Thankyou to NetGalley, Orion Publishing Group, Trapeze and the author, Lara Dearman, for the opportunity to read a digital copy of deep Dark Water in exchange for an honest, unbiased opinion.
I thought the storyline was well written. The book offered a good, quick read that will keep many readers guessing.
Worth a read.

I read this book out of order so had some of the background already. Good characters in an interesting location. Good solid read that leaves you guessing

Set in Guernsey, Jennifer returns to her childhood home after living in London. After the discovery of a young woman's body on the beach, Jennifer uncovers similar deaths going back 50 years.

Unfortunately, I couldn't warm to the characters, and gave up halfway through

This is the first in the Jenny Dorey series set in the Channel Island of Guernsey. Jenny has returned home to Guernsey after a traumatic and scarring time in London. She was chasing a story on Eastern European cleaner Madalina, who disappeared, feared murdered by the guilt ridden Jenny. Threatened and violently assaulted by a gang, she is now living with her mother, Margaret, working as a reporter on the Guernsey News. She is still feeling the intense loss of her beloved father, Charlie, a local fisherman, who filled her childhood with the folklore and pagan history of the island, the horrors of which were mitigated by his child friendly spin on the stories. Her grieving mother has become isolated, reluctant to socialise, welcoming the return of her daughter. Jenny is at the scene of the drowned young woman, Amanda Guille, assumed to have committed suicide after a history of depression and self harm. In charge of the case is close to retirement DCI Michael Gilbert, who in the wake of the devastating death of his precious daughter, Ellen, and the consequent disintegration of his marriage, finds religious faith to anchor and stabilise his life.

Jenny is feeling vulnerable and stalked, receiving countless threatening emails and followed by a motorbiker. As she delves into the life of Amanda, and other drownings in recent history, Margaret regales her with the drowning of Elizabeth, her schoolfriend in the 1960s. Six dead young women and girls have similarities that has Jenny suspecting murder and the existence of a serial killer operating for at least fifty years, of which Amanda is the latest victim. Warned off by her boss, Jenny reveals her findings to Michael, who is harbouring concerns about Amanda, worried that the police have pre-emptively accepted it as suicide without looking deeper. The two join forces, although Michael has an uphill struggle as he is treated as a pariah in the force for being too honest and too diligent in his working of cases. The narrative is delivered through the perspective of Jenny, Michael and the serial killer. We learn of the Nazi occupation of the island during the war, and how the women who fraternised with the enemy were called jerry-bags, hounded and stigmatised, their illegitimate childre bullied mercilessly and forever tainted. Guernsey people view themselves as donkeys, proud of their stubborn nature.

The most iconic character in the novel is Guernsey itself, the sense of location so strong that it permeates throughout, the cold and dangerous seas, its changeable weather, its history, its culture, and the recent growth of the political anti-immigrant group. I particularly enjoyed the folklore, the stories of witches, the devil, and the superstitions. The mark of the Devil's Claw is a tale that Jenny is familiar with, thanks to her father, and is pivotal to the investigation. The serial killer is the result of a union between his mother and a Nazi officer, he finds his childhood is blighted as he is publicly spurned and scorned. A childhood that is instrumental in pushing him on the path to becoming a multiple killer. A highly engaging and entertaining beginning to this new series. I eagerly look forward to the next book.