Her dark path by Ken Ogilivie.
16 years ago Rebecca Bradley’s mother was murdered. Rebecca was only eight years old. The killer has never been caught. Growing up, Rebecca vowed that one day she would track him down and make him.
A really enjoyable read. Loved the story and characters. 4*.

Anyone can understand why Rebecca wants to know who murdered her mother= including the person who did it. This is a well written thriller. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
Unfortunately, I have tried reading this book on 2 separate occasions and during that 2nd attempt, I have only managed to make it halfway through so I'd rather stop here and state that this book just wasn't for me.

A young woman from a good family decides to become a detective to finally solve her mother's murder. What she finds is a somewhat abusive relationship with a superior (which, frankly, nobody missed and without which the book would have worked better), strange ties to a past and even stranger characters. Entertainment reading, without particular depth.

Great crime story with the whole and past and present colliding. Rebecca was a well developed character that made you understand and feel for her. Great read and look forward to more from this author

Fantastic book, look forward to reading more from this author. Good explanation, plot, characters and overall a delight to read in a deep and dark murderous way!

Interesting premise, young up and coming detective, seemingly nasty supervisor, and an affair with another senior officer. Complicated Canadian police politics, misdirection and ties to the past.
A horrific murder and all sorts of people alluding to historical secrets sets the detective up for a quixotic search for the truth. She is burdened by the burning desire to find her mother's killer.
The main mystery was pretty good, but the underlying one is far more interesting. We never do find out about the mother's murder but the others are wrapped up nicely. The bad guy is someone I considered and discarded, so it all does fit together.
Pretty fun read and looks to be a set up for the next one.

This is a thriller about crimes past and present. Rebecca has been determined to become a detective after her mother's murder many years before. When she is given a chance, to solve a murder which has similarities to her mother's, she takes the chance with both hands. However, in the second half of the book I found the story too convoluted, with characters not entirely believable. I decent read, but not a gripping one.

A well written, fast paced gritty thriller. I really liked the characters in this book and the way they are described and their histories breathes life into this book. There is a lot going on in this book and I hope there is a follow up to it.

I had high expectations for this book. After reading so many good thrillers set in both the US and the UK I was really looking forward to reading one that expressed the Canadian setting. This book was not the book for that. They story was interesting but I found it quite convoluted and not sure why so many mistakes were made when investigating Abigail's death the first time. There were lots of allusions to things being missed but there was never a reason for it which I found frustrating.

would like to thank net galley and publisher for letting me read and review this book

i am sure this would be a great book but i am afraid it never held my attention and i could put it down and forget it...which surprises me as its the sort of book i would normally read

there were elements in the book that i liked but not enough for me to finish sorry

I thought that this was a fantastic read and I am so glad that I was able to get a copy of the book to review as I think its one that needs to be shared!  The author really weaves a detailed plot in the story with some fantastic characters being worked in to the plot - I thought that Rebecca was a really realistic character and the way she is portrayed in the book is spot on!  I read the book in an afternoon and didn't want to put the book down, for me the pace is absolutely perfect for the plot and there are plenty of twists and turns to keep you gripped and interested in the story - 5 stars from me and this is most definitely a book I'd recommend!!

For a new author to me, Ken Ogilvie has my attention. Her Dark Path is about Rebecca Bradley. She wants to become a police detective so bad she can almost taste it. Her mother was murdered when Rebecca was 8 years old. Now it is a cold case that she wants to solve. But she needs what little information the police have to try and do that. Being a detective would give her access to that information. This book weaves a great story about Rebecca and a cast of characters, including an affair with her now superior. The writer goes back in time to give the reader enough "history" to explain things in the story so they make more sense. I am looking forward to more stories by this author. Thank you Joffe books for providing me a ARC of this story. The review is done voluntarily and of my own opinions.

Constable Rebecca Bradley wants to be a homicide detective more than anything. Her mother was murdered 16 years ago and the killer was never caught. Being a detective will give her access to information she doesn't have.

She's given a chance to lead an investigation into a cold case. A woman had gone missing for 2 weeks and then found dead in her own home. The case is similar to how her own mother died ... both women were found strangled in their kitchens.

Trying to keep her emotions under control, she finds that there are many links to her own family members. And people in this small village all have secrets they do not want to see the light of day.

I especially enjoyed the characters. Hound is special in a way not clearly defined, but that just makes him more mysterious and much more interesting. There are the two barflies, for lack of a better word, who lend a little humor to this tale. There are many secondary characters that lend a credible atmosphere.

Also during this investigation, the reader learns that Rebecca has a history with her superior ... a relationship that ended 4 years ago, but he hasn't given up. There are snippets from her diary that outline what happened and why it didn't work.

Overall, this new crime writer did a good job. Suspense at times is palpable. At one point in time, the good guys are chasing the bad guys, the bad guys are trying to erase all witnesses, the cops are chasing everyone, even the bad cops. I found during all this that I needed to breathe more.

Many thanks to the author / Joffee Books / Netgalley for the advance digital copy. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

4 stars

Rebecca is a constable in the Ontario Provincial Police. She wants to be a detective desperately. She approaches her boss and former lover Superintendent Jonathan Cartwright and begs and manipulates him into agreeing to put her on an unsolved murder from a year earlier. Her boss was in charge of the case and it irritates him greatly him that he never solved it. He very reluctantly agrees after she more or less blackmails him into it.

She travels to Conroy where the murder took place and meets Officer O’Reilly the local constable (the only constable). He likes to be called “Chief.” He is standoffish and rude to her at first. She also meets Thaddeus “Hound” Hounsley who is a colorful local citizen who on the surface seems a little odd, but is really a very nice man who saves her bacon a couple of times. She meets other locals who are or are not helpful, including Lukas and Shorty. She begins to get a picture of what is going on.

Then Hound and O’Reilly drop a bomb. Is this murder related to the murder of her own mother a number of years earlier? She has vowed to find her mother’s killer and bring them to justice.

Rebecca has a moment at the end of the book, pondering what kind of person she has turned in to. She knows what she has done, and regrets it somehow. Foes she really want to be that kind of person? There’s hope for her yet.

This is a well written and plotted novel. It is amazing that it is a debut. I didn’t care for the manner in which Rebecca manipulated and badgered Cartwright into putting her on the case. It smacked of emotional blackmail. She also made too many assumptions regarding others people’s motives and emotions and some leaps of logic that didn’t follow. Her character evened out though after she got to Conroy. The book started out a little slowly, but once it got going, the suspense increased and continued to increase throughout the rest of the novel.

I want to thank NetGalley and Joffe Books for forwarding to me a copy of this very well done debut novel to read and enjoy.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Joffe Books for an advance copy of Her Dark Path, a debut novel featuring acting DC Rebecca Bradley of the Ontario Provincial Police.

Rebecca is desperate to become a detective but she is blocked at every turn by Inspector Sykes. As a last resort she asks her ex boyfriend Superintendent Cartwright to let her investigate the cold case murder of Abigail McBride, hoping that it will get her into the detective bureau and give her pointers in the unsolved murder of her mother 16 years ago as she sees similarities in the two cases. In Conroy where Abigail lived her unorthodox investigation leads to an outbreak of violence and the discovery that her family has strong links to the place.

I thoroughly enjoyed Her Dark Path. It is a straightforward mystery with plenty of action and some unusual twists and turns. It won't win any literary prizes (not my first choice of reading matter) but it had me glued to the pages from start to finish as I read it in one sitting. It does require a certain suspension of disbelief, like a rookie being allowed to look into a cold case murder, but it's easy to do so and get involved in the action.

I like the characters. Rebecca surrounds herself with oddballs and makes some genuine friendships. She is dedicated and rather humourless but she has her eye on the main prize, a place in the detective bureau. She is also smart, pleasant, tough and cool under pressure.

The mystery of Abigail's death is solved in the novel, making it complete. There are, however, some intriguing hints about where Mr Ogilvie will take the sequel and I'm looking forward to it. Not all readers like this so it's worth a mention.

Like all the crime novels published by Joffe Books that I have read Her Dark Path is extremely readable and engrossing so I have no hesitation in recommending it.

Rebecca is an ambitious young lady that wants to solve the murder of her mother and at the same time solve the murder of another young girl, earning her a place within the CIB as an investigator. Along the way she makes, friends, enemies, and meets more mystery. This was full of suspense, intrigue, and a lot of twists. Thank you NetGalley and Ken Ogilvie for allowing me to read this book and write a honest review.

Only 8 years old when her mother was murdered, Rebecca, now 24, has vowed to track down the man who killed her mother and gotten away with it. Now a police officer,she’s working another cold case, a woman who disappeared for over two weeks, only to be found later, dead in her own home. There would appear to be a connection to Rebecca’s mother’s murder, the crimes are strikingly similar. Can Rebecca keep a professional distance from both crimes long enough to track down the killer?

This is a really good debut thriller from Ken Ogilvie. A good plot with plenty twists and turns to keep the reader engrossed. I liked the characters of Rebecca and Hound and the ending which leaves you hoping that there is a follow up .Many thanks to Joffe Books and Net Galley for my copy. I reviewed on Goodreads.