Janet 's Reviews > Shallow Waters

Shallow Waters is a debut from the pen of Rebecca Bradley that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Young girls are going missing and then turning up dead in horrific circumstances. DI Hannah Robbins is tasked with leading the team on this particular case. Set in my old hometown of Nottingham I was especially keen to read this to see how much of the city would play a part in the book. Quite disconcerting it is to read familiar road names and place settings. On the one hand I'm thinking it's exciting.... on the other thinking noooo, not on my patch!!

As Ms Bradley is an ex detective herself we're treated to a very realistic police procedural that I thought played out really well. There were no over the top decisions made or sequences that questioned plausibility. It was written with what I should imagine is a realistic approach to how cases are tackled in everyday life.

The subject matter is always going to be a difficult one where children are involved but I thought it was handled with great deftness and a lightness of touch that fitted such darkness. Yes, there are some shocking moments, but 'real life' is shocking and to give an insight into this particular case I thought those moments were required and handled very well. I thoroughly enjoyed being in places I knew and then taken to other parts of the country. It made it feel all the more plausible. The main protagonist, DI Hannah, is shaping up to be quite an interesting character; not much is given away here giving room for development further down the line.

The book was suitably plotted as befitting a procedural and then we get to the ending. I have to say at this point had I had a physical copy of the book I would of been tearing at the last few pages in my eagerness to get to the end. In no way did I see any of it coming and it was left with an ending that means I'm just going to have to read the next one.

Shallow Waters is a really good debut from a new author on the crime fiction scene. One to be watched I'm sure! Recommended.