Book Review: The Girl In The Ice by Robert Bryndza

Her eyes are wide open. Her lips parted as if to speak. Her dead body frozen in the ice…She is not the only one. When a young boy discovers the body of a woman beneath a thick sheet of ice in a South London park, Detective Erika Foster is called in to lead the murder investigation. The victim, a beautiful young socialite, appeared to have a perfect life. Yet when Erika begins to dig deeper, she starts to connect the dots between the murder and the killings of three prostitutes, all found strangled, hands bound and dumped in the water around London. What dark secrets is the girl in the ice hiding? As Erika inches closer to uncovering the truth, the killer is closing in on Erika.

ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was familiar with the Robert Bryndza's chick lit books while being a part of This Chick Reads team. When I heard that he wrote a crime book, I assumed it was chick lit cozy mystery story. I never expected The Girl In The Ice! And after finishing the book, all I can say is WOW!

The story starts with the death of a young and very beautiful woman. Her body is found under the ice of the frozen lake in the park, tied, vandalized. The case is not treated like the rest. Andrea is the daughter of very rich and influent businessman. The whole murder case is covered by the press and the phone calls from influential people. Andrea is known as a girl who liked parties and liked to have fun, all the time, like most of the rich girls her age. But what was she doing in that part of the city? Who wanted her dead?

DCI Erika Foster is assigned to lead the case. She is one of the best officers in the police department. Originally assigned on the case because of her Slovakian background (victim's mother is Slovakian also) she takes the things in her own hands and stubbornly grabs every lead that can take her to the real justice. At the beginning, it seems that Andrea's murder is a unique case, but soon it turns out that some Eastern European young women died in the same way. Is there a connection? Is there a serial killer on the sight?

While trying to bring the real killer to the justice, Erika tries to cope with her own pain. She recently loses her husband, a police officer who dies in action, right in front of her. She misses him every day, and she tries to dismiss out of her head the image of him bleeding to death. Her job is the only thing she has now, and she sticks to it. Her sense for justice and moral is very high, she won't stop until she brings the real culprit in front of the justice. And she wants justice for all, all the women who died strangled and tortured, no matter if they are prostitutes or rich and spoiled kids.

Robert Bryndza creates a great main character that can lead many cases in future. A woman with a great sense of justice and too much pain in her personal life. I am so glad that he includes Eastern European characters in his story. I must say that I love author's sense of humor, like when the prostitute says to the police officer that she pays his wages, because she pays her taxes and that's what pays his wages, or when he describes one of the character's hairstyle like „if someone had placed a bowl on her head and cut round it“. Just for the record, The Girl In The Ice is not just one of the „Girl“ books that appeared recently. It is gripping and emotional read, perfect for fans of police procedurals and serial killers. The author established himself as a true expert in writing in this genre, I would never ever assume that it is his debut crime novel. And after a start like this, I expect to see DCI Erika Foster in several future book series.

My opinion: 5 / 5.