Book review : Dead In The Dark - Stephen Booth

Dead In The Dark is one of the books that jumped out at me recently when browsing the 3-for-£5 section at The Works. Two things attracted me in particular - the words "brand new, stunning and gasp-inducing" on the back cover and also the mention that it introduces the Peak District's dark subterranean world as a setting. What I hadn't realised is that this is the seventeenth book in the series focusing on detectives Ben Cooper and Diane Fry, but it can also be perfectly enjoyed as a stand-alone novel.

I felt slightly unsettled at the start of the book because too much seemed to be going on at once, without giving me time to collect my wits and work out the lay of the land. The first two pages describe someone lying in the dark knowing that they are about to die. The next chapter describes a Polish man who has been found dead in his flat. The third chapter goes back ten years and shares the tense scenes of a man, Reece Bower, being persuaded to phone the police about his wife, Annette,  who has gone missing while out walking the family dog. How, if at all, do all these different scenes fit together ?

Well, it turns out that Reece Bower's name has been brought up at the police station again, but this time because he has gone missing himself. His new wife called in his disappearance but nobody can work out where he would have gone. He was seen as the main suspect in his wife's murder until her father told the police that he had spotted his daughter, very much alive, thereby getting Reece off the hook. Maybe he knows that something new has come up, putting him back in the role of suspect, and has decided to disappear? Maybe someone was out to get him? The police go back to looking at Annette's story to try to figure out if they missed anything in the previous investigation.

Meanwhile, other stories are going on in and around Lathkilldale. A racist group are meeting up regularly, surely not helping to reduce the anti-Polish feeling in the town. A young man is killed when a barn is burnt down. At times, I felt that there were too many separate leads - many of them going absolutely nowhere - that made it hard to keep your mind on the main case. This does give you an idea of how busy and hectic life can be as a policeman though.

Watching the detective follow through every tiny lead, looking for the one that would break open his case, was enjoyable and believable. I was slightly disappointed by the ending though, as it seemed just a little too convenient and tidy to be completely believable. The setting, with its contrast of beautiful natural scenery and hostile local residents, often seemed the perfect location, showing that murder and wrongdoing can exist even in the most perfect and unlikely places.

star rating : 4/5

RRP : £7.99

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Sphere (17 May 2018)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0751567574
• ISBN-13: 978-0751567571