The Girl in the Ice (Detective Erika Foster #1), by Robert Bryndza
The Girl in the Ice by Robert Bryndza
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
A young high society woman is murdered and DCI Erika Foster from the London Metropolitan Police is sent to investigate. Foster has just returned from extended compassionate leave after her husband’s death, which she blames herself for – on basically every single page.
Either because of that or because she has a completely annoying personality, Foster is pretty much constantly acting offensive, rude, and annoying. As if that weren’t enough in itself, she keeps making spectacularly stupid mistakes: She goes to the slummiest bars on her own, she searches a home she has to assume is life-threateningly dangerous on her own, even after having been assaulted by the murderer before.
There doesn’t seem to be much more to her character either: Throughout the entire novel, Foster remains a sketch of herself. Apart from working, she doesn’t seem to do or reflect on anything. Since she gets suspended for insubordination relatively early on, there are several interludes describing her downtime in a flat which brings the story to a screeching halt.
Just as quickly, things pick up speed again, only to stop again. This makes for very uneven pacing followed by dramatic high-speed action at the end.
Unfortunately, much of the action – if and when it even exists – feels implausible. Foster not only gets away with insubordination but also violent behaviour, blackmailing her boss (in front of a lower-ranking team member to boot), and many other details felt ridiculous (“oh, the ventilator that worked just fine yesterday is suddenly broken. Also, the entire content of my bathroom cabinet somehow found its way to my bed in another room. I’m well aware the killer literally breathed down my neck but, hey, what could possibly have gone wrong?!”).
Still, three stars out of five.
