by Angela Marsons
Release Date: May 18th 2018
2018 Bookouture
Kindle Edition; 384 Pages
ISBN: 978-1786814753
ASIN: B07BNVQW3N
Genre: Fiction / Mystery / Suspense
Source: Review copy from publisher
5 / 5 Stars
Summary
How far would you go to protect your darkest secrets?
When teenager Sadie Winter jumps from the roof of her school, her death is ruled as suicide – a final devastating act from a troubled girl. But then the broken body of a young boy is discovered at the same school and it’s clear to Detective Kim Stone that these deaths are not tragic accidents.
As Kim and her team begin to unravel a dark web of secrets, one of the teachers could hold the key to the truth. Yet just as she is about to break her silence, she is found dead.
With more children’s lives at risk, Kim has to consider the unthinkable - whether a fellow pupil could be responsible for the murders. Investigating the psychology of children that kill brings the detective into contact with her former adversary, Dr Alex Thorne – the sociopath who has made it her life’s work to destroy Kim.
Desperate to catch the killer, Kim finds a link between the recent murders and an initiation prank that happened at the school decades earlier. But saving these innocent lives comes at a cost – and one of Kim’s own might pay the ultimate price.
My Thoughts
Dying Truth is the eighth book in the D.I. Kim Stone series and although I loved the other books in this series, this one is my favourite so far, despite the ending I was definitely not expecting. You'd think after eight books, things would start to go downhill, but this book was top-notch with a fascinating mystery, really intriguing characters, some crazy twists and turns, and an ending that sent shock waves rippling right through me.
I love stories about boarding schools and this one is woven around a secret society as Kim and her team investigate the horrific death of a thirteen year old girl. While the exclusive private school would wish for Kim to hurry up and wrap up the death as a suicide, there are too many unknown variables that draw Kim's suspicion so she starts to look deeper and discovers a lot of other things at play. Kim refused to take the easy way out and decides to take on the case as a murder investigation despite the school's plea to keep things as quiet as possible. With so many incidents in the news about hazing incidents, it's good to read a book that deals with the subject and the tragic results that happen. Some of the stories were so heartbreaking and as a parent, I would be so angry as well. And frustrated too, as the powers that be tried to cover everything up, paid everyone off, and forced people to sign confidentiality agreements. I'm not shocked but it still makes me angry and I thought the author handled that very well. Kim's determination to investigate definitely caused ripples but she ignored them in her usual way, and started exposing secrets and dark happenings that were going on at this boarding school. Her search also brought her back to face Dr. Alex Thorne, one of the most interesting scenes in the book, as she was trying to get a handle on child sociopaths. Wow!
This author has the ability to just draw you in and I stayed up far too late finishing this book, then couldn't sleep afterwards because of that ending. That ending sucked, but not in the way that you think. I can't share anything more, but damn, that hurt!!! I was also totally sucked in by the secret societies and the power they have; I love how they were treated in this book.
Over the course of the books, I have become rather fond of Kim, Bryant, Dawson, and Stacey, and although we didn't really learn as much about Kim's background in this one, it did focus quite a bit on Dawson which I loved. If you are new to the series, you won't really learn much about Kim so you would have to read previous books to learn about her and I do really recommend starting with the first book and you will learn all about Dr. Alex Thorne at some point, too. which makes for great reading.
Verdict
Dying Truth was a great police procedural and I love these types of books. This one definitely sucks you in right from the beginning, with enough twists and turns to keep me happy, and I have to say I didn't figure out who the murderer was, which I loved. The story is tense and suspenseful, going from one scene to the next, barely letting go until the end. One of things I love about this series though, is the characters, The author has created a set of characters that work well together and are interesting in their own way, and in this one, Dawson kind of takes center stage, so to speak, and we learn so much more about him. This was an amazing book and I am definitely looking forward to the next book in this series, but I am also deathly afraid to read it too, When you read this one, you will understand. While you definitely could read this one as a stand-alone, I do recommend starting from the beginning as this series is just so good.
I like the cover.
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