The Girl in the River by Kate Rhodes

I've been introduced to a new mystery series from England and I like it. This is the fourth of the Alice Quentin novels. It reads well on its own and I liked it well enough to read the others in the series.

Alice Quentin is a psychologist invited to work with the Forensic Psychology Unit of the Met. The daughter of a government minister had been attacked a year ago and survived. The Met had closed the case after six months but the mother was insisting it be reopened. Alice would use her expertise to support the family and look for new leads.

The attack was shocking. The woman's face was horribly disfigured and she was left in the Thames to drown. Alice begins her consulting and immediately another is attacked, disfigured, and left in the Thames to drown. The victims are associated with the minister and Alice finds there is a deadly secret in the family. When a police woman working the case goes missing, Alice works desperately to uncover the murderer.

I like Alice as a character. She is a flawed sleuth as she suffers from claustrophobia. She has relationship issues. She has a mother succumbing to Parkinson's and a brother battling depression. Even with these issues weighing her down, she works hard to identify the villain.

I like Rhodes' writing style. There is a good pace to the novel as Alice's personal life is revealed while the work to catch the murderer intensifies. There are well developed scenes in the novel, some gruesome and some filled with suspense.

I always like to learn something when I read a novel and in this one it was about excavating the Thames. There is a great deal of history centered on this river and it was interesting to read about the artifacts discovered and their meaning.

I recommend this novel to those who enjoy a psychological thriller. It has a good pace with believable characters. It may be a bit complex but I found it an enjoyable novel.

A note to my regular blog readers. There is casual sex and mild swearing in this novel.

My rating: 4/5 stars.

Kate Rhodes is the author of two collections of poetry and the Alice Quentin novels. She writes full time and lives in Cambridge with her husband, a writer and film-maker. You can find out more here.

Witness Impulse, 352 pages.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher for the purpose of an independent and honest review.