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  • The Dark Lake

  • By: Sarah Bailey
  • Narrated by: Kate Hosking
  • Length: 12 hrs and 42 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (226 ratings)

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The Dark Lake

By: Sarah Bailey
Narrated by: Kate Hosking
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Publisher's Summary

A brilliant debut with twists to rival the best of the genre.

When Gemma Woodstock, homicide investigator in the large rural town of Smithson, views the body of her old school friend Rosalind splayed open on the autopsy table, she suffers the same feeling of inscrutability that has coloured her relationship with Rose for so long.

Gemma, however, is hiding her own secrets. She has a four-year-old son, Ben, and has recently moved in with the boy's father, Scott. But the relationship is troubled, and she is having an affair with a colleague that she works closely with, Felix, who is married with two teenage daughters. She knows that Rosalind recently moved back to Smithson to teach drama at their old school, but Gemma had not made contact, and now she wonders why the incendiary Rose really came back to this country town. Rose lived alone in a small run-down apartment, even though her father is one of the town's richest men....

©2017 Sarah Bailey (P)2017 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

What listeners say about The Dark Lake

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
  • Meg
  • 02-08-2020

Struggled.

Really disappointed. Too many characters, to much back and forth between times and too much description of irrelevant things. Hard to follow and hard to keep up with which character was which. Hate leaving anything unfinished so listened to it all. Boring ending and a very negative energy overall. Unfortunately not for me. Honest review.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

90% feelings: 10% story.

Struggled to finish. Got tired of the main character's continual self indulgence and personal stupidity. The story and plot were just a vehicle for the emotional stuff.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

A good, Australian book

Kate Hosking is a fine, Australian narrator and switches between characters well. The Dark Lake is a solid story about a close-knit Australian town with a troubled local Detective at its heart. While some of the turn of phrase had me scratching my head, Bailey introduces Gemma Woodstock as the heroine of her own story, a kind of character every woman can see a bit of herself in.

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3 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

narrator saves this one

Kate Hosking is a skilled narrator, which made me perservere with this story. So much unnecessary conversation and drawn out scenes about nothing... I like descriptive writing however this was almost a bit over the top.. eyes sparkling like marbles.. very long story with not much happening... I wanted to like this story... I sort of did..

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2 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Gets better in the second half

I almost gave up on this book - it’s pretty heavy on tropes and cliques and the main character’s descriptions of the murdered woman were overwhelming and obsessive to the point of being nauseating and pretty hard to believe. It improved somewhat in the second half even though I worked out who the murderer was long before the big reveal and couldn’t muster any affection for our detective heroine even in her moments of greatest crisis.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Struggle to listen to

Struggled to finish. Unconvincing story line and annoying references to lustful longings by a cheating heroine. Returned book.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

enthralling story, well performed.

An intriguing mystery excellently narrated by a gifted voice shape changer. This helps to bring all the characters to life along a well thought out plot. The time jumps are a little confusing at times but I liked the occasional change of point of view from different characters. I'm looking forward to her next book.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

A good listen

Recently read The Housemate by Sarah Bailey which I was unable to put down. Not as suspenseful but still a good read.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Mildly entertaining

Good to be involved in an Australian story. That said, the lead character was rather self-indulgent and annoying. The narrator could have been good if the text didn’t constantly refer to the English accent of one character - apparently something the narrator was completely incapable of approximating even remotely. That dissonance (& a rather strange pronunciation of ‘posthumously’) were a little off-putting.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

The Dark Lake by Sarah Bailey

Good aussie book Thank you Sarah Bailey for writing this book and thank you Kate Hosking for reading to me 💜💜💜💜💜💜

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.