Woman in the Water
Katerina Diamond
DS Imogen Grey #6
Why Woman in the Water is My Least Favorite DS Imogen Grey Book
Cover and Synopsis
Woman in the Water Cover & Blurb
I’m alive. But I can’t be saved…
When a woman’s body is found submerged in icy water, police are shocked to find she is alive. But she won’t disclose her name, or what happened to her – even when a second body is discovered. And then she disappears from her hospital bed.
Detectives Adrian Miles and Imogen Grey follow their only lead to the home of Reece Corrigan, and when his wife Angela walks in, they immediately recognise her. She’s the woman from the river, with her injuries carefully masked.
The more they dig into the couple, the less they understand about them.
Why have people in their past been hurt, or vanished?
And why doesn’t Angela want to be saved?
Book Information
Woman in the Water
Published November 2019 by Avon UK.
Genre : Thriller/Mystery
Pages : 423 pages, Kindle Edition
Woman in the Water Trigger Warnings
Graphic sexual violence. Domestic violence, emotional and physical abuse. Suicide and suicidal ideation.
Review
Woman in the Water by Katerina Diamond
Woman in the Water is the sixth book in Katerina Diamond’s DS Imogen Grey British crime thriller series. There are currently seven books in the series- each book can be read on its own if one wished but you will be missing out on the over arching plot involving Imogen and her partner Adrian.
Spoilers Sweetie: Jump down to my final thoughts to avoid out of context spoilers.
- It’s alive.
- Ew, lady. Ew. Not the time for recording.
- Short quick chapters. Love it. Also, pov from the victim.
- He’s in my guild. Dead.
- wtf Leon.
- Adrian is quickly losing the plot.
- Reese is a fucking dick muncher.
- He is going off the deep end. Get it together Adrian.
- I wonder if this is the same van.
- Adrian bud, stop. I know it’s traumatic but you know exactly how and why.
- Oh it’s got to do with her husband alright.
- I kinda don’t like that these two are dating. The plot is suffering.
- Damn. Who is under the greenhouse girl?
- A woman… interesting. Wife, Mother or Sister.
- Wtf Reese.
Woman in the Water by Katerina Diamond Review
Minor Spoilers
The sixth book in Katerina Diamond’s DS Imogen Grey series, Woman in the Water is, in my opinion, the weakest entry in the series. The case itself was a little underwhelming and the book focuses more on Imogen’s partner and lover, Adrian, as he deals with the pressure of solving it. While Imogen mostly deals with handling Adrian’s ever increasing erratic behaviour and keeping their relationship from her peers.
Woman in the Water starts off with, surprise surprise, Adrian finding a woman half dead in the water. Angela has been beaten within an inch of her life and yet refuses to even utter her name to Adrian. And then, not too far from Angela, they find a second body in the river. Deceased. When Angela disappears from the hospital and nothing to go on, Imogen & Adrian begin looking into the second body, convinced they are related.
Diamond’s books involve extremely heavy topics. In Woman in the Water it is domestic violence, triggering Adrian’s own traumatic childhood memories, sending him spiraling. This case hit too close to home for Adrian and he struggled. One of the reasons I love this series so much is because of Imogen. Yes, her and Adrian are partners. They solve these violent crime cases together. But the series is called DS Imogen Grey and there was just too much Adrian for me. Which could have been fine, but the man, understandably, lost the plot. Don’t get me wrong, not only did Adrian have a shit childhood, some horrific shit happens to him in Woman in the Water. He investigates violent crimes for a living, as frustrating as it was, his behaviour was understandable. The problem for me was Imogen’s response to Adrian’s behaviour and the focus on their strained relationship.
Imogen takes a back seat in Woman in the Water. She spends all her time defending Adrian and trying to keep their developing personal relationship quiet. The relationship between Adrian and Imogen ruined the book for me. Imogen was too preoccupied with Adrian and not focused on the case that sent him off the deep end. It’s Imogen’s series and yet the Imogen we know and love was no where to be found. Instead of the force to be reckoned with that she is, Imogen was reduced to a simpering girlfriend.
I did like the twist at the end of Woman in the Water. It gave an otherwise bland case some much needed flair, taking it from your average domestic violence case to something more sinister and disturbing. However, the Angela/Reece reveal was, in my opinion, purely for shock value. Honestly, Imogen & Adrian both felt incompetent during this investigation. These are not the characters I remember. When stacked against the rest of the series, Woman in the Water is the worst entry to date. When it comes to the DS Imogen Grey series, I prefer the earlier entries.
Quotes
Woman in the Water Quotes
Have you ever been terrified of a person? Not just in a bad situation. But scared all the time, from the moment you wake until the moment you finally fall asleep at night?
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