Jason Wade is an East End boxer-turned-Police Crime Scene Investigator. He likes his job, has a good circle of friends, and is never short of female admirers. But, although on the outside his life looks an enviable one, behind closed doors he has more than one secret hidden away.When a female body is dragged from the Thames, the skeletons from Jason’s past quickly begin to resurface and his … near-perfect life slowly begins to spiral out of control. But, when a second victim is pulled from the Thames with amnesia, Jason questions if the two accidents are related to each other.With none of his colleagues believing there is a link between the two incidences, and ordered to stay away from the case by his boss, will investigating these seemingly unrelated cases lead Jason to his own downfall, and how many of his friends will he take with him?
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Jason Wade is a police forensics technician and a former professional boxer – an interesting combination. Although the subtitle of this first book in what promises to be a series indicates a forensic crime thriller, there is not much forensics involved – but there is plenty of crime and thrills. At the start, the story seems to be about Jason’s quest to prove that his sister, Leah’s, death was a murder and not, as the authorities insist, an accident. Throughout this novel, the author gives us small bits of information about Leah and the mystery surrounding her death. But, that’s not what this book turns out to be about. Instead, eight months after Leah was pulled from the Thames, another woman is rescued from the cold winter water and survives. But she has amnesia and cannot remember anything from before her incident. Jason, who is assigned to take her fingerprints to help identify her, becomes interested in her situation, and wonders if there is any possible connection to Leah’s death. And away we go on a twisting road with peril at every turn.
Ms. Collins has created a deeply flawed and disturbed character in Jason Wade. Somehow, he’s likeable, despite behavior that would seem selfish and reckless. Jason’s relationships are all dysfunctional. He refuses to let the police psychiatrist help him. He leans on his ex-girlfriend for help at every turn, but neglects her. His best friend is a cop who he also uses without much reciprocity. Everyone in his life (including us, the readers) cut him breaks and help him out (possibly out of sympathy for the loss of his sister), but it’s hard to understand why anyone would want to cut him a break based on how he acts. Tragedy seems to follow him, and his actions imperil his friends and accomplices, but we’re still rooting for him. The deep backstory about Jason’s sister and his misplaced guilt that he didn’t do more to prevent her death is a gripping undercurrent to the main plot.
The chief villain – whose motives and ultimate intentions are shrouded – is trying to kill Kate, the woman with amnesia. Jason is trying to protect her, despite his own injuries and danger. The plot is a rollercoaster of emotions and action sequences that rival a Jason Bourne movie. As our Jason attempts to unravel the mystery – both of Kate’s true identity and the reasons why someone is trying to kill her – he’s also piecing together how her assailant may be connected to Leah’s death. The intertwining of the stories is expertly done and the plot moves along at a brisk pace that kept me turning pages as fast as possible. The story had plenty of surprises and kept me interested throughout.
As each scene unfolds, the author’s third-person narrator takes on the inner voice of whichever character is in frame. This is an interesting style, but takes some getting used to and results in a shifting narrator point-of-view. The device of the damsel in distress who has amnesia works for the story, but puts a bit of soap-opera feel to the plot. There are a few other plot devices that are slightly implausible or a not fully explained. But, the story rushes along so fast and with such passion and energy that it’s easy to overlook these little nits.
The reader should understand going in that this is the start of a series and it does not end with much resolution. Some portions of the plot reach an ending, but much is still very much up in the air at the finish of book 1. It’s not a true cliff-hanger, but be prepared to keep reading beyond this book if you want to find out everything. I have no idea where the story is headed, but I’m sure I care about it and want to find out.
Fast-paced is an understatement to describe the speed of this book. Collins wastes no time dropping you into the middle of Jason Wade’s tormented life. His anger issues are thrown into high gear when he sister is found drowned in the Thames River. But Jason doesn’t believe it’s an accident and intends to prove it, no matter who gets in his way.
Compounding his investigation (as a crime scene investigator–NOT a detective) is when another young woman turns up at a local hospital with retrograde amnesia because she was also pulled from the Thames but survived an apparent suicide attempt. But when Jason discovers she was pushed, he senses a criminal connection with a casino and the two women. Fueled by his anger and desire for justice, Jason throws himself into the hunt for the bad guys with reckless abandon and little regard for his safety.
It’s a compelling premise that Collins connects nicely as the book proceeds. I particularly enjoyed her sharp, spot-on dialogue. Take that comment with a grain of salt because I’m not British (although my father’s ancestors immigrated from GB in the 1830s) and I don’t know for sure if the dialogue rings true for those characters and that situation.
The villain is a sufficient match for Jason and he is seemingly always injured or in grave peril. Yet he persists with his boxing skills, quick mind, superior physical condition, and an unstoppable desire to get to the truth and bring his sister’s killer to justice.
One criticism I have is that because of the rapid pace and nonst0p action, the characters didn’t get as developed as they might have been. Understandable if this will become a series, but I don’t feel I know Jason terribly well other than he was a former pro boxer, lost his sister, is a CSI, and has an erratic, one-sided romance with Karen, a woman he uses more to obtain information from him than for sex or companionship.
All in all, “Dead in the Water” is a good setup for the series because the story ends with enough finality to be satisfying, yet leaves a few story questions to be answered in the next book.