Death By Dark Waters - Jo Allen

Publishers Aria - 9th May 2019

Set in the Lake District, a child’s brutal murder is at odds with the tranquil surroundings, giving this a chilling feeling from the outset. This is a solid debut with good characters and a well paced plot, which should build into an interesting series. I enjoyed it.

I’d like to thank the Author, Netgalley and the Publishers for this advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

A burnt body, that of a child, is discovered near the shore of Haweswater on a Sunday, near the village of Burnbanks.
D.C.I. Satterwaite is joined by his team and new arrival D.S. Ashleigh O'Halloran to investigate.
It seems Satterwaite and his team all have their personal problems to deal with during the case, and I didn't take to O'Halloram's character. Unfortunately I did find the plot predictable and not all that exciting, so a like and not a love rating.

I’d like to thank Aria and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Death By Dark Waters’ by Jo Allen in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

DCI Jude Satterthwaite is out walking on the Dales and sees a fire in the distance. A derelict barn is a casualty of the fire and when human remains are found there Jude and his new sergeant Ashleigh O’Halloran are called out to investigate. They soon realise that the remains are of a young boy and his death is not accidental. Jude and his team are struggling to identify the body as there have been no reports made to the police of a boy missing from home.

‘Death By Dark Waters’ is the first in the DCI Jude Satterthwaite series and is a good introduction to Jude and Ashleigh. Although I didn’t really warm to the characters and I found the narrative a bit wordy and drawn-out at times, there’s a lot of excitement, twists and turns, and even a red herring thrown into the story which more than compensates. It’s fast-paced with an interesting plot and lots of intrigue, and I’m looking forward to reading the next one.

It is often difficult to develop a liking for a new detective series. This book is described as a first DCI Satterthwaite mystery.

For an author, you have to create a group of believable detectives, whilst trying to keep the narrative developing.

I liked the use of real geographical locations in the Lake District.

As the book progressed I found that I was growing to like the main detective characters.

I found the storyline less convincing, there are a few twists and turns which maintained my interest.

On the strength of this story I will look out for future books by Jo Allen featuring Jude Satterthwaite.

My thanks to Netgalley and Aria for a copy in exchange for this review.

Although this ended up being a great, emotional read, it did start off really slow and a little bit confusing in places. I don't think I really got into it until about 40% if not a little later.



The characters were great, though I found Jude to be quite ignorant, but I loved Ashleigh and her compassionate nature as well as great investigative skills. She was a fabulous character to follow. As was Dawn.



I've read thriller's set in the Lake District before and they were amazing, but this one was just off, which was disappointing. This author definitely likes going into super fine details about places and it could be quite repetitive. I wanted the story, not more of the same layout. And we do get that in the end.



The storyline was really good though, definitely a 'who dunnit' book, but it's a little predictable. But that didn't deflect from the story and following the detectives working it. It was a great read and I loved the ending a lot.



There were a lot of things that could have been made a bit tighter and some things I'm sure have been overlooked by editors. There were a couple of places that were contradicting and made me raise a brow in question. Some of the things in the investigation itself were wrong or not possible and could have done with some more research.



But overall, the start of slow but the second half of the book is mind blowing and addictive.

It was an ok read. I had hard finishing the book. It was bland and lacking of any substance. Thank you to the publisher for the arc. Best of luck for the series.

First things first, as per the author's own note at the end, this is all a fictional tale so I don't know why it is given in the 'True Crime' section. Secondly, it's an okay mystery: the burnt body of a 12-year old (Greg) is found in a place with 'unexpected fire.' His parents (Max and Dawn Sumner) thought he was in captivity and kidnapped. Their other child is ten-year old Sophie. They are devastated. Police officials Jude and Ashleigh investigate. Turns out Dawn has an ex-husband, Randolph Flett and she dumped him for his business partner - Max, her current husband. What's more is that Max bankrupted Randolph. So maybe Randolph's idea of revenge against this happy family included a murder? That's the crux of the story till the middle of the book.

Okay read. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. All the best to the author.

I don't read a lot of mysteries, and this one was OK. It does not stand out to be among the many books I've, but I did find it to be well executed overall. I stayed engaged with it most of the time, and liked most of the characters. It just seemed average in almost every way, and the author shows potential. I appreciate the free copy for review!