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by Sarah Bailey
Rosalind's secrets didn't die with her.
The lead homicide investigator in a rural town, Detective Sergeant Gemma Woodstock is deeply unnerved when a high school classmate is found strangled, her body floating in a lake. And not just any classmate, but Rosalind Ryan, whose beauty and inscrutability exerted a magnetic pull on Smithson High School, first during Rosalind's student years and then again when she returned to teach drama.
As much as Rosalind's life was a mystery to Gemma when they were students together, her death presents even more of a puzzle. What made Rosalind quit her teaching job in Sydney and return to her hometown? Why did she live in a small, run-down apartment when her father was one of the town's richest men? And despite her many admirers, did anyone in the town truly know her?
Rosalind's enigmas frustrate and obsess Gemma, who has her own dangerous secrets--an affair with her colleague and past tragedies that may not stay in the past. Brilliantly rendered, The Dark Lake has characters as compelling and mysteries as layered as the best thrillers from Gillian Flynn and Sophie Hannah.
"[A] page-turner that's both tense and thought provoking." - Publishers Weekly
"A compelling debut." - Booklist
"A satisfying mystery novel with a relatable heroine, if not a revelatory one." - Kirkus Reviews
"With clever twists and all-too-human characters, this book will keep you racing toward the end." - Lisa Gardner, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Right Behind You and Find Her
"The Dark Lake is a stunning debut that gripped me from page one and never eased up. Dark, dark, dark--but infused with insight, pathos, a great sense of place, and razor-sharp writing. It's going to be big and Sarah Bailey needs to clear a shelf for awards." - C. J. Box, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Vicious Circle and Open Season
"The Dark Lake is a mesmerizing thriller full of long buried secrets that sucked me right in and kept me up late turning page...Sarah Bailey has crafted an exquisite debut - I can't wait to see what she does next!" - Jennifer McMahon, New York Times bestselling author of The Winter People
"I read The Dark Lake in one sitting, it's that good. A crime thriller that seizes you from the first page and slowly draws you into a web of deception and long buried secrets. Beautifully written, compulsively readable, and highly recommended." - Douglas Preston, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Lost City of the Monkey God and co-author of the bestselling Pendergast series
"I raced through this deliciously complicated, mesmerizing debut at warp speed. Sarah Bailey's The Dark Lakeis sure to keep readers awake far too late into the night." - Karen Dionne, author The Marsh King's Daughter
This information about The Dark Lake was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Sarah Bailey was born in Melbourne, Australia, where she has lived all her life and currently resides with her two young sons. She has a degree in journalism and has a career in advertising. She is currently a partner at creative agency, Mr Smith. The Dark Lake is her first novel.
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