Hello and welcome to my stop of the Deadly Waters blog tour! A huge thanks to Emma @ damppebbles blog tours for inviting me to be part of this blog tour. I had an excellent time with the first book of this series, Deadly Silence, last year and I’ve been looking forward to see more of Jane Phillips ever since… And it was without doubt a successful second meeting. Want to know why? Please join me while I share my thoughts!
Title: Deadly Waters
(Detective Jane Phillips #2)
Author: OMJ Ryan
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Crime
First published: March 15th 2020
Publisher: Inkubator Books
Finished reading: March 1st 2020
Pages: 281
“Often, when we’re stuck, it’s because the eyes and ears will only see and hear what we want them to, whereas the nose – the nose can never hide what it smells.”
*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and Inkubator Books in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***
I always have a weak spot for a good serial killer thriller… After an excellent first experience with OMJ Ryan‘s writing in Deadly Silence last year, I’ve been looking forward to meet up with detective Jane Phillips again to help feed my serial killer thriller addiction. As soon as I saw that Deadly Waters was available I knew I just had to make time to read it… And as soon as I read the blurb, my instinct was saying that I was going to be in for another excellent ride. Guess what?! Book number two has once again proven to me that this series is most definitely right up my alley!
While it’s true that I might have liked the first book a tiny bit more, it is also true that I still had a brilliant time reading Deadly Waters. I literally found myself flying through those pages, eager to discover more about the case and wondering if Jane Phillips and her team would be able to catch the killer in time… Like I said with the first book: this series is just so damn readable! The writing makes it very easy to speed through chapter after chapter and you will definitely do yourself a favor if you clear your schedule before you start. Trust me, you don’t want to stop reading once you started reading those first couple of chapters! Deadly Waters is an engaging and suspenseful story that will keep you on your toes; the hint of dark humor lightening up the mood a little at times to keep things balanced.
The plot itself is an intriguing one, as there is no clear murder case to begin with and we only have the hunch of Jane Phillips herself that things might be off. It was interesting to see Jane and her team trying to investigate despite not having the approval of her boss (who is a true bitch by the way), and I liked the way they continued their effort despite encountering setbacks along the way. Plot twists and similar techniques are used to mislead you and send you on the wrong path… While the motive of the murders is easy to guess early on this time around, it is the identity of the killer that remains a mystery for a long time. Trust me, I personally thought I had it all figured out quite early, only to be put in my place and to be left completely flabbergasted afterwards! Oh yes, I never saw that plot twist and ending coming, which was a more than pleasant surprise of course.
Difficult themes as (child)abuse, addiction, drugs and prostitution are incorporated into the plot, but done so in a way to also raise moral questions instead of just simply shocking us readers. Why do people seem to think prostitutes and drug addicts have less rights than others? Just how big are the consequences of the lifestyle choices of both prostitutes and drug addicts in general? Interesting questions with no easy answers, but I always appreciate when stories make you think. As for the characters… Jane Phillips without doubt makes for a very intriguing main character. Things can be said about her being the typical damaged detective lead, but I personally liked her sass and attitude towards the investigation and life in general. The other members of her team were easy to like as well, with the big exception of her boss of course, but I guess she does work perfectly as the ‘enemy’ to be pitted against Jane and her team. The character development in Deadly Waters in general is solid and it was intriguing to discover more about the motive behind the murders as well as the killer.
As you might have guessed, I really enjoyed my time with Deadly Waters and I will already be looking forward to the next book. If you are, like me, a serial killer and detective thriller fan, you should definitely add this series to your wishlist!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Hailing from Yorkshire, OMJ Ryan worked in radio and entertainment for over twenty years, collaborating with household names and accumulating a host of international writing and radio awards.
In 2018 he followed his passion to become a full-time novelist, writing stories for people who devour exciting, fast-paced thrillers by the pool, on their commute – or those rare moments of downtime before bed. Owen’s mission is to entertain from the first page to the last. DEADLY WATERS will be his third novel published with Inkubator Books.
SOCIAL MEDIA
TWITTER @OMJRYAN1 // FACEBOOK // INSTAGRAM
Website: https://www.omjryan.com/
PURCHASE LINKS
You can also find me at Goodreads. Twitter. Instagram. Facebook. Bloglovin’.
