Thank you Netgalley, Bookouture and the publisher for allowing me to read this book. Fast Paced and thrilling throughout, you will not be able to put it down! You are made to actually believe and feel the fear throughout. Highly recommend.

What a brilliant debut novel will look out for more from this rising author. Fast paced book that just keeps you turning the pages. Alex and Chloe make a brilliant partnership and over the course of the book you get to know them in greater depth. Very engaging thriller

Thanks Netgalley and the publisher. Wow! What an incredible, assured and resounding debut! Enjoyed every page of this brilliant book. A beautifully crafted story, with many twists and turns that keep you guessing. The character development is fab

The Girls in the water was a great thriller that will surprise you in the end.
Alex and Chloe are two female detectives who must try to catch a serial killer who is killing young women and leaving their bodies in water.......lakes, rivers, bath tubs, etc.
When Chloe decides to take her deceased brother's cold case file home with her she is put on administrative leave leaving Alex to work the current case alone.
While on leave Chloe sends Alex an email with some information she thinks will help Alex find the killer. Alex pieces together the case based on the email Chloe sent and figures out who the killer is........but will it be to late for Chloe?
Great story and a must read!

Great read! Looking forward to reading more by this author!

I would like to thank Netgalley and Bookouture for an advance copy of The Girls in the Water, the first novel to feature DI Alex King and DC Chloe Lane of the Pontypridd police.

The detectives are called out to a body. A young woman's body has been found murdered in the river in Bute Park. The first order of business is to identify her and then try to identify the perpetrator. Then another body is found in similar circumstances. Alex is dedicated to working the case but just when she needs her Chloe is distracted by events in her personal life.

I was really looking forward to this novel as the synopsis is everything I like - tough, dedicated investigator, police procedural and clever perpetrator - but I was a bit disappointed in the execution. The first half of the novel really didn't hold my attention. It has multiple points of view and some needless distractions where Alex and her team stumble about like amateurs. I also found Chloe's sudden preoccupation with events 8 years in the past which she has looked at periodically over this time highly improbable in such a smart, dedicated and efficient officer. Having said this the novel picks up in the second half and ends with a good, greatly satisfying twist. I would also say that Chloe's story is eventually much more interesting than the hunt for the killer.

I didn't find the characters particularly likeable either. Chloe and her backstory is by far the more interesting but as she spends most of the novel acting like a child rather than the professional Alex insists she is it is difficult to warm to her. I'm not sure what to make of Alex. She is obviously loyal and a competent, dedicated officer but the way she runs her life is at odds with this and she just doesn't feel convincing. Again, however, by the end of the novel there are signs that they are becoming more likeable. I would be interested to read the next novel to see what they become.

The Girls in the Water is an interesting debut which takes some time to find its feet but bear with it and it develops into a good read.

Can you ever escape your past? Really escape it? Leave it all behind? This is a superb book about friendship, reconciling unfinished business from the past as the main protagonists, Detectives Alex King and Chloe Lane hunt a serial killer, trying to stop him before he strikes again. A well written and thoughtful novel. Loved it.

Wow! What an incredible, assured and resounding debut! Enjoyed every page of this brilliant book. A beautifully crafted story, with many twists and turns that keep you guessing. The character development is fab. Loved the detectives and the backstory and the way everything fell into place at the end. Intelligent, fast paced and thrilling. Loved it!

This book at times seems like there is a previous book and the reader is missing some of back story about the characters. Other than that, this book is incredible! The characters are interesting and do not fall into the "troubled past" trope even though there is a troubled back story. It was completely enthralling and I can't wait for the next!

Thank you NetGalley & BookOutre.

This was an okay read for me....recommended for fans of Robert Bryndza & Patricia Gibney (which I am). That really set me up for disappointment. The was a very Slow, Slow, exceedingly SLOW read in comparison. There was way too blatheration of the main characters' introspective ruminations and reliving of their own pasts. A little bit is fine if used for character development, but after 17 or more repetitions it becomes annoying and patronizing (you were concerned I wasn't paying attention the first dozen time it was presented?). After a while it was more like stumbling through the days of two obsessive women who were having real problems overcoming and stuck in their own pasts.

It really slowed the story down for me and left me dissatisfied with the lack of character development.

Also the end was too sappy for me (I heard Paul Simon singing about "mother & child reunions").

ARC received from: Netgalley

Rating: ★★★★

One-Sentence Summary: Two police detectives hunt down a serial killer in Wales

Review: I am very grateful to have stumbled upon this debut crime novel on Netgalley - usually when I see a crime novel I am interested in it is number 5 - 10 - 15 in the series and I realise I have a whole backlog to get through before I can read and review the one that I saw.

The first novel in a series has the inevitable task of introducing the main characters to the reader and getting them to engage in their relationships whilst also keeping up the pace with the murder case and throwing in twists and turns. Then there is usually an overarching mystery which won't be solved until later on in this series.

For me The Girls In The Water was a slow start case-wise and I thought Jenkins was juggling too much having Alex King trying to unravel Chloe Lane's backstory as well as catch the serial killer as I thought Lane's past/family drama was going to continue through to future books. Turns out Jenkins knew what she was doing though as the last third where everything started to come together was really gripping.

Jenkins has created an interesting partnership in King and Lane and I'll definitely be tuning into the next book in the series.

The Girls in the Water by Victoria Jenkins is a dark thriller. A game of catch me, if you can. A killer is loose. It's up to two detectives to find him before another body is found. Danger hangs around the corner. Excitement on every page. I felt the chills run down my arms. The prickling sensation of fear. Two women chasing after a killer is an intriguing tale. Usually, there's at least one male partner in stories like this. However, Victoria Jenkins shook it up in this book. Different, engaging, and intense. The killer is a cold hearted. The backstory into his making felt realistic. It was like reading a true event from a newspaper but with the enticing edge of a fictional piece. Yes, this is fiction but the reality of the characters both dead and alive were so believable. I enjoyed following the duo as they went about solving the case. Overall, I highly recommend The Girls in the Water to readers worldwide.

While this is a well written and interesting plot with two leading female detectives I was disappointed to find that the author fell into the currently popular cliche of making one of those characters a victim.

The first word that comes into my head is WOW! This book was fantastic, I loved it. I literally binge read it because I couldn't put it down. The characters were complex and very likeable and I can't wait to see them again in the next instalment. This was a really good book, if I could give it 6 stars I would.

Detective Alex King and her rookie, Chloe Lane are called to a local park when the body of a young woman is found. The next young woman who disappears appears to have a connection to Lola Evans, the first victim; both belonged to the same support group, making them vulnerable to a predator and Chloe will have to watch her back. The death of her brother makes her vulnerable to this particular type of predator. I liked this story, that had two strong, independent heroines