Sarah Bailey (3) (1982–)

The main protagonist of this crime novel is Detective Sergeant Gemma Woodstock, 28, who often behaves less than admirably, and hints at having some dark secrets from her past that are only gradually unfolded. Yet somehow, she is absolutely a sympathetic character.

Gemma’s partner on the Smithson Detective Squad in New South Wales, Australia, is Felix McKinnon, a recent transplant from London. Felix isn’t similarly sympathetic, although Gemma is smitten with him. This was in spite of the show more fact that Gemma was living with Scott, the father of her son 2 and 1/2 year old son Ben, and Felix is married with three daughters. Perhaps it is Gemma’s fragility and vulnerability that made me want to protect her rather than excoriate her.

Gemma and Felix are trying to find out who killed Rosalind Ryan, a magnetic 28-year-old former classmate of Gemma’s and more recently a school teacher at their old high school. Rosalind was found in the local lake showing clear signs of homicide and of possible sexual assault. The case brings back a host of memories for Gemma; she was tied to Rosalind in ways she does not want to share with the rest of the police.

Gemma and Felix are repeatedly stymied in trying to negotiate the lies and half-truths that form a dense web around Rosalind’s life. Gemma is also navigating the treacherous shoals of her personal life, with a conflict between her real life with Scott and Ben, and her fantasy life with Felix. Moreover, her past has now reared its head and threatens to swamp her and her current reality.

In the end, of course, the secrets unravel, and we the readers even learn some that Gemma herself will presumably never know.

Discussion: Gemma is a complex character. Her past was marked by traumatic loss, and she joined the police not only so she could block out the thoughts that pulled her deeper into an emotional black hole, but so she could exercise some control over life:

“I needed so badly to work in a world that made binary sense of things. A place where there was good and bad, right and wrong, and where I was in charge of making sure there was more good than bad.”

Not only her career but her relationships have been colored by her past: she feels “a sense of urgency, a need to feel alive, a desperation to keep breathing.” She prefers adrenaline to stability.

The many ways in which the past have shaped Gemma’s life reminded me very much of the prescient observation in Gabrielle Zevin’s book Young Jane Young: “When you think about it, isn’t a person just a structure built in reaction to the landscape and the weather?”

Evaluation: Ordinarily I shy away from blurbs that take the form of comparisons, such as “if you love [Author X]…” but this book is so evocative of Tana French - an author I do love - I feel it merits such treatment.

Since it is set in Australia rather than in Ireland, you won’t encounter any “fecking eejits” in this book, but you will still get a lot of the “feel” and tone of a Tana French book.

I enjoyed this book almost as much as one of French’s, and am hoping it will become only the first of an ongoing detective series. show less

This is set in two different timelines, which means that it takes a while to get going, and I'm not sure the sections from Alex's point of view really added much anyway. I liked Cooper and Rusty, but disliked everyone else, even the heroine Oli, who should never be allowed to parent even a hamster. The twists and turns were pretty good, and the ending satisfactory.

However, despite this being a hardback book, my edition was riddled with typesetting errors, typos and a weird way of setting show more out conversations which made it hard to work out when one person had finished speaking and the other started. I waited months and months for this to be published in Canada - the date kept being put back - but the time clearly wasn't spent with the proof-reader. show less

Sarah Bailey has written a compelling story that sucked me right in. In no time at all, I had to know the answers to all the questions Bailey raised, two of which are just what happened between Gemma and Rosalind when they were in high school? And who disliked Rosalind enough to kill her now?

It's amazing that I did find The Dark Lake so compelling because I didn't like any of the characters. The character I disliked the most was Gemma herself. I had to keep reminding myself that she was only show more twenty-eight and emotionally still a child. There are some traumas that occur during childhood that make children grow up quickly. There are others that stunt the child's emotional growth, and Gemma is one of these people. I deduced why she was behaving the way she was, but all her angst was too much for me. To Gemma, her teenage years were absolute perfection and she does everything she possibly can to ensure that she can't have perfection now. Oh. So. Tiresome. (And, oh, if only I could've dredged up some sympathy for her.)

The Dark Lake is a very well-written story with a smooth, fast pace and a mystery that is worth solving. However, if you're the type of reader who must have at least one character you can like and trust, this may not be the book for you. show less

The Dark Lake is Australian author Sarah Bailey's debut novel.

DS Gemma Woodstock is the lead investigator in a rural Aussie town. When a woman is found dead in a local lake, Gemma recognizes her from their high school days. But she downplays this connection. Why? "It's amazing what you can keep buried when you want to." The dead woman is an enigma - her students adored her and her colleagues admired her. But as the investigation continues, Gemma discovers that no one really 'knows' Rosalind, show more including her own family.

Bailey sets up the reader with not one, but two mysteries - who killed Rosanind and what event occurred in Gemma's past that she is so determined to keep hidden.

Gemma was an interesting lead character. She's smart and driven to find answers. But. She's also playing a dangerous game with her personal life. I didn't agree with the choices she was making and the actions she took to pursue that choice. I can't say that I liked her partner Felix either. I was intrigued by Rosalind. We only get to 'know' her from other's memories and observations though. I would have like a peek into her life from her own point of view.

Bailey's use of the 'then and now' technique gives the reader small glimpses into Gemma's past and then flips back to the present. The book is equally divided into a search for the killer and a character driven exploration of Gemma and her life.

Bailey gives us lots of options and characters to choose from for the closing 'whodunit' and the final answer was clever. I did find the reveal of Gemma's secret to be a bit of a letdown and the resolution she finds in her personal life in the final pages to be somewhat cliched. The book weighs in at 400+ pages. I feel this could have been tightened up a bit, as Gemma's dilemma became somewhat repetitive after awhile and I found my interest slipping.

I think this may be the first in a series. If so, I would be curious to see where Bailey next takes her character. I think The Dark Lake is a solid debut, but the publisher's comparisons to Tana French and Paula Hawkins may be a bit ambitious at this stage of Bailey's career. show less