwed on, despite the fact she’s still sleeping with her ex, she hasn’t really got any major or predictable skeletons in her closet and that makes her a refreshing character to read about.

It’s Chloe however who will leave a lasting impression on me after finishing this story. Her struggle throughout is in her quest to find out what really happened to her brother who was believed to have killed his girlfriend. Chloe has always said and believed that her brother is innocent and her determination to prove that is palpable, I really invested in her character and could believe the pain and need that she felt in wanting to prove everybody wrong. She’s young and at times naive but at others incredibly headstrong and she’s got what it takes to be a great detective with the mentorship of Alex.

The pacing of the story is great and as we start to reach a conclusion that pace is really cranked up and I couldn’t read quick enough. The past few crime stories I have read, whilst being enjoyable, have been somewhat predictable and that wasn’t the case here. I was constantly surprised as I read and even when I thought I had one thing worked out, it turned out that I was only half right. There’s real emotion here to be felt by people who buy into Chloe’s story and who feel sympathy for her as they read, as I did. The closing scenes in particular brought me closer to these two characters, made me almost resent the fact that I had neared the end of the story because I didn’t want it to end, but left me excited at the fact that I have the second book ready and waiting to read. Victoria Jenkins has written a fantastic crime novel here and this is a series I will be hopefully recommending to everybody if the second book is even half as good.

I had pulled away from this Genre for a while as had felt some of them were going for shock value rather that story content but Victoria Jenkins has restored my faith and really enjoyed the first adventure with DI Alex King and DC Chloe Lane.

This is the first book on a new detective series by Victoria Jenkins .

From the start I just knew this was going to be a total page turner and I sure wasn’t wrong . Great well developed characters and a storyline that will keep you enthralled all the way through . I loved it .

This is a really promising start for a new author and new series.

Let’s talk characters: The thing about these two ladies is that they are in fact two ladies. Unique, and given equal time to develop – though they have much more room to grow in their definitions for follow up stories. Their histories, their emotions, their life circumstances – it is not surface or cliche or redundant. They feel like two purposeful characters, who practice support of each other. Women need to have each other’s backs, instead of infighting, and I loved that this book clearly demonstrates that sisterhood, even in difficult circumstances, even in the same job, even when they don’t understand each other’s motives or reactions.

I really dug the plot of this debut. The plot twists weren’t necessarily shocking, and the killer was cliche with his I’ve got mommy issues motive for murder, but there was a beautiful simplicity to those elements. It felt like classic mystery in a way; a throwback to what we originally understood about serial killers and the books I started reading decades ago. It was less modern thriller, and more suspense procedural. Sometimes when authors are constantly trying to out twist each other with how crazy and shocking their stories can be, it’s nice to read something that is dedicated to a classic storyline – there’s a killer and the good guys are going to try to catch him.

Jenkins threw out individual plot threads, which seemed unconnected to the central crime – upping the emotional investment you had in the characters, and adding more obstacles along their journey – until everything was brought together, using the climax as a tool to explain how each puzzle piece fit. What I thought was drama for the sake of tension, was actually unseen plot layers which folded together in a subtle, organic way. It eliminated that whole bad guy reveals his entire plan to the hero in the last 5 minutes with a long diatribe schtick.

The writing wasn’t anything special, but it also didn’t stick out as awkward or amatuer. This novel is made up of quiet and thoughtful prose, dedicated to exploring King and Lane and their process of investigating. The dialogue was used in the perfect way, expressing the scene instead of paragraphs of telling the scene. But, just a personal preference, I could have used a bit more description of both physical appearance and setting. I’ve never been to Wales, and when I read a book I hope to come away with a clear picture of what a place I’ve never been to might look like.

I appreciate the thought the author put into this, the execution of the ending and her dedication to a classic serial killer crime.

Fantastic debut with a brilliant twisting plot . Will be looking for more from this author

Do we really know people around us? Do we know what they are capable of? Do we know what we are capable of?

New fictitious Detective Duo: King & Lane are about to find out just how far love, devotion, betrayal, fear and perversion can stretch human mind and body.

Old secrets, fresh wounds, unfinished love stories and several murders will occupy two women throughout this novel.

King & Lane are not perfect, far from it. All their imperfections make them that much more human and attractive. One can relate. One can see oneself in their actions, words, emotions and mistakes. Their mistakes are the best colours in their portraits.

The crimes get solved. The murderer gets caught. The secrets get uncovered. The novel gets an ending, a plausible ending, if not real. The story gets to be continued.

I personally found this book a bit of a slow going. However, I liked both King and Lane and would like to see where the story takes them. I would like to see how King and Lane develop as detective, women, partners and may be... mothers.