A DARK AND TWISTED TIDE

A cop recovering from a near drowning discovers the first of several bodies in a mystery set near, along and in the Thames.

Constable Lacey Flint of the Metropolitan Police’s Marine Unit, who lives in a houseboat, knows the river well enough to negotiate its tides and currents as a wild-swimmer. When she finds a shrouded, skeletal body tied to the landing stage by the old Kings Wharf, she has to report it even though the report puts her on the spot for questionable swimming practices. DI Dana Tulloch, who supervises the case, was Lacey’s boss when Lacey was still a detective herself, before a string of three bad cases changed her life and made her return to uniform. When the evidence suggests the drowning victim was a young woman, possibly of Middle Eastern extraction, Lacey goes undercover to try to flush out the sex traffickers she suspects are responsible. Lacey is used to a false identity; for reasons that aren't made entirely clear, she’s had one for years, and she’s willing to take chances to save lives. She has the example, too, of her quasi-boyfriend, Mark Joesbury, a full-time undercover cop who makes a couple of secret visits to Lacey’s houseboat. But she’s increasingly suspicious that someone besides Joe is visiting her boat and leaving threatening messages. Lacey’s attempt to rescue one of the victims, her friendship with a set of elderly twins, infestations of Chinese crabs and the knowledge of obstetrics Dana gleaned from her attempts to get pregnant all come together in the tense, horror-filled, over-the-top sequence that ends Lacey’s fourth case.

The aquatic maverick heroine is pulled from water so many times that Bolton (Like This, For Ever, 2013, etc.) has to keep upping the ante. Nevertheless, Lacey’s a brave and resourceful protagonist who earns her boss’s and readers’ respect.