Book Review: The Girl In The Ice (DCI Erika Foster #1) by Robert Bryndza

Author Robert Bryndza Book The Girl In The Ice Series DCI Erika Foster

Lately, there has been fuss and influx of readers purchasing and reading The Girl In The Ice by Robert Bryndza. People I know had been bugging me to expand my reading horizon since I am a perpetual romance reader/lover. I made up my mind to start exploring other genres and my first choice was mystery/thriller, I love solving mysteries by looking thoroughly at the provided clues, the not so hidden clues and I follow the strict rule that anyone can be the culprit for a crime. The Girl In The Ice really looked like the best way to start off. I am so thrilled to say it didn’t disappoint, it is really a good read and it has helped me with the deciding factor that I am going to be focusing more on this kind of books/genres for a while.

The girl in the ice is no other than Andrea Douglas-Brown, a young elite socialite who has been reported missing by her family four days earlier. It seems odd that a young woman who is filled with life, soon to be married and full of life is murdered. Enters DCI Erika Foster, who is returning back to service after a tragic error on her part that cost her immense loss.

I instantly loved DCI Foster, she was gloomy, but I could sense how serious and dedicated to her work she was. Her main objective is following the right clues, guts and instincts to find out who the killer is and his motive for it, her methods could be said to be unconventional, but people who break the rules are the ones who get more out of life. This led to the killing of one the people Erika had been questioning, who essentially would have been a key witness, yet this very crucial detail/clue and Erika’s theory was tossed aside for DCI Spark, ego-riding one, with not much background check into it. Her boss, the cabinet, DCI Sparks and the Douglas-Brown family are all against her antics and her angle on the take of the killer, they believed she wasn’t the best person to run the case. But she didn’t let them deter her and in the end, everyone could clearly see she had been right from the onset and fully chastised.

To talk about DCI Sparks, he sure had some serious issues with Erika and I don’t know why, what I could read from his character that he has a superiority complex, a misogynist and thinks too highly of himself. Also he’s a pretty bad cop, how could he let hatred blind his perception of a crime, isn’t it good if different angles are taken, outside opinion like Erika states in the early beginnings of the book while speaking to DI Moss and Peterson is very important, because it presents fresh takes on the matter at hand.

I knew who the killer was, at first, I didn’t and was trying to work out who it was because whoever the killer was, Andrea knew them personally. Halfway into it, my suspicion for this certain character had heightened and a clear and undisguised clue was dropped nicely in the laps of readers and I know I am one of the readers who immediately picked up on it. All that was left now was to figure out the what, why and how’s of the story. Like how did the killer intend to cover it up, what the killer motives are and how did he go about the killing?

I loved reading this book, it made a boring day at the office pass real quick and pleasantly.When it comes to predictability I would say, I knew what was coming in certain places, so yes this book is predictable to an extent. I like predicting stuff it’s more fun that way for me, it’s quite the hobby I have acquired. I really loved the ending of the book, the writing pace was just right and I felt the tension in my system in anticipation of the climax.

I will definitely be reading the next book in the series The Night Stalker, which from the reviews and the blurb of the story itself, seems very intriguing and interesting and it doesn’t hurt that there is more DCI Foster to look forward.