Watching From the Dark by Gytha Lodge (thoughts)

Summary from Goodreads:

"Aidan Poole logs on to his laptop late at night to Skype his girlfriend, Zoe. To his horror, he realizes that there is someone else in her flat. Aidan can only listen to the sounds of a violent struggle taking place in the bathroom—and then the sound of silence. He is desperate to find out if Zoe is okay. But then why is he so hesitant to call the police?

When Aidan’s cryptic messages finally reach them, Detective Chief Inspector Jonah Sheens and his team take the case—and discover the body. They soon find that no one has a bad word to say about Zoe, a big hearted young artist at the center of a curious web of waifs and strays, each relying on her for support, each hiding dark secrets and buried resentments. Has one of her so-called “friends” been driven to murder? Or does Aidan have the biggest secret of them all?"

My Thoughts:

Watching From the Dark is the 2nd book in the DCI Jonah Sheens series - the 1st book is She Lies in Wait which I read and loved last year.  This book was just as good as that first book which has me bumping this series to the top of my highly anticipating list!  I love a good police procedural and I especially enjoy books like this that also take the time to develop their characters well!  This book is actually told from two different viewpoints: one is the investigation into Zoe's death done by DCI Sheens and his team and the other storyline is Zoe's life and the events that led up to her murder.  I really appreciated the fact that we were able to get to know Zoe's character so well with the way that the story was told.  It almost made me sad though at the end because the loss of her life and her potential felt like such a waste.  It's rare that an author is able to make me care so much about the murdered character but that's exactly what Lodge did with this book.  I also really enjoyed the fact that we got to know DCI Sheens and his team a bit more.  They all work together well and complement each other despite their differences.  I'm eager to read more books in this series when they release because I really enjoy all of the characters so much.  This book is a slow build which fit my reading mood perfectly.  I am pretty sure that I suspected almost everyone involved at least once in Zoe's murder.  The book kept me guessing until the end - and even the ending left me with a bit of surprise.  This is both an author and series that has jumped to the top of my must read list!

Overall, I really enjoyed my time with this book and am eagerly anticipating more books in this series!  It's going to be a long wait for that 3rd book but I know that it will be entirely worth it.  I'm so glad that I gave this author a try last year because I would have been missing out on this series otherwise.  You definitely don't need to read the series in order as this one stands alone well - it just will add to the reading experience if you do choose to read both.  I would recommend this book to fans of police procedurals, those who enjoy a good mystery, and those who enjoy suspenseful reads that keep you guessing until the end.  I highly recommend!

Bottom Line:  This author and series has jumped to my favorites list!

Disclosure:  I received a copy of this book thanks to the publisher and NetGalley.  I ended up reading a copy from my local library.  Honest thoughts are my own.