The Water Doesn’t Lie By Kim Booth

‘The Water Doesn’t Lie’ is a hard hitting drama by Kim Booth.

Even the water can give up its secrets.When a body is found early on a Sunday morning fully clothed face down in a lake, initial enquiries tend to indicate a tragic accident has occurred.Detective Sergeant Barry Dalton attends the scene and at first, with no visible marks or injuries on the deceased, all appears to be in order, but a post mortem on the body starts a chain of events that will expose dark secrets from the past that have remained concealed for many years. DS Dalton and DI Gibb investigate and uncover a series of further deaths that certain people are at pains to be recorded as sudden deaths or accidents to assist the offender and to avenge the previous wrongdoings. What is the reason why the circumstances of the deaths have been manipulated? Who is responsible and why? What are they trying to conceal? The more enquiries Dalton and Gibb make, the larger the puzzle gets.

I’ll be honest, I found this a very difficult book to read, right from the first page, it’s unsettling but once I got past the first chapter, I found it to be a hard hitting read. The story is about historical child abuse that happened in three children’s homes run by the Catholic Church. Although the abuse had come to light and some people served their time, a serial killer is killing them one by one and it’s hard not to be on the same side as the killer, after victims share their horror stories and children commit suicide.

It’s the first book in a new police procedure series and Dalton and Gibb are two impressionable characters, determined to find the killer. Their relationship is serious but in the dark times of the case, they are some lighter moments which is a relief.

The story is incredibly dark and not for the faint-hearted. I do think it should go with some type of warning as the opening scene is incredibly hard to read, focusing on child abuse, suicide and the secrets that the Catholic church tried to hide, this book delves into the horrors and doesn’t hold back at all.

Tense, suspenseful and also terribly sad, ‘The Water Doesn’t Lie’ is a gripping start to a new series and stays with the reader long after they’ve reached the final page.

You can buy ‘The Water Doesn’t Lie’ from Amazon and is available to buy from good bookshops.