Title: Watching From the Dark
Author: Gytha Lodge
Series: DCI Jonah Sheens, #2
Published: February 2020, Random House
Format: Hardcover, 352 pages
Source: Publisher
Summary:
One crime. One witness. One question . . . Why didn’t he call the police?
When
a vibrant young woman is murdered while on a video chat, a small-town
detective wades into a circle of friends and lovers with dangerous
secrets—in the new novel from the acclaimed author of the “enjoyably
chilling”* She Lies in Wait.
*The New York Times Book Review
Aidan
Poole logs on to his laptop late at night to Skype his girlfriend, Zoe.
To his horror, he realizes that there is someone else in her flat.
Aidan can only listen to the sounds of a violent struggle taking place
in the bathroom—and then the sound of silence. He is desperate to find
out if Zoe is okay. But then why is he so hesitant to call the police?
When
Aidan’s cryptic messages finally reach them, Detective Chief Inspector
Jonah Sheens and his team take the case—and discover the body. They soon
find that no one has a bad word to say about Zoe, a big-hearted young
artist at the center of a curious web of waifs and strays, each relying
on her for support, each hiding dark secrets and buried resentments. Has
one of her so-called “friends” been driven to murder? Or does Aidan
have the biggest secret of them all?
My thoughts: This is the second book in Gytha Lodge’s DCI Jonah Sheen’s series and while I did not read the first book, I did not really have any problem following along with this book. I find now that most books in a series really do stand on their own, though of course, my preference is always to read them in order when time allows. And because I did enjoy this one, I do plan on going back to read the first book.
This book is one wild, crazy story. There are multiple points of view and I loved the way it jumped back and forth in time, with the present focusing on DCI Jonah Sheen and his team investigating the murder and the past starting 20 months prior to the murder and leading up to the incident. It really gets you wondering just what happened and who might have done what.
I loved that I was completely caught up in this story from the start. I found this book to be a wonderful mix of police procedural, character study and psychological thriller. As the detectives pain-stakingly work to find out what happened to Zoe, we learn about Zoe’s life leading up to her demise. So many questions popped into my mind as I was reading this and I love a book that makes me question things…like why didn’t Zoe’s boyfriend call the police right away? Doesn’t that just seem strange? I knew there had to be more going on there and so right away that had me suspicious.
This book really kept me engaged all the way through. And that ending was quite a show-down, literally. I am definitely going to be picking up the first book, She Lies in Wait, very soon, and am hoping there will be more to this series as well!
Books in this series:
- She Lies in Wait
- Watching From the Dark
