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The Dark Lake

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The Dark Lake

By: Sarah Bailey
Narrated by: Kate Hosking
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About this listen

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 Crime Thrillers Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Mystery Police Procedural Suspense Thriller Thriller & Suspense Crime Exciting
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Didn’t like the main character, too flakey for her police role. A strange mix of Sex in the (police) City and blogs from Mammamia. Somewhere there’s a story but buried in dross, in my opinion.

Too slow and dragged out for an audiobook

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great story , really enjoyed kate reading the story , kate has an easy interesting voice great work

well read

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So many people are putting down the main character because she is greatly flawed. I LOVED that!!
I loathe listening to characters who are one dimensional, perfect, cliche, bland and/or predicable. Or just drink because they are damaged and that's their one flaw.
I did not get that here!!
It has been a few months since I have listened to this book... and I don't remember clearly what the big reveal was, but the characters have stuck with me.

Finally, characters with flaws

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I’d guessed the ending about halfway through, but I so wanted to see where Gemma’s private life was headed and it made me stick to the story until the end. I enjoyed the story and was impressed by the performance of the reader. I’m about to start the next book in the series

I’d guessed the ending but...

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thought narrator a bit funny until i realised thats how Australians speak. ok after that

a slow start finished well. will read book 2.

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

The Dark Lake by Sarah Bailey

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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.

Mildly entertaining

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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.

A good, Australian book

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I enjoyed reading this book a lot more than I had anticipated. It was well- written with complex chatacters and an interesting plot. Very dark though. Do not read if you need something uplifting.

very dark

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Good story but bloody depressing, couldn't wait for it to end so I could have this depressing weight lifted off me. Main characters life is a mess, get over it girl, time to move on.

Dark is fitting.

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