Crimsom Lake by Candice Fox

Crimson Lake by Candice Fox
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - in and out over months (was on my phone)

Pages - 348

Publisher - Forge

Source - bought (ebook Amazon)

Blurb from Goodreads

Crimson Lake, by Sydney-based, Ned Kelly Award-winning author Candice Fox, is a thrilling contemporary crime novel set in Queensland, Australia, perfect for readers of authors like James Patterson, Harlan Coben, Lisa Gardner, and Tana French.

How do you move on when the world won’t let you?

12:46: Claire Bingley stands alone at a bus stop
12:47: Ted Conkaffey parks his car beside her
12:52: The girl is missing . . .


Six minutes in the wrong place at the wrong time—that’s all it took to ruin Sydney detective Ted Conkaffey’s life. Accused but not convicted of a brutal abduction,Ted is now a free man—and public enemy number one. Maintaining his innocence, he flees north to keep a low profile amidst the steamy, croc-infested wetlands of Crimson Lake.

There, Ted’s lawyer introduces him to eccentric private investigator Amanda Pharrell, herself a convicted murderer. Not entirely convinced Amanda is a cold-blooded killer, Ted agrees to help with her investigation, a case full of deception and obsession, while secretly digging into her troubled past. The residents of Crimson Lake are watching the pair's every move... and the town offers no place to hide



My Review

So I accidentally read book two first whoops then we watched the series, Troppo, based on this book. Ted has moved to a small town to escape his horrific recent past. A cop, disgraced, accused of a heinous crime against a minor. The local cops are bullies and determined not to let Ted get comfortable in their small town. Enter Amanda, she is from said small town but very much an outcast for a crime against one of their own she also misses or ignores some social queues. Ted and Amanda end up an unlikely duo as Ted helps, reluctantly, Amanda with her private detective business. Investigating a missing person but small towns don't like people poking their noses into stuff and certainly not two ex cons like Ted and Amanda.

Oooft the book is quite brutal in parts, we flip back to Ted's past and how he got to where he is whilst he struggles with his new reality in a new town/place unable to escape his past. We also meet Amanda, my goodness Amanda is absolutely chaos! The book is quite different in points and it was good to fill in some gaps between the series and what I had read in book two.

The book covers some really shocking themes, child abuse, murder, bullying, violence, abuse of power, corruption and adorable geese. The relationship with Ted and Amanda is very different to a lot of duo team mates/partners in books etc and a really engaging take on two damaged, flawed and seemingly dangerous individuals. I love the medical examiners character, she doesn't play a huge part in either the book or show but what she does, I really like. I am sure there are 3 books so I need to check that and get it, hoping for season 2 on the show too, 4/5 for me. I have read this author before, combo with James Patterson so I do like her writing.

View all my reviews

Gone by Midnight by Candice Fox

Gone by Midnight by Candice Fox
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1.5 days

Pages - 372

Publisher - Century

Source - Review copy

Blurb from Goodreads

They left four children safe upstairs.
They came back to three.
__________________

On the fifth floor of the White Caps Hotel, four young boys are left alone while their parents dine downstairs.

But when one of the parents checks on the children at midnight, they discover one of them is missing.

The boys swear they stayed in their room. CCTV confirms that none of them left the building. No trace of the child is found.

Now the hunt is on to find him, before it’s too late – and before the search for a boy becomes a search for a body...


My Review

Kids left in a hotel room whilst all the parents are downstairs, eating, drinking and checking in frequently on the kids. Four boys left alone and one of them goes missing, the kids all deny leaving the room, footage in the hotel is limited, what happened to the kid? Private investigator Ted and his partner Amanda are called in by the missing boys mother much to the annoyance of the police. Ted is an ex cop but has a cloud hanging over him from his past, a past that cost him his job, his wife, his reputation and still follows him. Amanda is an actual riot, fearless, quirky, felt to be dangerous by many and blamed for a life being lost on their last case. Tempers are running high and time is running out to find the missing child.

So this is book 2 or 3 in a series but the first I have picked up, I don't feel I missed out on anything as there are mentions to what has passed previously. The investigation kicks off and we see the struggles between Ted/Amanda and the police, as the book goes on we understand why.

To be honest I was much more interested in Ted and Amanda's story, back story, than the investigation. Not that it was boring or anything just these two are really interesting, in how they are with each other, how people react to them and just how different they are to each other but it works. Amanda is just so different, she had a problematic childhood and her experiences have helped shape who she is, she has no filter and is a bit of a bull in a china shop. Ted hangs back, is very cautious purely because of what he has experienced.

I need to get the previous book or books as I can't wait to read more about these two. This story itself is engaging, decent paced and as well as the investigation we get plenty of insight into Ted as a person, his personal life and some of Amanda. Two fantastic characters, 4 stars for me this time and I look forward to reading their back story and seeing what comes next in the series.

View all my reviews