Een jonge vrouw, dochter van een Engelse minister, wordt afschuwelijk toegetakeld gevonden langs een van executieplaatsen bij de Theems. Forensisch psychologe Alice Quentin wordt door de Londense politie gevraagd hen te helpen bij het zoeken naar de moordenaar als een tijd later een dode valt in soortgelijke omstandigheden. Al snel vallen er nog meer doden en lijkt het erop dat familie en bekenden van de vrouw doelwit zijn. Is misschien de minister het echte doelwit, vraagt men zich af? ( )

I received a complimentary copy of this book as a part of a book tour for a fair and honest review which in no way influenced my opinion of the reading material provided. I rated it 4.5 out of 5 Stars.

A huge fan of suspense, mystery and thriller books, I was thrilled to get the chance to read and review The Girl in the River by Kate Rhodes. I was a little worried that I would have trouble connecting with the main character, Alice Quentin, since this is the fourth book in the series, but the author did an excellent job of developing both her story and Alice’s character and I found myself eagerly turning the pages to discover what Alice would discover next. If you like psychological thrillers, you will definitely want to pick up the Alice Quentin series.

A psychologist with a flair for solving crimes, Alice Quentin is both pleased and annoyed when she receives a request from the head of the Forensic Psychology Unit of the Metropolitan Police to review one of their closed cold cases. Especially when she discovers the victim, Jude Shelley is still alive and that her family specifically requested her case review. A rich and politically connected family. As Alice begins her investigation, she realizes her case could be connected to an open being investigated by a detective she knows. Will Alice be able to solve the crimes before the killer decides to claim another victim?

I easily connected with Alice and liked her approach to both the victim and the possible suspects as she reopened the case. She easily realized that the police had botched the original investigation because they were afraid of antagonizing the politically connected family and did not properly investigate their backgrounds and alibies. Although physically a small woman, Alice is very smart and she is tenacious. She lets nothing stand in her way of getting to the truth, no matter how painful it is for everyone involved, including her. I really liked that about her and I liked how she quickly recognized people’s psychological problems. Ms. Rhodes did an excellent job making Alice likable and realistic.

I also enjoyed watching Alice interact with the secondary characters, who were also well developed and each contributed something to the story. While the story is told from Alice’s point of view, Ms. Rhodes also lets us into the villain’s point of view, which was quite interesting. I definitely questioned what drove the killer and what was done to the victims.

Will Alice discover who attacked Jude and if it is somehow connected to Jude’s family’s politics? Will the detective working the open case be willing to work with her or get in her way? Will Alice ever manage to have a personal life while working for the police? You will have to read The Girl in the River to find out, I really enjoyed it and will be reading the previous books in preparation for Alice’s next case. ( )