“The plot has more twists and turns than the path of the legendary river and flows along just as swiftly. We couldn’t put it down!”

 

NO MAJOR SPOILERS

Jude Shelley, daughter of a prominent cabinet minister, had her whole life ahead of her until she was attacked and left to drown in the Thames. Miraculously, she survived. A year later, her family ask psychologist Alice Quentin to re-examine the case.

But then an elderly priest is attacked in Battersea, his body washed up at Westminster Pier. An ancient glass bead is tied to his wrist.

The river has always demanded sacrifices, and now it seems a killer believes it’s calling out for more.

Alice is certain that Jude and her family are hiding something, but unless she can persuade them to share what they know, more victims will drown…

This review is posted as part of the River of Souls Blog Tour, to celebrate the publication of the latest Kate Rhodes novel. It is a pleasure to be a part of this Blog Tour.

My Thoughts:

Wow, wow, wow Kate Rhodes is back with a bang with her fourth Alice Quentin novel ‘River of Souls’. Alice’s life is just getting back to normal, after her previous case involving missing girls in North London and a trip to Northwood High Security hospital is a must. (This is a must read, along side of her other two novels).

Jude was brutally attacked and left for dead, and with her only just hanging on her mother asks Alice to take another look at the case. At first she is reluctant, however she decides to take a look, but before she can even get started a body of a Priest is discovered and it appears to be in similar circumstances and she soon realises that they could be connected. She soon finds out that there was details about Jude’s case that were kept quiet which may have affected the original investigation, this cases also has her working back along side DCI Burns.

Kate Rhodes conveys the psychology of crimes brilliantly, through her portrayal of Alice Quentin. One of the parts of the book I loved, was how certain chapters were from the view of the killer, who believes the river is talking to him and guiding him through the killings. I liked how we can view the crime and the mind of the perpetrators from Alice’s point of view, as it shows a different insight as opposed to just the thought process of the police.

I love Alice as a strong whilst showing emotion female lead. It is brilliant, how she is shown doing a brilliant job solving cases surrounded by mostly men, whilst at the same time she has a mother to look after, a brother to worry about and her best friend whose due to give birth any day, on top of all that Alice also has an extremely complicated love life.

The connection Kate Rhodes creates between her characters is brilliant, especially between Alice and Burns, at points I found myself shouting at the book for them to just get on with it.

This book was gripping from the very beginning, it makes you second guess everything. I kept thinking I knew who it was but like her previous novels, there are many twists and turns that makes you doubt what you originally thought.

Kate Rhodes is one of my new favorite authors, she is a fabulous writer and I always look forward to another book coming out and I look forward to many more books in this series.

Many thanks to Bookbridgr and the publishers for my review copy.

 

Reviewed by:

Kimberley Parsonage

Added 16th August 2015