The Dark Lake

About the book

A tight-knit community is shocked by revelations from decades past in this "enthralling" (Associated Press) literary mystery that "will keep you racing toward the end" (Lisa Gardner). The lead homicide investigator in a rural town, Detective Sergeant Gemma Woodstock is deeply unnerved when a high school classmate is found strangled, her body floating in a lake. And not just any classmate, but Rosalind Ryan, whose beauty and inscrutability exerted a magnetic pull on Smithson High School, first during Rosalind's student years and then again when she returned to teach drama. As much as Rosalind's life was a mystery to Gemma when they were students together, her death presents even more of a puzzle. What made Rosalind quit her teaching job in Sydney and return to her hometown? Why did she live in a small, run-down apartment when her father was one of the town's richest men? And despite her many admirers, did anyone in the town truly know her? Rosalind's enigmas frustrate and obsess Gemma, who has her own dangerous secrets--an affair with her colleague and past tragedies that may not stay in the past. Brilliantly rendered, The Dark Lake has characters as compelling and mysteries as layered as the best thrillers from Gillian Flynn and Sophie Hannah.

Praise for this book:

"A stunning debut that gripped me from page one and never eased up. Dark, dark, dark-but infused with insight, pathos, a great sense of place, and razor-sharp writing. It's going to be big and Sarah Bailey needs to clear a shelf for awards." - C J Box

"I raced through this deliciously complicated, mesmerizing debut at warp speed. Sarah Bailey's The Dark Lake is sure to keep readers awake far too late into the night." - Karen Dionne

"Hooked me from page one! [A] stunning debut thriller... With clever twists and all-too-human characters, this book will keep you racing toward the end." - Lisa Gardner

"A mesmerizing thriller full of long buried secrets that sucked me right in and kept me up late turning pages... An exquisite debut." - Jennifer McMahon

"Beautifully written, compulsively, readable, and highly recommended." - Douglas Preston