About the Book
After the shocking murder of a high-profile celebrity, Gemma Woodstock must pull back the layers of a gilded cage to discover who among the victim’s friends and family can be trusted–and who may be the killer.
Troubled and brilliant, Detective Sergeant Gemma Woodstock finds herself lost and alone after a recent move to Melbourne, brokenhearted by the decisions she’s had to make. Her new workplace is a minefield and Detective Sergeant Nick Fleet, the partner she has been assigned, is uncommunicative and often hostile. When a homeless man is murdered and Gemma is put on the case, she can’t help feeling a connection with the victim and his lonely, isolated existence.
Then Sterling Wade, an up-and-coming actor filming his breakout performance in a closed-off city street, is murdered in the middle of an action-packed shot, and Gemma and Nick have to put aside their differences to unravel the mysteries surrounding the actor’s life and death. Who could commit such a brazen crime? Who stands to profit from it? Far too many people, and none of them can be trusted. Gemma can’t imagine a pair of victims with less in common–and yet as Gemma and Fleet soon learn, both men were keeping secrets that may have led to their deaths.
With riveting suspense, razor-sharp writing, and a fascinating cast of characters, INTO THE NIGHT proves Sarah Bailey is a major new talent to watch in the world of literary crime fiction.
My Review
Into the Night by Sarah Bailey read in two parts for me. The beginning started quite slow, almost tedious, even though the main conflict is given to readers right away. I struggled to make a connection with any of the characters, and debated whether I wanted to keep reading or move on to another story. In the end, I’m glad I decided to keep going, because the second half does pick up and get a lot more interesting and much more fast-paced, especially the final few chapters. There are a lot of layers which I did appreciate, but Gemma was a tough character to maintain an interest in. She is quite closed off, but so closed off it took me half the story to decide I was interested enough to finish the book. The actual crime in the story was what was really holding me through that first half, even though I was a little disappointed to have figured out one of the main questions immediately and none of the detectives saw what seemed like an obvious answer. In all, it wasn’t a favorite of mine but there was enough to hold my interest throughout.
3 stars
