Shadow Sands by Robert Bryndza

Today it is my great pleasure to share my thoughts on Shadow Sands, book two in the Kate Marshall series from Robert Bryndza. I loved the first book and so have been waiting patiently for this one, a wait that was well worth it. My thanks to publisher Sphere for the advance copy for review. Here’s what the book is all about:

About the Book

When Kate Marshall finds the bloated body of a young man floating in the Shadow Sands reservoir, the authorities label it a tragic accident.

But the details don’t add up: why was he there, in the middle of the night? If he was such a strong swimmer, how did he drown? As Kate and her assistant Tristan Harper follow the evidence, they make a far darker discovery . . .

This is only the latest victim in a series of bloody murders dating back decades. A mythic serial killer is said to hide in the rolling fog, abducting his victims like a phantom. And when another woman is taken, Kate and Tristan have a matter of days to save her from meeting the same fate.

My Thoughts

Well, as mother son bonding sessions go, that’s probably one that Kate Marshall would rather forget. I mean, I always knew that diving could be dangerous, but you generally go looking for fish or maybe, as in this case, flooded villages. Floating bodies are not the kind of things your average diver expects to come across. But then this is a Robert Bryndza novel, so we should expect the unexpected and, given the tension laden opening to the book, readers are perhaps a touch more prepared for Kate’s grim discovery than she was.

With Shadow Sands, Robert Bryndza has provided readers with yet another top class novel full of mystery, tension and dark secrets, and in which our protagonist, Kate, finds herself pulled into an investigation that many people, the police included, would rather she just forget. It’s a very tangled story, so many elements that are carefully and skilfully pulled together, that from the very beginning I found myself totally immersed in Kate’s world and wondering just which of the many suspects might be behind the grizzly deed and, more importantly, why. The author does a brilliant job of keeping readers guessing, introducing clues, in the form of narration from the killer’s perspective, so carefully that you start to build up a clear picture of the kind of person they are up against, without having a clear vision of who they are. And believe me, there are any people in the frame this time around.

I love that in this series we get not only the investigation but also an insight into the personal lives of the two main characters, Kate and Tristan. We are well aware of Kate’s complicated personal life after reading Nine Elms, but while it may have appeared that life was finally turning in her favour, it seems fate has other ideas and we’re not quite ready to close a door on that chapter of her life just yet. We also get to learn a bit more about Tristan this time around and getting to know him, and his family life, really helps bring him to life as a character. The more I know, the more I like him and he’s certainly the perfect partner-in-crime-fighting for Kate. In fact it is Tristan’s complicated personal life that draws the pair into an unexpected change of direction with the case, adding another layer of urgency to an already pacy plot.

If you are a fan of the author’s crime thrillers you are going to love this latest adventure. Full of menace, the killer will make your skin crawl and the more I read, the more invested I became in some of the characters, and the more I could feel the tension build. It had me suspicious of nearly everyone, our protagonists aside, and from the very start I was completely engrossed in the story. The pacing is just perfect, the way in which Robert Bryndza uses the atmospheric conditions surrounding the reservoir and the remote landscape to add an unsettling edge to the story completely en-pointe. The more I read, the more I am loving this series and, seeing how this one has ended, I cannot wait for book three.

About the Author

Robert Bryndza is the author of the international #1 bestselling Detective Erika Foster series and the Kate Marshall series. Robert’s books have sold over 4 million copies and have been translated into 29 languages. He is British and lives in Slovakia.

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