The Body in the Marsh by Nick Louth.

Follow Detective Chief Inspector Craig Gillard as he is on the case to find a missing woman. This is a regular British police procedural crime thriller.

I found The Body in the Marsh to be an okay read. It was a little frustrating for me in parts as it wandered around with the time frame, going back to when DCI Craig Gillard and the missing woman were both teenagers. This story was not just told from the detective’s point of view but included writings by the missing woman before her disappearance, that were not available to the police. More frustration came from the police very conveniently just stumbling across evidence and leads by accident rather than solid police investigation.

The characterization of DCI Craig Gillard and the other officers was okay but this is not a character driven novel. The plot was disappointing and appeared rather shallow until I got about 90% through when all the little details started clicking together and I began to think it was quite clever.

I thought the entertainment value of this book was second rate, like a B movie. All the detail and progression is there but this novel does not shine. There are small little titbits of humour dotted through the story but are not of the depth of stand-up comedy. The best social observation jibe was when DCI Craig Gillard went into a pub and ordered a beer.

When I got to the end of this book, I cast my mind back to form an opinion. The tale had come a fair way and included a secondary plot and storyline. I found the police procedurals to be good and I loved the inclusion of real life crimes and events. The detail of the plot was subtle and then I asked myself the question of realism. Had the missing woman needed to take the actions she did? This lead me to my conclusion that The Body in the Marsh was an okay, 3 star read that did not shine but was readable and was useful when my tachograph recordings showed “period of availability”.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Canelo for giving me a copy of this book on the understanding that I provide an honest review.