Watching from the Dark

December 16, 2019
In the prologue of British author Lodge’s gripping if flawed follow-up to She Lies in Wait, a panicky unidentified man makes an emergency call because he’s worried that his art student girlfriend, Zoe Swardadine, has been attacked just out of range of the webcam on which he was waiting to Skype with her. At Zoe’s flat, the Southampton, England, police find her dead in the bathtub, an apparent suicide, but a few forensic clues suggest otherwise. When Det. Chief Insp. Jonah Sheens and his team delve into Zoe’s life, they discover that, though the vivacious young woman appears to have been widely loved, almost everyone in her circle—including her boyfriend—harbors secrets they’re dead set on protecting. If anything, Lodge creates almost too many suspects, on whom she casts suspicion in turn. As a result, the big reveal feels about as arbitrary as Colonel Mustard in the library with a candlestick. Until then, fans of psychological thrillers will be more than content. Agent: Felicity Blunt, Curtis Brown.

December 15, 2019
A man reports the murder of his girlfriend, which happened while he was Skyping with her, in Lodge's (She Lies in Wait, 2019) second English mystery. At first the police don't take the report seriously because the caller won't give his name, but on a hunch, DCI Jonah Sheens and his team look into it, and they do indeed find the body of Zoe Swardadine. From the start, there is a plethora of shady characters doing shady things to hide their shady secrets. Foremost among them is Aidan, the (married) boyfriend who called in the crime. The drama of his on-again, off-again relationship with Zoe may have been responsible for her complete transformation over the last few months of her life. And then there's Victor, Zoe's irascible co-worker, who may have nursed his own fantasies of a relationship with her, and Maeve and Angeline, Zoe's best friends, who relied on her to pick them up every time they fell. As a picture of Zoe's last few months begins to coalesce, Jonah and his team sense a malevolent presence at the heart of the case--someone who hated Zoe enough to murder her at her most vulnerable time. They rush to put the pieces together before one of their own is unwittingly put in danger. Lodge alternates between chapters following the investigation into Zoe's death and chapters that recount the final 20 months of her life, allowing the reader to understand Zoe as a fully rounded and complicated character, not just a victim. This choice, trendy in thrillers but almost always effective when the characters are strong, consistently reminds us to look beyond simplistic binaries of victim and perpetrator, innocent and guilty, and recognize that all humans make problematic choices, sometimes for good reasons and sometimes for bad. Lodge's choices celebrate the complexity of humanity and elevate this police procedural.

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March 13, 2020

Aidan Poole logs onto his computer and waits to Skype with his girlfriend, Zoe. He can see Zoe's apartment, but she's curiously offscreen. From his vantage point, Aidan notices Zoe's front door opening and hears footsteps. Then, the sounds of a violent struggle in the bathroom, followed by someone exiting the apartment. While Aidan is terrified for Zoe's safety, he's hesitant to contact the police--eventually doing so cryptically and anonymously. The next morning, DCI Jonah Sheens and his team find Zoe dead. As the investigation begins, Sheens and his team discover that kindhearted Zoe was surrounded by a complicated network of friends, each of whom has something to hide. They also learn about Zoe's tumultuous, on-again, off-again relationship with Aidan, who continues to behave strangely despite his alibi. Readers follow each member of Sheens's team as they work the puzzling case. The present-day investigation is intercut with flashbacks to Zoe's life leading up to the murder, showing her as a fully developed character, not just a murder victim. VERDICT Lodge's second "Jonah Sheens" mystery (after She Lies in Wait) is a compelling police procedural with a well-drawn cast of characters.--Andy Northrup, Eugene P.L., OR

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2020
When Aidan gets a Skype video-chat notification from his girlfriend, Zoe, he's surprised to see that she's not actually on screen yet. He can view her empty apartment and hear her splashing around in the bathroom. He's intrigued, so he stays on the call . . . only to see a shadowy figure enter through the front door. Next, he hears sounds of a struggle and the same figure leaves, all within minutes. Aidan calls the police, and that's where DCI Jonah Sheens (last seen in She Lies in Wait, 2019) enters the story. Sheens and his team of smart detectives are on the case, which at first appears to be a suicide. But Aidan's story?and the details of his relationship with Zoe, which eventually come to light?complicates the case deeply. The narrative moves back two years to chart the course of the relationship and to introduce the couple's circle of friends, all of whom have some air of suspicion about them. Readers will enjoy the fast pace, red herrings, and intriguing characters in this British police procedural-slash-psychological thriller.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)