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Ben Cooper & Diane Fry #10
Lost River
An atmospheric new Fry and Cooper thriller for fans of Peter Robinson and Reginald Hill
368 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
94 people are currently reading
633 people want to read
About the author
Stephen Booth
55 books674 followersStephen Booth is the author of 18 novels in the Cooper & Fry series, all set around England's Peak District, and a standalone novel DROWNED LIVES, published in August 2019.
The Cooper & Fry series has won awards on both sides of the Atlantic, and Detective Constable Cooper has been a finalist for the Sherlock Award for Best Detective created by a British author. The Crime Writers’ Association presented Stephen with the Dagger in the Library Award for “the author whose books have given readers most pleasure.”
The novels are sold all around the world, with translations in 16 languages. The most recent title is FALL DOWN DEAD.
A new Stephen Booth standalone novel with a historical theme, DROWNED LIVES, will be published in August 2019:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Drowned-Live...
In recent years, Stephen has become a Library Champion in support of the UK’s ‘Love Libraries’ campaign. He's represented British literature at the Helsinki Book Fair in Finland, appeared with Alexander McCall Smith at the Melbourne Writers’ Festival in Australia, filmed a documentary for 20th Century Fox on the French detective Vidocq, taken part in online chats for World Book Day, taught crime writing courses, and visited prisons to talk to prisoners about writing.
He lives in Nottinghamshire.
The Cooper & Fry series has won awards on both sides of the Atlantic, and Detective Constable Cooper has been a finalist for the Sherlock Award for Best Detective created by a British author. The Crime Writers’ Association presented Stephen with the Dagger in the Library Award for “the author whose books have given readers most pleasure.”
The novels are sold all around the world, with translations in 16 languages. The most recent title is FALL DOWN DEAD.
A new Stephen Booth standalone novel with a historical theme, DROWNED LIVES, will be published in August 2019:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Drowned-Live...
In recent years, Stephen has become a Library Champion in support of the UK’s ‘Love Libraries’ campaign. He's represented British literature at the Helsinki Book Fair in Finland, appeared with Alexander McCall Smith at the Melbourne Writers’ Festival in Australia, filmed a documentary for 20th Century Fox on the French detective Vidocq, taken part in online chats for World Book Day, taught crime writing courses, and visited prisons to talk to prisoners about writing.
He lives in Nottinghamshire.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 102 reviews
January 4, 2011
Another UK regional based crime series - Book 10 I think.
This has to be some of the laziest writing ever. You can see that Booth has completed his research into police procedure and the history of Birmingham but does he have to write about it?
Is is literature to detail every three letter acronym and expand it - repeatedly. It reads like an IT training manual.
Cooper and Fry are at the same position as ever - in dove dale, Cooper happens to be at the scene of a childs drowning. Cue lots of nice, although repitious, references to the Peak District - which is what people read these series for.
Fry is back in Birmingham as a witness to her own rape case. This must have happened at the end of the last book but to be honest, I dont remember. Again - whole sections from the internet on BRM factoids, the roads, the bus routes and the gang culture seemed to have been coped verbatim from whatever reference source he found them from. How many times can one man reference the Burger Boys, with a view to being down with the kids and streetwise. Look at the author photo in the jacket - please write about what you know. Nice locations in the Peak District.
Very poor indeed.
The book closes the case loopholes in an untidy and hurried affair. Booth kerchings the next pay check and I am sure a significant but probably dwindling number of fans will buy the next in the series. By book 20, Fry and Cooper will reach the inevitable climax and kiss. I am sure of it. You can see it building.
This has to be some of the laziest writing ever. You can see that Booth has completed his research into police procedure and the history of Birmingham but does he have to write about it?
Is is literature to detail every three letter acronym and expand it - repeatedly. It reads like an IT training manual.
Cooper and Fry are at the same position as ever - in dove dale, Cooper happens to be at the scene of a childs drowning. Cue lots of nice, although repitious, references to the Peak District - which is what people read these series for.
Fry is back in Birmingham as a witness to her own rape case. This must have happened at the end of the last book but to be honest, I dont remember. Again - whole sections from the internet on BRM factoids, the roads, the bus routes and the gang culture seemed to have been coped verbatim from whatever reference source he found them from. How many times can one man reference the Burger Boys, with a view to being down with the kids and streetwise. Look at the author photo in the jacket - please write about what you know. Nice locations in the Peak District.
Very poor indeed.
The book closes the case loopholes in an untidy and hurried affair. Booth kerchings the next pay check and I am sure a significant but probably dwindling number of fans will buy the next in the series. By book 20, Fry and Cooper will reach the inevitable climax and kiss. I am sure of it. You can see it building.
February 17, 2018
Story line a little different in this the 10th in the Cooper and Fry series. The pair go their separate ways as Diane's rape case is reopened in Birmingham and Cooper investigates the suspicious death of a young girl he tries to pull out of the river.
Fry is still suspicious of Coopers motives although he tries to help with information but he is promoted to acting Sergeant while Fry is away. A good story and easy reading. Not that mysterious.
Fry is still suspicious of Coopers motives although he tries to help with information but he is promoted to acting Sergeant while Fry is away. A good story and easy reading. Not that mysterious.
December 18, 2010
I've read all the previous nine books in the series, and this one is the most disappointing.
The plot is full of holes and incomprehensible coincidences.
First of all the coincidences: it turns out that Diane was raped by her foster brother in a random assault with several other men. She was not targeted by her foster brother, he just happened to be one of the assailants. This is quite amazing as it occurred in Birmingham, a major city. Second coincidence, her biological father, who she had not seen since she was a small child, just by chance was also at the scene of the assault. If this happened in a village with a population of ten people, I could perhaps believe it, but not in a city of millions.
The storyline with regards to Ben, is no better. Despite no obvious evidence, Ben is convinced that the family of a drowned girl are involved in her death. By some amazing sixth sense he is able to locate the body of a baby, which he instantly knows must be the child of the estranged daughter of the family. He then discovers that her father was the father of the dead baby. This leads him to conclude that her brother must have drowned his younger sister, because he was traumatized by knowing of the incest committed by his father. Obvious really.
The plot is full of holes and incomprehensible coincidences.
First of all the coincidences: it turns out that Diane was raped by her foster brother in a random assault with several other men. She was not targeted by her foster brother, he just happened to be one of the assailants. This is quite amazing as it occurred in Birmingham, a major city. Second coincidence, her biological father, who she had not seen since she was a small child, just by chance was also at the scene of the assault. If this happened in a village with a population of ten people, I could perhaps believe it, but not in a city of millions.
The storyline with regards to Ben, is no better. Despite no obvious evidence, Ben is convinced that the family of a drowned girl are involved in her death. By some amazing sixth sense he is able to locate the body of a baby, which he instantly knows must be the child of the estranged daughter of the family. He then discovers that her father was the father of the dead baby. This leads him to conclude that her brother must have drowned his younger sister, because he was traumatized by knowing of the incest committed by his father. Obvious really.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 11, 2012
Continuing the Fry/Cooper series. I’ve been a fan of this series from the start however this one got very annoying. The main crime story is constantly interrupted by a personal story regarding Diane Fry. Also the author takes every opportunity to “show us his research” which I find very distracting. I gave up in the end and probably won’t continue with this series.
April 5, 2020
excellent, this series is one I have followed throughout and they dont dissappont
October 12, 2016
Efter att ha läst förra delen så såg jag verkligen fram emot att läsa denna, jag ville se vart alla trådarna tog vägen. Dessutom var ju förra boken, i mitt tycke, mer lik det jag gillade i första delen. Jag vet inte riktigt vad som hände med denna. Läs mer på min blogg
May 11, 2010
what a disappointment this book was. he has obviously reached the end of his contract with this book........he is supposed to be an author who writes derbyshire crime stories ,yet this book spent more time in birmingham than anywhere else.......and when the story did return to derbyshire it was a very poor effort and had very little content.
June 2, 2010
A little too much "Lonely Planet's Guide to Why I Should Not Visit Birmingham" and too little positive character development.
December 31, 2025
Whodunit set rural Derbyshire and urban Birmingham. Worth reading if you like detective stories.
August 19, 2013
Usually I love the Cooper/Fry series but for some reason, this book didn't do it for me. As per usual, the two don't interact much but there's a definite underlying need for each other (not in *that* way, professionally).
Cooper is investigating the drowning death of a young girl, one he tried to save by diving in to the water. He senses, based on virtually nothing, that there's something more to the death. Along the way he uncovers several ugly secrets and possibly ruins a life or two (something he doesn't seem to feel anything about). Fry, in the mean time, is in Birmingham in the role of "Injured Party" as her rape case has been reopened. Again, more ugly secrets are uncovered and at least one life lost.
Cooper does lend a hand to Fry, but not the other way around. Diane seems to be even more angry about Ben, even less part of the police force. Perhaps that's why this was a lesser work for me - their interaction is as important as the mystery.
Cooper is investigating the drowning death of a young girl, one he tried to save by diving in to the water. He senses, based on virtually nothing, that there's something more to the death. Along the way he uncovers several ugly secrets and possibly ruins a life or two (something he doesn't seem to feel anything about). Fry, in the mean time, is in Birmingham in the role of "Injured Party" as her rape case has been reopened. Again, more ugly secrets are uncovered and at least one life lost.
Cooper does lend a hand to Fry, but not the other way around. Diane seems to be even more angry about Ben, even less part of the police force. Perhaps that's why this was a lesser work for me - their interaction is as important as the mystery.
July 11, 2013
As a fan of Stephen Booth's Cooper and Fry series, I was rather disappointed with this one.
The first half of the novel had no plot development whatsoever. Instead, the reader got endless descriptions of landscape, what seems like the entire history of the city of Birmingham both architecturally and socially, tiresome explanations of Police procedural and acronyms, and so on.
And even when the pace did pick up in the second half, the plot was somewhat contrived.
I am very sorry to say that I really did not appreciate this one. But I'll definitely give the next one a try again.
The first half of the novel had no plot development whatsoever. Instead, the reader got endless descriptions of landscape, what seems like the entire history of the city of Birmingham both architecturally and socially, tiresome explanations of Police procedural and acronyms, and so on.
And even when the pace did pick up in the second half, the plot was somewhat contrived.
I am very sorry to say that I really did not appreciate this one. But I'll definitely give the next one a try again.
July 23, 2012
This is an okay mystery novel. The book combines two stories: one, a police woman coming to terms with her cold case rape and the other is one of her colleagues investigating a drowning.
The book could have benefited from much tighter editing (for instance there is far too much details about which routes the characters were following along the particular roads).
All in all, the book is just alright. It is not a particularly compelling story nor is it very well written but there is nothing wrong with it as a holiday read.
The book could have benefited from much tighter editing (for instance there is far too much details about which routes the characters were following along the particular roads).
All in all, the book is just alright. It is not a particularly compelling story nor is it very well written but there is nothing wrong with it as a holiday read.
September 12, 2013
Booth redeemed himself somewhat with this book. I struggled to give a 3 last time but this one is a definite 4 star. The problems seem to be mostly things an editor should have spotted. Booth is too good a writer to accept shoddy editing which spoils his accomplishment. In this book we learn more about Diane Fry's background and see her find some softer part of her personality after some terrible treatment and an knowledge about her past that was not welcome. Her relationship with Ben Cooper teeters on the edge. Ben finally gets good news. On to the next in the series!
July 22, 2011
Essentially, it took me 2 months on and off to read the first half, and only a couple of days to finish the second half. That pretty much describes the momentum of the story. But the author paints a very elaborate picture of the British scenery, which figures almost more prominently than the actual characters!
September 30, 2025
Sorry it's a 3 star book
July 16, 2022
I had to give up on this book. It rambled and didn’t gain my interest at all.
April 29, 2025
struggled, persisted more than usual, but finally gave up as have books that suit me more to read
January 25, 2020
The landscape acts like a new character in this book. Two new characters, in fact, the Dales and Birmingham. Loved the evocative nature of the landscapes described here, both the natural beauty of the rugged world and the concrete jungle of the city.
This book is all about family. The one we grow up in, the ones we see, the ones we belong to whether we want to or not, and the ones we choose. It also shows that no matter what we think, we never know what really goes on behind closed doors, or want damage is wrought, or what price any of us will have to pay for those things.
Though Fry and Cooper are apart for most of this novel, they distinctly grow together, the importance of the relationship to each growing clearer.
Of all the Fry and Cooper novels I've read, this more than the others has drawn me into caring what is going to happen to this lot.
This book is all about family. The one we grow up in, the ones we see, the ones we belong to whether we want to or not, and the ones we choose. It also shows that no matter what we think, we never know what really goes on behind closed doors, or want damage is wrought, or what price any of us will have to pay for those things.
Though Fry and Cooper are apart for most of this novel, they distinctly grow together, the importance of the relationship to each growing clearer.
Of all the Fry and Cooper novels I've read, this more than the others has drawn me into caring what is going to happen to this lot.
December 30, 2017
"Not for the squeamish" says the back cover blurb, which surprised me because as much as I love this series it's not what I'd class as violent, gritty or blood-thirsty.....& this was no exception. Squeamish isn't the right word IMHO, but I did find it discomforting. As Cooper delves into the death of a young girl there's an unsettling sense of something being very wrong within the family - while it wasn't hard to work out the problem, the feeling of unease is written so well you can't help but think it's going to turn out to be far worse than you could imagine!
Meanwhile Diane is facing her own demons which results in a very interesting outcome I'm sure we'll be hearing more about.
Meanwhile Diane is facing her own demons which results in a very interesting outcome I'm sure we'll be hearing more about.
September 25, 2018
DC Ben Copper is a witness to the tragic drowning of an eight-year-old girl among crowds of visitors in a Peak District beauty spot. His guilt over his inability to save her draws him into the tangled lives of the dead girl's family and their secrets.
Meanwhile, DS Diane Fry is drawn back to Birmingham where the cold case file of her long ago assault and rape has been reopened with new DNA evidence.
As always Stephen Booth writes with style, a good ear for dialogue, a strong sense of place and appealing characters. However, the split plot line lessened the power of the book and I do sometimes wish DS Fry would pull herself together.
Meanwhile, DS Diane Fry is drawn back to Birmingham where the cold case file of her long ago assault and rape has been reopened with new DNA evidence.
As always Stephen Booth writes with style, a good ear for dialogue, a strong sense of place and appealing characters. However, the split plot line lessened the power of the book and I do sometimes wish DS Fry would pull herself together.
September 27, 2019
This novel will keep your interest if it's the first of the series you read, but it was the 10th for me. So I found the chapters from Ben Cooper's POV very interesting. However, I found the chapters from Diane Fry's POV not quite so. I skimmed over all her descriptions of Birmingham until nearly the end when action picked up because I (she) discovered the identity of her biological father.
This novel is about families and about how devastating anger and actual (sin) i.e. breaking the law - incest...abuse - and ignorance...keeping secrets...fear can tear families apart. This affects all participants in this story and that (!) I found interesting.
This novel is about families and about how devastating anger and actual (sin) i.e. breaking the law - incest...abuse - and ignorance...keeping secrets...fear can tear families apart. This affects all participants in this story and that (!) I found interesting.
December 14, 2020
4 - 4 1/2 star read. This is the 10th book in Booth's excellent Diane Fry and Ben Cooper series. Ben is in the Peak District and happens upon a situation where an 8 year old girl drowns in the river. Ben is the one who finds her and brings her out. He is devastated by this and stays close to the family afterwards. Meanwhile, Diane goes back to her roots in Birmingham, connecting with her sister and starting an investigation of her own, which takes her to places and people that are unexpected. This is a complex and interesting series and we become involved in both the cases they work on as detectives and their own personal situations. A very good read, but a dark one.
July 3, 2024
Cooper & Fry #10. I have read many of the earlier ones, picked up this paperback at Bookfest July '24. It's not a good one, quite boring in fact. Other readers have pointed out it's a bit like a travelogue and / or a primer on police procedure. It seems Diane Fry has developed a fortress mentality. Apparently she suffered being raped in a previous book, and now trusts nobody. In all the books I read, I don't think Ben Cooper ever did anything to her to earn distrust. Anyway, she still calls on him for help, and he is his usual earnest self. The story plods along, and I found myself skipping parts.
Rating 3.0.
Rating 3.0.
February 25, 2019
More solid fare from a no-frills crime writer who eschews flaunting his musical preferences and political commentary and just gets on with creating taut, well-crafted dramas. I suppose you could say his one indulgence is the Derbyshire backdrop, but whether it's the ever-changing physical characteristics or man's historical interactions with them it never provides less than a fascinating insight into one of England's most beautiful counties.
June 10, 2020
In this book we learn about Diane’s foster family and growing up in Birmingham. I liked how the author separated the two main characters, Ben and Diane only briefly interacting on the phone or in short face to face conversations. Both characters are investigating past crimes brought to light by current events. The storylines are tied together by rivers and family betrayal. Interesting that Ben and Diane reach different conclusions about trust and family connections.
July 4, 2020
This one has it all: clunky writing, plot and character inconsistencies, and lots of repetition. The author attempted two simultaneous and somewhat interwoven plot lines (just barely) and decidedly lost his way. He inserts things meant to be profound and then repeats them a few pages later just to make sure the reader caught it. Characters make potentially life altering decisions and then change their minds a couple of pages later. This book needs to stay as lost as the river in the title.
June 19, 2021
There was A LOT of description of the city and the geography. This was also more about the detectives than about the mysteries they were solving. A lot of character development for them, and description of their psychological difficulties. That was tiring.
It seems that I prefer a police/detective story where the mystery and its characters are the centre and not the police/detective her/himself.
It seems that I prefer a police/detective story where the mystery and its characters are the centre and not the police/detective her/himself.
June 17, 2017
I've read every book up to number 12 which I'm reading now. I love the series. Of course some books are better, others are weaker. This one is the latter. Don't misunderstand me, it's not bad. The double plot is good, though I'm getting tired of Fry's attitude. However the lengthy descriptions of changes undergone by Birmingham were, for me, boring. I've only been to the city once and felt all the information was useless (except maybe to show that Fry was feeling like a newcomer). It's the 1st time I've felt bored with some passages of the series. Lost river? Lost reader indeed in my case!
April 28, 2021
In an effort to bring her rapists to justice, Fry returns to the city she loves—and to the foster family she cared for—and in the process, she finds the identity of her biological father. At the same time and in her absence, Acting Chief Detective Cooper tries to rescue a young girl from a flooded river, but is too late; nevertheless, he solves a murder and gets a promotion.
April 2, 2018
For its genre, it was not terrible. But overall, there were a number of things that made it terrible in itself - not least being the awkward fellow-kids deciphering of leet-speak and the utterly unbelievable CRUCIAL CLUE on a gaming profile.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 102 reviews