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The Drowning Place
Brought to you by Penguin.Every place has its ghosts. Edenscar, a town in the Peak District, has more than most.
17 years ago, its inhabitants were hit by tragedy when a school bus veered off the road and everyone on board drowned. Everyone, that is, except Joseph Ashe. His miraculous survival has haunted him and the town ever since.
Now a Detective Sergeant in the local police, Joe is called to the scene of a brutal and apparently inexplicable crime. The whole town is spooked, but Joe’s new boss, DI Laurie Bower, more used to inner-city police work, has no time for superstition. She just wants to find the very real killer who has left no trace and apparently had no motive.
Joining forces, Joe and Laurie work to uncover the secrets of Edenscar, both past and present.
But when you dig up the dead, expect to get your hands dirty…
17 years ago, its inhabitants were hit by tragedy when a school bus veered off the road and everyone on board drowned. Everyone, that is, except Joseph Ashe. His miraculous survival has haunted him and the town ever since.
Now a Detective Sergeant in the local police, Joe is called to the scene of a brutal and apparently inexplicable crime. The whole town is spooked, but Joe’s new boss, DI Laurie Bower, more used to inner-city police work, has no time for superstition. She just wants to find the very real killer who has left no trace and apparently had no motive.
Joining forces, Joe and Laurie work to uncover the secrets of Edenscar, both past and present.
But when you dig up the dead, expect to get your hands dirty…
Audible Audio
Published April 16, 2026
About the author
Sarah Hilary
37 books600 followersSarah’s debut, Someone Else's Skin, won Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year and was a World Book Night selection. The Observer's Book of the Month ("superbly disturbing”) and a Richard & Judy Book Club bestseller, it was a Silver Falchion and Macavity Award finalist in the US. No Other Darkness, the second in the series was shortlisted for a Barry Award. Her DI Marnie Rome series continued with Tastes Like Fear (longlisted for Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year 2017) and Quieter Than Killing (Observer’s Thriller of the Month). Come and Find Me was published in 2018, with Never Be Broken to come in 2019.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 197 reviews
August 29, 2025
4+
DI Laurie Bower and DS Joe Ashe #1
Nine children and three adults drown in the Ladybower reservoir in Derbyshire whilst on a school bus - Paige, Zoe, Ellie, Hayley, Molly, Tyler, Seth, Devin and Sammi. Joe Ashe’s survival is miraculous and he’s the only one to do so and it has haunted him ever since. Now he’s a grown man, a police officer and Sammi grows with Joe and he still sees him, his company almost a constant. DI Laurie Bower is a newcomer to the area, formerly with Salford police, she is reluctantly here for family reasons for the next six months. What has Laurie stepped into because something, a hidden danger is out there waiting, Joe just knows it and his intuition is proved right and how.
I love a setting in an area that I know and the Peak
District National Park of Derbyshire and its surroundings is one I visit growing up in the neighbouring county of Nottinghamshire. Although it centres around the fictional Edenscar (pronounced Enscar) many other places are genuine. This novel is beautifully written, as are all of Sarah Hilary‘s books and it’s absolutely full of atmosphere. The landscape of the Peaks, the moors, the forest crowding the cottages, the night time dark with the lack of light pollution and the weather, all evoke a changing backdrop to the plot which ranges from eerie and ghostly to secretive, dangerous and evil. The plot is as gritty as the Dark Peaks, it’s full of mystery and brooding with the dramatic events in and around Edenscar being a stark contrast to the formerly peaceful rural spot.
The central characters of the police team are well depicted with fluctuating dynamics and camaraderie, although the clever nickname of Lady Bower understandably rankles with Laurie. She is a tough cookie, strong, intuitive, a good leader, prickly at times but she has her fair share of struggles, not at least her current domestic situation. I like that she’s not too proud to apologise from time to time if she thinks she’s got it wrong. As for enigmatic Joe, he’s particularly fascinating as he puts a brave, bland, agreeable face on his past and his haunting guilt and how this deeply affects him day-to-day and in his interactions. I particularly enjoy his relationship with his grandmother who seems to completely understand and get him. Although they aren’t always on the same page there’s a good growing partnership between Joe and Laurie and I’m looking forward to seeing how this develops.
The plot builds slowly but carefully, it’s well paced, with tension and suspense and with the inevitable twists and turns. The different strands connect well and the ending is unexpected but not left field.
I’m glad this is to be a series as these characters are far too good to be one offs. It gets off to a cracking start and I can’t wait for number two.
With thanks to NetGalley and especially to. Random House UK, Vintage for the much appreciated early copy in return for an honest review.
Publishing date - 16/4/26.
DI Laurie Bower and DS Joe Ashe #1
Nine children and three adults drown in the Ladybower reservoir in Derbyshire whilst on a school bus - Paige, Zoe, Ellie, Hayley, Molly, Tyler, Seth, Devin and Sammi. Joe Ashe’s survival is miraculous and he’s the only one to do so and it has haunted him ever since. Now he’s a grown man, a police officer and Sammi grows with Joe and he still sees him, his company almost a constant. DI Laurie Bower is a newcomer to the area, formerly with Salford police, she is reluctantly here for family reasons for the next six months. What has Laurie stepped into because something, a hidden danger is out there waiting, Joe just knows it and his intuition is proved right and how.
I love a setting in an area that I know and the Peak
District National Park of Derbyshire and its surroundings is one I visit growing up in the neighbouring county of Nottinghamshire. Although it centres around the fictional Edenscar (pronounced Enscar) many other places are genuine. This novel is beautifully written, as are all of Sarah Hilary‘s books and it’s absolutely full of atmosphere. The landscape of the Peaks, the moors, the forest crowding the cottages, the night time dark with the lack of light pollution and the weather, all evoke a changing backdrop to the plot which ranges from eerie and ghostly to secretive, dangerous and evil. The plot is as gritty as the Dark Peaks, it’s full of mystery and brooding with the dramatic events in and around Edenscar being a stark contrast to the formerly peaceful rural spot.
The central characters of the police team are well depicted with fluctuating dynamics and camaraderie, although the clever nickname of Lady Bower understandably rankles with Laurie. She is a tough cookie, strong, intuitive, a good leader, prickly at times but she has her fair share of struggles, not at least her current domestic situation. I like that she’s not too proud to apologise from time to time if she thinks she’s got it wrong. As for enigmatic Joe, he’s particularly fascinating as he puts a brave, bland, agreeable face on his past and his haunting guilt and how this deeply affects him day-to-day and in his interactions. I particularly enjoy his relationship with his grandmother who seems to completely understand and get him. Although they aren’t always on the same page there’s a good growing partnership between Joe and Laurie and I’m looking forward to seeing how this develops.
The plot builds slowly but carefully, it’s well paced, with tension and suspense and with the inevitable twists and turns. The different strands connect well and the ending is unexpected but not left field.
I’m glad this is to be a series as these characters are far too good to be one offs. It gets off to a cracking start and I can’t wait for number two.
With thanks to NetGalley and especially to. Random House UK, Vintage for the much appreciated early copy in return for an honest review.
Publishing date - 16/4/26.
May 29, 2026
I was a huge fan of Sarah Hilary’s DI Marnie Rome crime series and this is another series which I will be following. Set in Derbyshire’s Peak District, we meet a new detective team, DI Laurie Bower, who has temporarily related from Manchester for family reasons, and DS Joseph Ashe, a lifelong resident of Edenscar.
Joe has a troubled and tragic past. Seventeen years before, aged 11, he and fellow school friends were on a bus which went off the road into a reservoir, the ‘drowning place’ of the title. Joe was the only survivor, and ever since both he and the town have struggled to come to terms with his survival; for various reasons he is viewed as a figure of both comfort and suspicion. His best friend Sammi was killed however he is always with Joe, giving advice, not as a child but a fully grown man. This element might seem a little unusual, whether used as a supernatural or as a coping element, but it is so well written that Sammi’s appearances fit naturally into the story.
As you would expect from this author, the writing is superb, the vivid imagery of various locations, for example, the forest emit atmospheric and unsettling vibes and that sense of foreboding is prevalent throughout.
Laurie and Joe don’t have time to draw breath when they are faced with one disturbing and murderous action after another. They work well together, Laurie can be rather prickly and doesn’t suffer fools. She is struggling with a difficult home situation as well as a bereavement, but will also put her hand up when in the wrong. Outwardly Joe’s behaviour is inscrutable – often subject to provocation, he keeps his emotions in check but he won’t hesitate to speak up if he thinks a wrong decision is being made.
The tension and suspense is kept up throughout and the twisted revelations are plenty. The Drowning Place is a superb start to a new crime series with its background themes dealing with grief and survivors guilt. I loved it and wholeheartedly recommend.
Joe has a troubled and tragic past. Seventeen years before, aged 11, he and fellow school friends were on a bus which went off the road into a reservoir, the ‘drowning place’ of the title. Joe was the only survivor, and ever since both he and the town have struggled to come to terms with his survival; for various reasons he is viewed as a figure of both comfort and suspicion. His best friend Sammi was killed however he is always with Joe, giving advice, not as a child but a fully grown man. This element might seem a little unusual, whether used as a supernatural or as a coping element, but it is so well written that Sammi’s appearances fit naturally into the story.
As you would expect from this author, the writing is superb, the vivid imagery of various locations, for example, the forest emit atmospheric and unsettling vibes and that sense of foreboding is prevalent throughout.
Laurie and Joe don’t have time to draw breath when they are faced with one disturbing and murderous action after another. They work well together, Laurie can be rather prickly and doesn’t suffer fools. She is struggling with a difficult home situation as well as a bereavement, but will also put her hand up when in the wrong. Outwardly Joe’s behaviour is inscrutable – often subject to provocation, he keeps his emotions in check but he won’t hesitate to speak up if he thinks a wrong decision is being made.
The tension and suspense is kept up throughout and the twisted revelations are plenty. The Drowning Place is a superb start to a new crime series with its background themes dealing with grief and survivors guilt. I loved it and wholeheartedly recommend.
December 8, 2025
With many thanks to Netgalley for this free arc and I am leaving this unbiased review voluntarily
The wonderful Sarah Hilary is back with a new police procedural series and what a cracker it is!
The writing is sublime, the descriptive narrative enticing with an eerie feel and the highly original storyline is perfectly paced. Ashe and Bower steal the show as the mismatched police officers, one a formidable senior detective the other living with childhood ghosts. The plot is expertly constructed and the culprit a real surprise. This one had it all, the twists, the characters, the emotions and an excellent concept of combining the mystery with the supernatural. One of her best to date - kudos Ms Hilary and a massive 5⭐️
June 14, 2026
3.5. fundamentally fine but the gay ghost romance did give it a little extra oomph. that said though i would have preferred joe as a furiously repressed ‘straight’ guy in love with his dead best friend rather than an out and proud bisexual. less woke perhaps but infinitely sexier
August 8, 2025
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC!
This was a little weird for me. The writing was good, and the actual police mystery felt pretty tight and interesting. I can safely say I didn't see the villain coming, so it was nice to be constantly surprised about what's happening. Unfortunately, I felt unfulfilled regarding where the story went and the characters themselves.
This is the start of a series, and I wouldn't mind, but it felt like I was missing half a book. The characters all felt like they hadn't been fully fleshed out, and the mystery itself felt like it had been half uncovered. Without spoiling anything (obviously), I got to the end and was like '...how is it over?'. We never really get a solid conclusion about what's happening with a big part of the mystery, and I felt like I was missing an extra quarter of the book. Nothing was properly explained to me, and I feel like I got to touch the answer, but nothing more.
In terms of the characters themselves, Joe was the most interesting. He was in a severe accident as a child, which resulted in him being the only survivor with some unusual aftereffects. Given that he lives in a small town, everyone knows his background, and plenty of people are not entirely happy with his presence. Despite that, he's a sturdy figure who doesn't let things get to him, something he's embraced after years of being bullied and ostracised by others. I liked Joe, even if I didn't understand why his backstory was important or his whole 'thing' was happening.
Laurie...I didn't care for her. She's moved to Edenscar from Salford for six months with her husband to help take care of her father-in-law, who has dementia. She's got a lot of negative stereotypes and notions about the place she's moving to, and she lets it show. It makes her a hard character to enjoy, as she seems snobby. Not only that, but her relationship with her husband was poor, and there were repeated mentions of her dead sister. I didn't particularly understand why any of this existed, as none proved important or interesting.
Overall, it was fine, and I'm sure the author can work on something more solid in the future books. But for a first book, this didn't really entice me into wanting to read more. For now, I was just left wondering what the point of most things was.
This was a little weird for me. The writing was good, and the actual police mystery felt pretty tight and interesting. I can safely say I didn't see the villain coming, so it was nice to be constantly surprised about what's happening. Unfortunately, I felt unfulfilled regarding where the story went and the characters themselves.
This is the start of a series, and I wouldn't mind, but it felt like I was missing half a book. The characters all felt like they hadn't been fully fleshed out, and the mystery itself felt like it had been half uncovered. Without spoiling anything (obviously), I got to the end and was like '...how is it over?'. We never really get a solid conclusion about what's happening with a big part of the mystery, and I felt like I was missing an extra quarter of the book. Nothing was properly explained to me, and I feel like I got to touch the answer, but nothing more.
In terms of the characters themselves, Joe was the most interesting. He was in a severe accident as a child, which resulted in him being the only survivor with some unusual aftereffects. Given that he lives in a small town, everyone knows his background, and plenty of people are not entirely happy with his presence. Despite that, he's a sturdy figure who doesn't let things get to him, something he's embraced after years of being bullied and ostracised by others. I liked Joe, even if I didn't understand why his backstory was important or his whole 'thing' was happening.
Laurie...I didn't care for her. She's moved to Edenscar from Salford for six months with her husband to help take care of her father-in-law, who has dementia. She's got a lot of negative stereotypes and notions about the place she's moving to, and she lets it show. It makes her a hard character to enjoy, as she seems snobby. Not only that, but her relationship with her husband was poor, and there were repeated mentions of her dead sister. I didn't particularly understand why any of this existed, as none proved important or interesting.
Overall, it was fine, and I'm sure the author can work on something more solid in the future books. But for a first book, this didn't really entice me into wanting to read more. For now, I was just left wondering what the point of most things was.
November 25, 2025
The Drowning Place promises a moody Peak District mystery, but unfortunately it delivers very little of the atmosphere or tension the blurb suggests. Nothing in the description hinted that the story would lean into the paranormal, and had I known ghosts would play a central role, I’d have given it a miss from the start.
The book actually begins strong: a house littered with vicious traps sets the expectation of a dark, unsettling crime thriller. I thought we were heading into something sharp and sinister. Instead, the pacing quickly unravels. The narrative moves sluggishly, never gaining the momentum or edge needed to sustain suspense. For a story involving multiple crimes and long-buried secrets, it’s surprisingly bland.
Character connection is another major weakness. I didn’t find myself caring about any of them. Even Joseph “I see dead people” Ashe, whose traumatic past should have made him compelling, left me completely unmoved. His survivor’s guilt felt more like a plot device than anything emotionally resonant.
As for the plot, I often found myself wondering whether the author had a full grasp on where it was headed. Three crimes, presumably interconnected, should offer a complex, immersive mystery. Instead, everything feels oddly brushed over, as if the story can’t quite commit to digging into its own darkness. Opportunities for tension, horror, or even just solid investigative intrigue are left hanging.
Since this is the first in a planned series, I suspect some threads were intentionally left loose. But as an opener, it simply doesn’t do enough. The slow pacing, lack of character depth, and unexpected paranormal direction make it a disappointing read. I won’t be continuing with the series.
The book actually begins strong: a house littered with vicious traps sets the expectation of a dark, unsettling crime thriller. I thought we were heading into something sharp and sinister. Instead, the pacing quickly unravels. The narrative moves sluggishly, never gaining the momentum or edge needed to sustain suspense. For a story involving multiple crimes and long-buried secrets, it’s surprisingly bland.
Character connection is another major weakness. I didn’t find myself caring about any of them. Even Joseph “I see dead people” Ashe, whose traumatic past should have made him compelling, left me completely unmoved. His survivor’s guilt felt more like a plot device than anything emotionally resonant.
As for the plot, I often found myself wondering whether the author had a full grasp on where it was headed. Three crimes, presumably interconnected, should offer a complex, immersive mystery. Instead, everything feels oddly brushed over, as if the story can’t quite commit to digging into its own darkness. Opportunities for tension, horror, or even just solid investigative intrigue are left hanging.
Since this is the first in a planned series, I suspect some threads were intentionally left loose. But as an opener, it simply doesn’t do enough. The slow pacing, lack of character depth, and unexpected paranormal direction make it a disappointing read. I won’t be continuing with the series.
November 3, 2025
Joe is a policeman in a quiet Peak District town. He has a troubled past. Seventeen years ago he was the sole survivor of a bus crash in which his classmates were killed. Guilt follows him like a shadow, as does his old school friend, Sammi, who was one of the victims of the crash. Sprinkle in a new boss (a city girl with family connections to the town) low life crooks and death and you have the makings of a Happy Valley-type story, as one of the previews suggested.
Sadly, though, I really struggled with this novel. It takes a long time to get going, the characters aren't very interesting or layered. Most of all though, the ghost of Sammi constantly interjecting is very distracting and disconcerting. It didn't work for me, sorry.
Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book.
Sadly, though, I really struggled with this novel. It takes a long time to get going, the characters aren't very interesting or layered. Most of all though, the ghost of Sammi constantly interjecting is very distracting and disconcerting. It didn't work for me, sorry.
Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book.
October 13, 2025
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for an ARC of Sarah Hilary’s forthcoming novel. The plot immediately captured my attention with its teasing hint of supernatural activity. A family murder forces the local police to work alongside DI Laurie, seconded to the case, and DS Ashe, creating a bittersweet partnership as they navigate the impact of the three linked deaths on the inhabitants of a Peak District village and the constabulary. Ashe, the sole survivor of a coach crash that killed many of his friends, is haunted—quite literally—by the ghosts of that event, which adds an unsettling layer to the investigation. If you enjoy crime fiction with supernatural elements, this quirky and original take on the genre is worth reading; it has a touch of the Randall and Hopkirk flavour. At times the narrative can be confusing, with three-way conversations crossing between the living and the dead, so it’s worth slowing down and re-reading a few paragraphs to follow the flow. Fast-paced and gripping, there’s no room to dawdle.
April 18, 2026
Edenscar may be fictional, but the Dark Peak setting is perfect for this book. Vividly described and its hints of menace and claustrophobia lend another dimension to the story.
The book is - in some ways - a fairly standard thriller, with local police investigating the brutal murder of a young couple and their child. However, the book also forces a relative outsider (she’s been working in Salford) into the mix and she also has to uncover the secrets of those she’s working with. This is focused on DS Ashe, the sole survivor of a crash seventeen years earlier that devastated the village. He is, literally, haunted by his experience and his attempts to live with survivor guilt introduce a supernatural element to proceedings.
Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this.
The book is - in some ways - a fairly standard thriller, with local police investigating the brutal murder of a young couple and their child. However, the book also forces a relative outsider (she’s been working in Salford) into the mix and she also has to uncover the secrets of those she’s working with. This is focused on DS Ashe, the sole survivor of a crash seventeen years earlier that devastated the village. He is, literally, haunted by his experience and his attempts to live with survivor guilt introduce a supernatural element to proceedings.
Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this.
May 18, 2026
The Drowning Place by Sarah Hilary
Every place has its ghosts.
Edenscar, a town in the Peak District, has more than most. 17 years ago, its inhabitants were hit by tragedy when a school bus veered off the road and everyone on board drowned. Everyone, that is, except Joseph Ashe. His miraculous survival has haunted him and the town ever since.
Now a Detective Sergeant in the local police, Joe is called to the scene of a brutal and apparently inexplicable crime. The whole town is spooked, but Joe’s new boss, DI Laurie Bower, more used to inner-city police work, has no time for superstition. She just wants to find the very real killer who has left no trace and apparently had no motive.
Joining forces, Joe and Laurie work to uncover the secrets of Edenscar, both past and present.
But when you dig up the dead, expect to get your hands dirty…
Detective Laurie Bower has a new job on a very different patch from inner city Manchester. They have returned to her husband Adam’s family home at Edenscar in the Peak District, to live with his father who has been diagnosed with advanced dementia. This is a wild place and a community where every family has been hit in some way by a tragic accident from 17 years ago. Everyone including Laurie’s new DS Joseph Ashe. Joseph was the only survivor of a terrible minibus crash that plunged his primary school class, their teacher and the driver to the bottom of Lady Bower reservoir. The village is haunted by the loss of those children and so is Joseph Ashe, whose best friend Sammi is still always by his side, even though only Joe can see him. This is going to be a hard district for Laurie to get used to, not only will she be living in the family home, which means getting used to less privacy and the presence of different family members all the time, but she’s not used to the tiny roads, rough terrain and awful weather. She has to hit the ground running when they receive a call about a couple who haven’t been seen over the weekend. Joe has a terrible feeling, because he’d heard gunshots late on Friday night but put it down to poachers in the woods. He also saw car lights heading in the direction of Manchester. Joe and Laurie drive out to Chris and Odette Miles’s cottage on the edge of the woods, a place they’ve been renovating and now share with baby Eric who is almost a year old. As they enter it’s immediately obvious the couple have been dead all weekend, shot in their own kitchen. Laurie chooses to search upstairs to spare Joe from what she fears has happened, a fear that sadly comes true when she finds Eric drowned in only a few centimetres of bath water. Now they must work together, with Sammi alongside, to discover who Chris and Odette were behind the image of a happy family, and then to find their killer.
The atmosphere of this novel is amazing with an opening section of the bus crash that brings home just how terrifying it must have been:
“It hit the water hard. Went under, fast. Waves of broken glass from the front to the back […] water like thunder was filling the bus, roll after roll of it, black.”
It’s astounding that Joe survived, but he has been seen with suspicion ever since with whispers that he and Sammi were messing around on the back seat, distracting the driver. Sammi has never left his side since and appears as if he’s the same age as Joe. However, once the bereaved villagers thought Joe could see their lost children he has been something of an oddity. For some the ability to see their child with Joe can be a comfort, but for others it must be distressing and confronting. The moments when this happens lift the hairs on the back of the neck, one child’s ’little icy fingers’ were reminiscent of Cathy trying to get into the window at Wuthering Heights. They’re always visible as if conjured from under the water, dripping wet and wreathed in shattered glass, their eyes black as night. Laurie’s husband Adam is a therapist and he dismisses it as ‘emotional contagion’, a shared trauma that causes mass hallucination. However, they are usually for a set time period and then fade, but Joe’s powers never go away. The weather is also full of foreboding, with several seasons in one day and the woods near the Miles house not recommended after dark. Laurie’s home set up is also unsettling. She is bereaved, but doesn’t share with Joe that she has lost her sister to addiction. She’s also uneasy at her father-in-law’s house, because Pete’s dementia means he behaves differently, becoming agitated towards sunset in a behaviour known as sundowning. He sometimes doesn’t know Laurie, but then when he does recognise her he becomes threatening. This is a place that has secrets and Joe and Laurie need to uncover them if they are going to solve the murders.
Neither detective is in the best place for an investigation and Laurie realises one of the main differences in policing an area where you live. In Manchester she had anonymity from who she was investigating, but here everyone is connected and has an opinion. To hear Chris’s parents talk about the murdered couple they sound like an idyllic family, with his father very proud of his son’s skill as an electrician. In fact he’s been doing so well recently that he’s been able to send his parents on holiday abroad. Odette’s mother has a slightly different perspective, wondering whether the pressure of the renovations and a new baby were taking their toll on her daughter who seemed to be providing most of the child care. Neighbour Bobby, who is an incredible bit of comic relief with habits that could earn him an ASBO and his arse constantly hanging out of his trousers, is more forthcoming. He thinks Chris was up to something to bring in the sort of money he was making. He often heard the couple arguing even though their house is some distance away. Bobby himself has has trouble with developers wanting to buy his ramshackle house, that is currently devaluing the holiday let next door. The team go through several theories - could Chris have been distributing drugs, keeping stolen goods or weapons? This is going to take a deep dive into his business records and asking more searching questions of his resentful family.
I loved how the author has woven in the real-life concerns of a village in an area like Derbyshire within the Peak District. There’s the difficulty for young people who grow up there not being able to afford a decent home as second home owners and investors buy up the local cottages for their portfolio, some with unscrupulous business practices. Laurie feels herself an outsider in this space, the weapons are different for a start as the pair encounter a crossbow booby trap, animal traps and then shotguns in her first few days. Even the motives and suspects are different to those she encountered back in Manchester. She can also see the pressure Joe is under as a receptacle for the village’s resentment and grief. The horrors here are both manmade and supernatural. The pair peel back the layers of secrets and find a neglected kid practically living wild, a plan for hunting in the woods that could have come from the Epstein files and someone who likes to watch their fellow villagers. These twists and turns of the case are fascinating and kept me reading all day. The ghosts are both horrifying and desperately sad, with parents who long to see their child again but not in the way they appear with deep black pools for eyes and dripping with water. It culminates in a terrifying showdown from a totally unexpected direction. The survivor’s guilt is unbearable and I kept hoping that Laurie’s presence and this awful case might be a catalyst for change. Both her and Joe are outsiders in different ways and I could see that distance from the community being useful in terms of their policing but painfully lonely in private. This was a deeply atmospheric and devastating start to a series I can’t wait to dive back into.
Every place has its ghosts.
Edenscar, a town in the Peak District, has more than most. 17 years ago, its inhabitants were hit by tragedy when a school bus veered off the road and everyone on board drowned. Everyone, that is, except Joseph Ashe. His miraculous survival has haunted him and the town ever since.
Now a Detective Sergeant in the local police, Joe is called to the scene of a brutal and apparently inexplicable crime. The whole town is spooked, but Joe’s new boss, DI Laurie Bower, more used to inner-city police work, has no time for superstition. She just wants to find the very real killer who has left no trace and apparently had no motive.
Joining forces, Joe and Laurie work to uncover the secrets of Edenscar, both past and present.
But when you dig up the dead, expect to get your hands dirty…
Detective Laurie Bower has a new job on a very different patch from inner city Manchester. They have returned to her husband Adam’s family home at Edenscar in the Peak District, to live with his father who has been diagnosed with advanced dementia. This is a wild place and a community where every family has been hit in some way by a tragic accident from 17 years ago. Everyone including Laurie’s new DS Joseph Ashe. Joseph was the only survivor of a terrible minibus crash that plunged his primary school class, their teacher and the driver to the bottom of Lady Bower reservoir. The village is haunted by the loss of those children and so is Joseph Ashe, whose best friend Sammi is still always by his side, even though only Joe can see him. This is going to be a hard district for Laurie to get used to, not only will she be living in the family home, which means getting used to less privacy and the presence of different family members all the time, but she’s not used to the tiny roads, rough terrain and awful weather. She has to hit the ground running when they receive a call about a couple who haven’t been seen over the weekend. Joe has a terrible feeling, because he’d heard gunshots late on Friday night but put it down to poachers in the woods. He also saw car lights heading in the direction of Manchester. Joe and Laurie drive out to Chris and Odette Miles’s cottage on the edge of the woods, a place they’ve been renovating and now share with baby Eric who is almost a year old. As they enter it’s immediately obvious the couple have been dead all weekend, shot in their own kitchen. Laurie chooses to search upstairs to spare Joe from what she fears has happened, a fear that sadly comes true when she finds Eric drowned in only a few centimetres of bath water. Now they must work together, with Sammi alongside, to discover who Chris and Odette were behind the image of a happy family, and then to find their killer.
The atmosphere of this novel is amazing with an opening section of the bus crash that brings home just how terrifying it must have been:
“It hit the water hard. Went under, fast. Waves of broken glass from the front to the back […] water like thunder was filling the bus, roll after roll of it, black.”
It’s astounding that Joe survived, but he has been seen with suspicion ever since with whispers that he and Sammi were messing around on the back seat, distracting the driver. Sammi has never left his side since and appears as if he’s the same age as Joe. However, once the bereaved villagers thought Joe could see their lost children he has been something of an oddity. For some the ability to see their child with Joe can be a comfort, but for others it must be distressing and confronting. The moments when this happens lift the hairs on the back of the neck, one child’s ’little icy fingers’ were reminiscent of Cathy trying to get into the window at Wuthering Heights. They’re always visible as if conjured from under the water, dripping wet and wreathed in shattered glass, their eyes black as night. Laurie’s husband Adam is a therapist and he dismisses it as ‘emotional contagion’, a shared trauma that causes mass hallucination. However, they are usually for a set time period and then fade, but Joe’s powers never go away. The weather is also full of foreboding, with several seasons in one day and the woods near the Miles house not recommended after dark. Laurie’s home set up is also unsettling. She is bereaved, but doesn’t share with Joe that she has lost her sister to addiction. She’s also uneasy at her father-in-law’s house, because Pete’s dementia means he behaves differently, becoming agitated towards sunset in a behaviour known as sundowning. He sometimes doesn’t know Laurie, but then when he does recognise her he becomes threatening. This is a place that has secrets and Joe and Laurie need to uncover them if they are going to solve the murders.
Neither detective is in the best place for an investigation and Laurie realises one of the main differences in policing an area where you live. In Manchester she had anonymity from who she was investigating, but here everyone is connected and has an opinion. To hear Chris’s parents talk about the murdered couple they sound like an idyllic family, with his father very proud of his son’s skill as an electrician. In fact he’s been doing so well recently that he’s been able to send his parents on holiday abroad. Odette’s mother has a slightly different perspective, wondering whether the pressure of the renovations and a new baby were taking their toll on her daughter who seemed to be providing most of the child care. Neighbour Bobby, who is an incredible bit of comic relief with habits that could earn him an ASBO and his arse constantly hanging out of his trousers, is more forthcoming. He thinks Chris was up to something to bring in the sort of money he was making. He often heard the couple arguing even though their house is some distance away. Bobby himself has has trouble with developers wanting to buy his ramshackle house, that is currently devaluing the holiday let next door. The team go through several theories - could Chris have been distributing drugs, keeping stolen goods or weapons? This is going to take a deep dive into his business records and asking more searching questions of his resentful family.
I loved how the author has woven in the real-life concerns of a village in an area like Derbyshire within the Peak District. There’s the difficulty for young people who grow up there not being able to afford a decent home as second home owners and investors buy up the local cottages for their portfolio, some with unscrupulous business practices. Laurie feels herself an outsider in this space, the weapons are different for a start as the pair encounter a crossbow booby trap, animal traps and then shotguns in her first few days. Even the motives and suspects are different to those she encountered back in Manchester. She can also see the pressure Joe is under as a receptacle for the village’s resentment and grief. The horrors here are both manmade and supernatural. The pair peel back the layers of secrets and find a neglected kid practically living wild, a plan for hunting in the woods that could have come from the Epstein files and someone who likes to watch their fellow villagers. These twists and turns of the case are fascinating and kept me reading all day. The ghosts are both horrifying and desperately sad, with parents who long to see their child again but not in the way they appear with deep black pools for eyes and dripping with water. It culminates in a terrifying showdown from a totally unexpected direction. The survivor’s guilt is unbearable and I kept hoping that Laurie’s presence and this awful case might be a catalyst for change. Both her and Joe are outsiders in different ways and I could see that distance from the community being useful in terms of their policing but painfully lonely in private. This was a deeply atmospheric and devastating start to a series I can’t wait to dive back into.
April 11, 2026
Every place has its ghosts. Edenscar, a town in the Peak District, has more than most. 17 years ago, its inhabitants were hit by tragedy when a school bus veered off the road and everyone on board drowned. Everyone, that is, except Joseph Ashe. His miraculous survival has haunted him and the town ever since. Now a Detective Sergeant in the local police, Joe is called to the scene of a brutal and apparently inexplicable crime. The whole town is spooked, but Joe’s new boss, DI Laurie Bower, more used to inner-city police work, has no time for superstition. She just wants to find the very real killer who has left no trace and apparently had no motive. Joining forces, Joe and Laurie work to uncover the secrets of Edenscar, both past and present. But when you dig up the dead, expect to get your hands dirty…
This is the first in a new crime series, introducing us to the policing world of Edenscar when a triple murder has been committed,
With it being the first title in a series there is a lot of character background information to set the scene, this aligned seamlessly with the murder mystery storyline that is also taking place. The character relationships are definitely something that are likely to develop as the series continues, especially Laurie & Joe, and the supernatural theme too - although that was a little confusing at times and think this will also be explored further in a future title.
There were a lot of characters and it did take a while to get to grips with who’s who, the writing style does a brilliant job of bringing all the descriptive prose together, making this an easier task to absorb the events that take place.
The pace definitely picks up in the last quarter, where all the pieces come together to provide an unexpected conclusion. I must admit I didn’t expect it to go in the direction it did, meaning there were some great red herrings thrown in to perplex the reader. The ending did seem to leave a few questions unanswered but assuming this is intentional for the series continuation.
My first read from this author and I would definitely read more and also look forward to continue this series in the future.
This is the first in a new crime series, introducing us to the policing world of Edenscar when a triple murder has been committed,
With it being the first title in a series there is a lot of character background information to set the scene, this aligned seamlessly with the murder mystery storyline that is also taking place. The character relationships are definitely something that are likely to develop as the series continues, especially Laurie & Joe, and the supernatural theme too - although that was a little confusing at times and think this will also be explored further in a future title.
There were a lot of characters and it did take a while to get to grips with who’s who, the writing style does a brilliant job of bringing all the descriptive prose together, making this an easier task to absorb the events that take place.
The pace definitely picks up in the last quarter, where all the pieces come together to provide an unexpected conclusion. I must admit I didn’t expect it to go in the direction it did, meaning there were some great red herrings thrown in to perplex the reader. The ending did seem to leave a few questions unanswered but assuming this is intentional for the series continuation.
My first read from this author and I would definitely read more and also look forward to continue this series in the future.
June 13, 2026
This has been one of my most anticipated reads after so many fabulous reviews and it really didn’t disappoint.
Synopsis:
Seventeen years ago, a school bus crash left everyone dead on board apart from one young boy, Joe Ashe. Now a Detective Sergeant, Joe is still carrying the heavy burden of his village’s collective grief.
Detective Inspector Laurie Bower is Joe’s new boss. Used to the mean streets of Salford, Laurie thinks that her new role in Edenscar in the Peak District will be a doddle, until news comes in of a brutal murder with multiple victims.
As Joe & Laurie team up, will they be able to put aside ghosts from both of their pasts to reveal the secrets and lies held so close by this tight knit community.
My thoughts:
A disturbing, atmospheric and sharply plotted police procedural drama, with a delicious underbelly of tension running through it like a taut piano wire.
With clever and razor sharp writing, I was taken on a deeply sinister ride down lots of different pathways where I met some brilliantly oddball characters.
I have read that some found it difficult to get into because of the number of characters, but I didn’t have any problem at all keeping track of who was who.
I don’t want to give away any spoilers but if I settled, this sharply paced, tightly woven plot would suddenly veer off in a totally unexpected way and there was a very unexpected and shocking twist at the end.
At about 80% in, I was on the edge of my seat, holding my breath, the scene setting and jeopardy was so dark and thrilling.
I loved Joe and Laurie, their interesting, engaging characters and back stories and I’m already looking forward to seeing how their working relationship and friendship develops in the next book, The Cutting Stone due out in April 2027.
An absolutely cracking book that deserves all the love it’s receiving and I was very sad to finish it.
Synopsis:
Seventeen years ago, a school bus crash left everyone dead on board apart from one young boy, Joe Ashe. Now a Detective Sergeant, Joe is still carrying the heavy burden of his village’s collective grief.
Detective Inspector Laurie Bower is Joe’s new boss. Used to the mean streets of Salford, Laurie thinks that her new role in Edenscar in the Peak District will be a doddle, until news comes in of a brutal murder with multiple victims.
As Joe & Laurie team up, will they be able to put aside ghosts from both of their pasts to reveal the secrets and lies held so close by this tight knit community.
My thoughts:
A disturbing, atmospheric and sharply plotted police procedural drama, with a delicious underbelly of tension running through it like a taut piano wire.
With clever and razor sharp writing, I was taken on a deeply sinister ride down lots of different pathways where I met some brilliantly oddball characters.
I have read that some found it difficult to get into because of the number of characters, but I didn’t have any problem at all keeping track of who was who.
I don’t want to give away any spoilers but if I settled, this sharply paced, tightly woven plot would suddenly veer off in a totally unexpected way and there was a very unexpected and shocking twist at the end.
At about 80% in, I was on the edge of my seat, holding my breath, the scene setting and jeopardy was so dark and thrilling.
I loved Joe and Laurie, their interesting, engaging characters and back stories and I’m already looking forward to seeing how their working relationship and friendship develops in the next book, The Cutting Stone due out in April 2027.
An absolutely cracking book that deserves all the love it’s receiving and I was very sad to finish it.
April 18, 2026
I was immediately drawn to this book because of its Peak District setting, and was even more pleased to see Salford, Manchester, and Sheffield woven into the story.
This is unlike any crime thriller I’ve read before. When people say the ghosts of your past linger, Sarah Hilary takes that idea quite literally, but grounds it in a compelling and serious narrative. DC Joseph Ashe, who works for Derbyshire Constabulary, has lived in the town his whole life yet he’s still haunted by a tragedy from his childhood. At just 11 years old, he was the sole survivor of a devastating school bus crash in which everyone else drowned.
Seventeen years later, he’s partnered with DI Laurie Bower from Greater Manchester Police, who has temporarily relocated to be closer to her father-in-law. When a brutal crime shakes the small community, the two must work together to uncover the truth.
I loved the rural, close-knit setting, where relationships run deeper than they first appear. Ashe and Bower make an unlikely but compelling detective duo, their dynamic really stood out and I’m excited to see how it develops in future books.
As the start of a new series, this has definitely hooked me. I’m particularly intrigued by Joe’s ‘ghosts’ and how that thread will continue, as well as how Laurie’s home life might evolve as her father-in-law’s condition worsens.
The twist was brilliantly handled. I thought I had it figured out, but the final 10% completely threw me.
This is unlike any crime thriller I’ve read before. When people say the ghosts of your past linger, Sarah Hilary takes that idea quite literally, but grounds it in a compelling and serious narrative. DC Joseph Ashe, who works for Derbyshire Constabulary, has lived in the town his whole life yet he’s still haunted by a tragedy from his childhood. At just 11 years old, he was the sole survivor of a devastating school bus crash in which everyone else drowned.
Seventeen years later, he’s partnered with DI Laurie Bower from Greater Manchester Police, who has temporarily relocated to be closer to her father-in-law. When a brutal crime shakes the small community, the two must work together to uncover the truth.
I loved the rural, close-knit setting, where relationships run deeper than they first appear. Ashe and Bower make an unlikely but compelling detective duo, their dynamic really stood out and I’m excited to see how it develops in future books.
As the start of a new series, this has definitely hooked me. I’m particularly intrigued by Joe’s ‘ghosts’ and how that thread will continue, as well as how Laurie’s home life might evolve as her father-in-law’s condition worsens.
The twist was brilliantly handled. I thought I had it figured out, but the final 10% completely threw me.
May 16, 2026
DI Laurie Bower has moved to her husband's hometown of Edenscar on secondment. On arrival, she pairs up with Joe Ashe, a detective and central to the tragedy that struck the town seventeen years ago. Now, another tragedy has struck, leaving the town reeling and the detectives trying to uncover the truth. The town is full of ghosts, and DS Ashe's ghosts are more real than most.
𝕎𝕙𝕪 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕤𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕝𝕕 𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤:
🌄 Gorgeous, atmospheric setting in the Peak District
🌧️ Well plotted, twisty and psychological thriller
🌄 Hint of the supernatural... Is it real or not?
🌧️ Exploration of grief within a small town
🌄 Exciting police procedural as detectives investigate
𝔽𝕚𝕟𝕒𝕝 𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕤:
This was a chilling, atmospheric murder mystery with a gorgeous setting. I loved the descriptions. I loved how the events in the past paralleled thistle of the present, and how well they tied the narrative together. I loved the dialogue - it's such a small thing, but I just felt it read so naturally, like a conversation. The author dropped words in places, and phrased things in a way that just made it feel like natural conversation instead of being really polished. It pulled me in so much more to the story - I've never really thought about it, but reading this made me realise how much the speech of characters can impact a story. A brilliant start to a new series
Thanks to the publisher for sharing this one in exchange for an honest review
𝕎𝕙𝕪 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕤𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕝𝕕 𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤:
🌄 Gorgeous, atmospheric setting in the Peak District
🌧️ Well plotted, twisty and psychological thriller
🌄 Hint of the supernatural... Is it real or not?
🌧️ Exploration of grief within a small town
🌄 Exciting police procedural as detectives investigate
𝔽𝕚𝕟𝕒𝕝 𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕤:
This was a chilling, atmospheric murder mystery with a gorgeous setting. I loved the descriptions. I loved how the events in the past paralleled thistle of the present, and how well they tied the narrative together. I loved the dialogue - it's such a small thing, but I just felt it read so naturally, like a conversation. The author dropped words in places, and phrased things in a way that just made it feel like natural conversation instead of being really polished. It pulled me in so much more to the story - I've never really thought about it, but reading this made me realise how much the speech of characters can impact a story. A brilliant start to a new series
Thanks to the publisher for sharing this one in exchange for an honest review
April 21, 2026
this is the fist 5 star crime read of the year! I absolutely loved this book.
It’s atmospheric, extremely well written and completely immersive. It’s a very intriguing storyline given that one of the main characters communicates with his dead friend from when he was eleven who died in a tragic accident. I don’t want to say much more about this as I don’t want to take away from the reading experience.
Anyway, this is how I like my crime novels best. Sharply observed, with messy but likeable characters, depth and wit. There was so much here to love, I’d say it’s almost literary crime fiction with the beautiful and eerie written. The setting of the book almost becoming a character itself.
That ending had me gasping! I really enjoyed reading this and absolutely loved everything about it. I’ve seen that this is the first in a series and I am more than excited to read more about these characters. I’m also away to look up all the books Sarah Hilary has previously written and may just order the whole back catalogue. As you do.
My advice? Read this book! I highly recommend!
It’s atmospheric, extremely well written and completely immersive. It’s a very intriguing storyline given that one of the main characters communicates with his dead friend from when he was eleven who died in a tragic accident. I don’t want to say much more about this as I don’t want to take away from the reading experience.
Anyway, this is how I like my crime novels best. Sharply observed, with messy but likeable characters, depth and wit. There was so much here to love, I’d say it’s almost literary crime fiction with the beautiful and eerie written. The setting of the book almost becoming a character itself.
That ending had me gasping! I really enjoyed reading this and absolutely loved everything about it. I’ve seen that this is the first in a series and I am more than excited to read more about these characters. I’m also away to look up all the books Sarah Hilary has previously written and may just order the whole back catalogue. As you do.
My advice? Read this book! I highly recommend!
July 29, 2025
Review of ‘The Drowning Place’ by Sarah Hilary, due to be published on 16 April 2026 by Random House UK, Vintage.
Joe Ashe, sole survivor of a bus crash 17 years ago that killed his school friends, now a DS for the Edenscar Police, trying to make a difference and ease his guilt that he did not drown with his friends.
DI Laurie Bower, on a six month secondment to Edenscar to help her husband with his ailing father.
When the village is rocked by a triple murder, Ashe and Bower must work together to find the culprit, the motive and face a race against time before someone else is fatally injured.
This is a fast paced, gripping thriller, that sets up many possible suspects. It has twists you don’t see coming, touches of humour in the darkest of times and emotional reflections of the past and present. A highly recommended read, heres hoping for more DS Ashe and DI Bower in the future!
Joe Ashe, sole survivor of a bus crash 17 years ago that killed his school friends, now a DS for the Edenscar Police, trying to make a difference and ease his guilt that he did not drown with his friends.
DI Laurie Bower, on a six month secondment to Edenscar to help her husband with his ailing father.
When the village is rocked by a triple murder, Ashe and Bower must work together to find the culprit, the motive and face a race against time before someone else is fatally injured.
This is a fast paced, gripping thriller, that sets up many possible suspects. It has twists you don’t see coming, touches of humour in the darkest of times and emotional reflections of the past and present. A highly recommended read, heres hoping for more DS Ashe and DI Bower in the future!
April 20, 2026
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley.
DI Laurie Bower has moved to Edenscar, Peak District, from Salford, so she and her husband can help with the care of his dad.
DS Joe Ashe is a bit of an enigma to the locals. Being the only survivor of a horrific bus crash as a child, they are wary of him, especially as he sees ghosts.
Whilst investigating why a crossbow was left set up ready to injure/kill someone, Ashe then looks into why a local electrician and his family have been murdered.
I did struggle a bit with the amount of characters in the story, it slowed me down a bit trying to remember who was who.
I liked DI Joe Ashe, very much a haunted character due to the childhood accident, I found him quite endearing.
A good start to a new series.
DI Laurie Bower has moved to Edenscar, Peak District, from Salford, so she and her husband can help with the care of his dad.
DS Joe Ashe is a bit of an enigma to the locals. Being the only survivor of a horrific bus crash as a child, they are wary of him, especially as he sees ghosts.
Whilst investigating why a crossbow was left set up ready to injure/kill someone, Ashe then looks into why a local electrician and his family have been murdered.
I did struggle a bit with the amount of characters in the story, it slowed me down a bit trying to remember who was who.
I liked DI Joe Ashe, very much a haunted character due to the childhood accident, I found him quite endearing.
A good start to a new series.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
4.5 stars
Thanks to Harvill for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review. I was lucky enough to receive a proof of this at the Theakston Old Peculiar Crime Festival 2025.
I initially thought this was Sarah's debut but I've now found out she's got plenty of other books for me to get my teeth into, and I will.
It's multi-layered and everything has such depth. So much is spot on, the plot, characters, setting, themes, twists.
I love a short chapter, and to begin with, this had quite long chapters, but I think this story suited long chapters as there was a lot of relevant information to get in. And overall, the book uses both long and short snappy chapters so it's a nice balance.
There is a lot going on, I tell you that. Too much? I don't think so. I think she's found the right side of overwhelming. You have to keep up, but it adds to the tension and makes the book just zoom by because there is so much to get your teeth into. There's no time for being bored with this book.
Joseph and Laurie are fantastic protagonists, a perfect, dysfunctional professional relationship. They were funny, whether intentionally or not, and their completely...mismatched-ness made for interesting reading. There are many other characters in it, some with more airtime than others, but they all have their own stories and also work well off the back of Joseph's story.
I read sooooo may thrillers, so it was nice to find one that still felt familiar, but had enough twists in it to make it feel new and fresh. It has a supernatural element to it, which isn't something I thought would fit into a thrillery crime police drama. I thought maybe it would feel shoved in. But it fits in seamlessly and it became one of my favourite aspects.
I mean, I am notoriously awful at predicting whodunnits (although I did figure one out recently which I was very proud of), and so it shouldn't be a surprise that I didn't see this one coming, but it's very well done. I wonder if I reread it, whether I'd see any clues.
I do wish the big thing happened a smidge earlier. I loved it from page one, don't get me wrong, but I was itching to get really stuck into it. That's not necessarily a negative, I still loved it, but yeah, just a smidge earlier would have been the icing on the cake.
I read it in a day, I just couldn't put it down.
I think this is the start of a series which will be interesting to see, because whilst it does conclude, there is definitely scope for further stories.
Thanks to Harvill for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review. I was lucky enough to receive a proof of this at the Theakston Old Peculiar Crime Festival 2025.
I initially thought this was Sarah's debut but I've now found out she's got plenty of other books for me to get my teeth into, and I will.
It's multi-layered and everything has such depth. So much is spot on, the plot, characters, setting, themes, twists.
I love a short chapter, and to begin with, this had quite long chapters, but I think this story suited long chapters as there was a lot of relevant information to get in. And overall, the book uses both long and short snappy chapters so it's a nice balance.
There is a lot going on, I tell you that. Too much? I don't think so. I think she's found the right side of overwhelming. You have to keep up, but it adds to the tension and makes the book just zoom by because there is so much to get your teeth into. There's no time for being bored with this book.
Joseph and Laurie are fantastic protagonists, a perfect, dysfunctional professional relationship. They were funny, whether intentionally or not, and their completely...mismatched-ness made for interesting reading. There are many other characters in it, some with more airtime than others, but they all have their own stories and also work well off the back of Joseph's story.
I read sooooo may thrillers, so it was nice to find one that still felt familiar, but had enough twists in it to make it feel new and fresh. It has a supernatural element to it, which isn't something I thought would fit into a thrillery crime police drama. I thought maybe it would feel shoved in. But it fits in seamlessly and it became one of my favourite aspects.
I mean, I am notoriously awful at predicting whodunnits (although I did figure one out recently which I was very proud of), and so it shouldn't be a surprise that I didn't see this one coming, but it's very well done. I wonder if I reread it, whether I'd see any clues.
I do wish the big thing happened a smidge earlier. I loved it from page one, don't get me wrong, but I was itching to get really stuck into it. That's not necessarily a negative, I still loved it, but yeah, just a smidge earlier would have been the icing on the cake.
I read it in a day, I just couldn't put it down.
I think this is the start of a series which will be interesting to see, because whilst it does conclude, there is definitely scope for further stories.
October 23, 2025
A mystery thriller with a sprinkling of the supernatural... yes, please!
From the very first paragraph, this had me utterly transfixed and did not release me until the very last word.
DS Joe Ashe was involved in an accident 17 years ago, an accident that killed everyone else on board, the school coach except him. He never got over the guilt, even though he has no guilt to carry around.
One thing he has had to carry is the ghosts of his school friends. They still walk alongside him, and when he’s around their parents, they can see their child’s spirit as well. One ghost he is happy to walk by his side is his best friend (and young love interest) Sammi, who, for some strange circumstance, has grown in age alongside him.
Now a DS in the Endenscar Police Department in the Peak District, he is called to a horrific murder of a local family, including their one year old son.
Meeting him at the scene is DI Laurie Bower, who is on secondment from Salford for 6 months. Her husband is from Endenscar and has had to move home to look after his father, who has dementia. Laurie was thinking she’d be taking it easy in the country, but arriving at her first case is proving otherwise.
A mismatched pair, Ashe, and Bower are now tasked with forming a very fast working relationship if they are going to catch their killer.
This was one hell of a fast paced novel, but not once did I lose track of the who, what, where, and why’s. The writing style was fantastic!
I adored the location. I love the Peak District so could easily visualise the area, which was a huge tick in my eyes.
I truly hope that this is the start of a magnificent series. Ashe & Bower are a brilliant working couple, and I can already see they have so much more to give!
Huge to Netgalley and Random House UK, Vintage for the ARC.
From the very first paragraph, this had me utterly transfixed and did not release me until the very last word.
DS Joe Ashe was involved in an accident 17 years ago, an accident that killed everyone else on board, the school coach except him. He never got over the guilt, even though he has no guilt to carry around.
One thing he has had to carry is the ghosts of his school friends. They still walk alongside him, and when he’s around their parents, they can see their child’s spirit as well. One ghost he is happy to walk by his side is his best friend (and young love interest) Sammi, who, for some strange circumstance, has grown in age alongside him.
Now a DS in the Endenscar Police Department in the Peak District, he is called to a horrific murder of a local family, including their one year old son.
Meeting him at the scene is DI Laurie Bower, who is on secondment from Salford for 6 months. Her husband is from Endenscar and has had to move home to look after his father, who has dementia. Laurie was thinking she’d be taking it easy in the country, but arriving at her first case is proving otherwise.
A mismatched pair, Ashe, and Bower are now tasked with forming a very fast working relationship if they are going to catch their killer.
This was one hell of a fast paced novel, but not once did I lose track of the who, what, where, and why’s. The writing style was fantastic!
I adored the location. I love the Peak District so could easily visualise the area, which was a huge tick in my eyes.
I truly hope that this is the start of a magnificent series. Ashe & Bower are a brilliant working couple, and I can already see they have so much more to give!
Huge to Netgalley and Random House UK, Vintage for the ARC.
November 17, 2025
For lovers of seriously dark, seriously spooky crime fiction, Sarah Hilary’s new novel The Drowning Place is as good as it gets.
The fictional town of Edenscar should be idyllic; a tight-knit community in the dramatic landscape of the Dark Peak, a place where “‘full fibre’ were words associated with breakfast not broadband.” But the repercussions of an unthinkable tragedy, the crash of a school bus into a reservoir, have tainted the life of the town for the past seventeen years. The only survivor of the crash was an eleven-year-old boy who is now Detective Sergeant Joseph Ashe. Joe continues to be haunted by the tragedy, and not just by his survivor guilt…
When Joe investigates a horrific, baffling crime on a farmstead, he finds a dreadful echo of the drownings that resurrects his trauma. The new DI, Laurie Bower tells him “sometimes the job isn’t saving other people. It’s saving ourselves.” But the ghosts of Joe’s childhood press ever more insistently on his mind. And then they begin to lead him to the killer…
Sarah Hilary is the maestra of compelling, thought-provoking crime fiction. The Drowning Place delivers psychological depth laced with the supernatural, as well as a heart-stopping final twist. I’ve a premonition that Joe Ashe is on a brilliantly compulsive mission to investigate many more chilling crimes in the Peak District before he’s done.
The fictional town of Edenscar should be idyllic; a tight-knit community in the dramatic landscape of the Dark Peak, a place where “‘full fibre’ were words associated with breakfast not broadband.” But the repercussions of an unthinkable tragedy, the crash of a school bus into a reservoir, have tainted the life of the town for the past seventeen years. The only survivor of the crash was an eleven-year-old boy who is now Detective Sergeant Joseph Ashe. Joe continues to be haunted by the tragedy, and not just by his survivor guilt…
When Joe investigates a horrific, baffling crime on a farmstead, he finds a dreadful echo of the drownings that resurrects his trauma. The new DI, Laurie Bower tells him “sometimes the job isn’t saving other people. It’s saving ourselves.” But the ghosts of Joe’s childhood press ever more insistently on his mind. And then they begin to lead him to the killer…
Sarah Hilary is the maestra of compelling, thought-provoking crime fiction. The Drowning Place delivers psychological depth laced with the supernatural, as well as a heart-stopping final twist. I’ve a premonition that Joe Ashe is on a brilliantly compulsive mission to investigate many more chilling crimes in the Peak District before he’s done.
March 2, 2026
For me, this was a did not finish.
I found it discombobulated and confusing. Across two pages names were mentioned 36 times and I couldn’t keep up with who was who. It got to a stage where I realised I didn’t particularly care who was who either. I owed it to myself to stop reading and find something I was actually enjoying.
The premise sounded really interesting, however the delivery was what let it down. The ghost of Sammi constantly piping up just added more confusion rather than contributing to the plot.
From other reviews I have seen that it gets better as you get further in, however I just couldn’t power through.
I am a fan of police procedurals, but this was not written in a way that I can get along with.
I found it discombobulated and confusing. Across two pages names were mentioned 36 times and I couldn’t keep up with who was who. It got to a stage where I realised I didn’t particularly care who was who either. I owed it to myself to stop reading and find something I was actually enjoying.
The premise sounded really interesting, however the delivery was what let it down. The ghost of Sammi constantly piping up just added more confusion rather than contributing to the plot.
From other reviews I have seen that it gets better as you get further in, however I just couldn’t power through.
I am a fan of police procedurals, but this was not written in a way that I can get along with.
June 4, 2026
This is a smartly written crime novel with a slice of the supernatural on the side. DS Joe Ashe is the sole survivor from school bus crash seventeen years earlier, who regularly sees and converses the form of his dead best friend Sammi, who despite being dead has continued aging like Joe. Joe also sees the ghosts of the others on the bus though they are frozen in time. To some in the town Joe is a pariah, whereas to others he is a connection to the past as they see their dead children when he is near.
This poses difficult moral questions. Is Joe imaging Sammi to create a mental crutch, is Sammi real or Joe deluded. Is Joe the epicentre of a kind of mass delusion providing a catalyst for those wanting to believe in an afterlife. By trying to do good is he responsible to doing harm. This makes for a brilliantly unsettling read, where in even the quiet moments the reader’s mind is working overtime.
There are three main stands to the plot; a boobytrapped house, a missing child and a triple murder. Conventional fare for a modern crime novel but made more unusual by the rural setting to much of the action. When a bespoke ‘entertainment business’ for the very wealthy and discerning is added to the mix, we have a rather uncomfortable storyline to contend with.
There is an excellent blend of dialogue (with the living and the dead) and incident throughout, that moves the story along a well-judged pace. They face danger and a regular hint of menace and confrontation as Joe is not universally popular. Much of this reflects upon the growing professional relationship between Joe and Laurie, that begins cold and a little hostile and gradually becomes one of trust and respect as hardships are shared.
The characterisation is wonderful, from young tearaway Jaxon to Laurie’s dementia suffering father-in-law Peter, whose roles prove important in different ways. The inclusion of Peter and his illness is a smart way of forcing the narrative back into Laurie’s past just at the point where she is trying to persuade Joe from living in his.
Feelings of guilt run as a core throughout the story, with both the central characters mired by it, but it is misplaced. Joe is wracked by survivor guilt, being the only one to survive the bus crash in the reservoir. He believes his actions contributed to the accident and even though he was holding best friend Sammi’s hand, he couldn’t save him. This misplaced guilt is a heavy burden which is dragging him down.
Laurie has felt her personal guilt over the death of her sister, something she is now coming to terms with, which not helped by thinking she sees Izzy when in Joe’s presence. Her sense of guilt is borne from not being there when she was needed but again is misplaced in that Izzy had a self-destructive streak.
A brilliant blend of crime and the supernatural that manages to be hugely entertaining but at the same time an unsettling and at times uncomfortable read.
This poses difficult moral questions. Is Joe imaging Sammi to create a mental crutch, is Sammi real or Joe deluded. Is Joe the epicentre of a kind of mass delusion providing a catalyst for those wanting to believe in an afterlife. By trying to do good is he responsible to doing harm. This makes for a brilliantly unsettling read, where in even the quiet moments the reader’s mind is working overtime.
There are three main stands to the plot; a boobytrapped house, a missing child and a triple murder. Conventional fare for a modern crime novel but made more unusual by the rural setting to much of the action. When a bespoke ‘entertainment business’ for the very wealthy and discerning is added to the mix, we have a rather uncomfortable storyline to contend with.
There is an excellent blend of dialogue (with the living and the dead) and incident throughout, that moves the story along a well-judged pace. They face danger and a regular hint of menace and confrontation as Joe is not universally popular. Much of this reflects upon the growing professional relationship between Joe and Laurie, that begins cold and a little hostile and gradually becomes one of trust and respect as hardships are shared.
The characterisation is wonderful, from young tearaway Jaxon to Laurie’s dementia suffering father-in-law Peter, whose roles prove important in different ways. The inclusion of Peter and his illness is a smart way of forcing the narrative back into Laurie’s past just at the point where she is trying to persuade Joe from living in his.
Feelings of guilt run as a core throughout the story, with both the central characters mired by it, but it is misplaced. Joe is wracked by survivor guilt, being the only one to survive the bus crash in the reservoir. He believes his actions contributed to the accident and even though he was holding best friend Sammi’s hand, he couldn’t save him. This misplaced guilt is a heavy burden which is dragging him down.
Laurie has felt her personal guilt over the death of her sister, something she is now coming to terms with, which not helped by thinking she sees Izzy when in Joe’s presence. Her sense of guilt is borne from not being there when she was needed but again is misplaced in that Izzy had a self-destructive streak.
A brilliant blend of crime and the supernatural that manages to be hugely entertaining but at the same time an unsettling and at times uncomfortable read.
April 20, 2026
This is the start of a new detective series from Sarah Hillary, and I’m already eager to see how these characters develop. There’s clearly a lot more to come, with hints in this first book suggesting deeper storylines that will unfold over time.
The story opens with a tragic event: a school bus carrying eleven-year-old children, along with teachers and a driver, crashes during a school trip. The accident kills everyone except one student, Joe Ashe. Now 28 and working as a DS, Joe still lives in the same area Edenscar (but pronounced Enscar) Derbyshire, where the tragedy occurred. He continues to see his best friend Sammi, who died that day. Many locals who haven’t left the area, also lost loved ones and believe that when they see Joe, they can see their own children or siblings standing beside him. Feelings toward Joe are mixed, some blame him for the accident, while others are drawn to him for that very reason. But is this simply survivor’s guilt, or something more? Joe keeps his visions of Sammi a secret, knowing it could cost him his job, which he loves.
Early in the book, Joe and DS Ted Vicars respond to a reported break-in. Ted jokingly calls Joe “Britain’s Most Haunted,” reflecting his reputation. The call comes from Hannah Cooper, who has a history of making questionable reports. This time, she claims to have seen someone in a nearby holiday let that should be empty. At first, it seems like a simple case of kids messing around, a broken window but no clear entry. However, Joe discovers a rock with a key underneath, and once inside, things take a darker turn. Upstairs, they find a very expensive bicycle in the bath, and as they approach a bedroom door, Sammi warns Joe just in time. Joe pulls Ted away as a crossbow bolt fires past his neck, a deadly trap set to trigger when the door is opened. The house contains more traps and unsettling discoveries, raising the question: who was the target?
Enter DI Laurie Bower, newly arrived in Derbyshire from Salford for a six-month stay to help care for her husband’s father, who has dementia. Expecting a quieter life compared to Manchester, Laurie quickly realises that Derbyshire has its own dark side. Between the crossbow incident and a brutal family murder, this is far from the peaceful posting she anticipated.
Joe and Laurie don’t immediately get along, they’re very different personalities, but that tension adds an engaging dynamic. It will be interesting to see how their partnership evolves. Laurie also carries secrets from her past, hinted at throughout the story. Notably, she experiences her own strange visions, glimpses of hands she recognises as belonging to her deceased sister.
This is an engrossing and well-plotted read. I really enjoyed getting to know the characters and watching the mystery unfold as the pieces slowly come together. It feels like some threads are intentionally left unresolved, setting the stage for future books in the series. Overall, a strong and compelling start that leaves me looking forward to what comes next.
The story opens with a tragic event: a school bus carrying eleven-year-old children, along with teachers and a driver, crashes during a school trip. The accident kills everyone except one student, Joe Ashe. Now 28 and working as a DS, Joe still lives in the same area Edenscar (but pronounced Enscar) Derbyshire, where the tragedy occurred. He continues to see his best friend Sammi, who died that day. Many locals who haven’t left the area, also lost loved ones and believe that when they see Joe, they can see their own children or siblings standing beside him. Feelings toward Joe are mixed, some blame him for the accident, while others are drawn to him for that very reason. But is this simply survivor’s guilt, or something more? Joe keeps his visions of Sammi a secret, knowing it could cost him his job, which he loves.
Early in the book, Joe and DS Ted Vicars respond to a reported break-in. Ted jokingly calls Joe “Britain’s Most Haunted,” reflecting his reputation. The call comes from Hannah Cooper, who has a history of making questionable reports. This time, she claims to have seen someone in a nearby holiday let that should be empty. At first, it seems like a simple case of kids messing around, a broken window but no clear entry. However, Joe discovers a rock with a key underneath, and once inside, things take a darker turn. Upstairs, they find a very expensive bicycle in the bath, and as they approach a bedroom door, Sammi warns Joe just in time. Joe pulls Ted away as a crossbow bolt fires past his neck, a deadly trap set to trigger when the door is opened. The house contains more traps and unsettling discoveries, raising the question: who was the target?
Enter DI Laurie Bower, newly arrived in Derbyshire from Salford for a six-month stay to help care for her husband’s father, who has dementia. Expecting a quieter life compared to Manchester, Laurie quickly realises that Derbyshire has its own dark side. Between the crossbow incident and a brutal family murder, this is far from the peaceful posting she anticipated.
Joe and Laurie don’t immediately get along, they’re very different personalities, but that tension adds an engaging dynamic. It will be interesting to see how their partnership evolves. Laurie also carries secrets from her past, hinted at throughout the story. Notably, she experiences her own strange visions, glimpses of hands she recognises as belonging to her deceased sister.
This is an engrossing and well-plotted read. I really enjoyed getting to know the characters and watching the mystery unfold as the pieces slowly come together. It feels like some threads are intentionally left unresolved, setting the stage for future books in the series. Overall, a strong and compelling start that leaves me looking forward to what comes next.
June 8, 2026
The story:
11-year-old Joe Ashe was the only survivor when his school bus crashed into a local reservoir, drowning all others on board, including his best friend Sammi. 17 years have passed, and Joe is now a detective sergeant in the Derbyshire Constabulary. But that didn’t mean he doesn’t still see Sammi; in fact, he sees all the victims from that terrible day, earning him the nickname of ‘Britain’s Most Haunted’ among some of his more unkind colleagues.
DI Laurie Bower, on secondment from Greater Manchester Police, has her own problems. Brought back to her husband’s hometown of Edenscar to care for his elderly father, the most she’d expecting from working with the local force is 6 months of boredom.
But when a particularly nasty murder occurs in the close-knit community, it is up to Joe and Laurie to dig into the past and the present to bring the culprit to light…
The story:
This is the first book I’ve read by author Sarah Hilary, and what a great read it was!
Set in the Peak District, the story begins in the past, when a terrible tragedy leads to the deaths of 9 children and 3 adults from the town of Edenscar. Only survivor, 11-year-old Joe Ashe becomes the focus of the town’s grief, something not helped by his claim to see the ghosts of the children that lost their lives that day. Jumping to the present day, this is something the adult Joe has tried to put behind him by immersing himself in his job on the force. But the ghosts won’t let him, and nor will many of the residents on Edenscar, with many claiming to have seen the ghosts of their children alongside Joe over the years.
Most prominent in Joe’s life is the ghost of his best friend Sammi – the only one, in Joe’s mind, to have aged with him, and who, throughout the book, is a sounding board for Joe’s observations on the gruesome crime he’s presented with.
We also meet DI Laurie Bower, who is undertaking a secondment to Derbyshire to allow her husband to come home and care for his father, who is suffering from dementia. Laurie is immediately thrown in at the deep end with the seemingly motiveless murder of the Miles family at their farm, and must rely on Joe to navigate the complex relationships of the close-knit community.
I loved author Hilary’s writing style, and the character of Joe in particular, with his complexities taking this book beyond the usual police procedural. Whether or not he is really in touch with the ghosts of his childhood, he is a fascinating character and an excellent police officer. I was pleased to see that this is the start of a series featuring Joe, and I’m already looking forward to reading more about this character!
11-year-old Joe Ashe was the only survivor when his school bus crashed into a local reservoir, drowning all others on board, including his best friend Sammi. 17 years have passed, and Joe is now a detective sergeant in the Derbyshire Constabulary. But that didn’t mean he doesn’t still see Sammi; in fact, he sees all the victims from that terrible day, earning him the nickname of ‘Britain’s Most Haunted’ among some of his more unkind colleagues.
DI Laurie Bower, on secondment from Greater Manchester Police, has her own problems. Brought back to her husband’s hometown of Edenscar to care for his elderly father, the most she’d expecting from working with the local force is 6 months of boredom.
But when a particularly nasty murder occurs in the close-knit community, it is up to Joe and Laurie to dig into the past and the present to bring the culprit to light…
The story:
This is the first book I’ve read by author Sarah Hilary, and what a great read it was!
Set in the Peak District, the story begins in the past, when a terrible tragedy leads to the deaths of 9 children and 3 adults from the town of Edenscar. Only survivor, 11-year-old Joe Ashe becomes the focus of the town’s grief, something not helped by his claim to see the ghosts of the children that lost their lives that day. Jumping to the present day, this is something the adult Joe has tried to put behind him by immersing himself in his job on the force. But the ghosts won’t let him, and nor will many of the residents on Edenscar, with many claiming to have seen the ghosts of their children alongside Joe over the years.
Most prominent in Joe’s life is the ghost of his best friend Sammi – the only one, in Joe’s mind, to have aged with him, and who, throughout the book, is a sounding board for Joe’s observations on the gruesome crime he’s presented with.
We also meet DI Laurie Bower, who is undertaking a secondment to Derbyshire to allow her husband to come home and care for his father, who is suffering from dementia. Laurie is immediately thrown in at the deep end with the seemingly motiveless murder of the Miles family at their farm, and must rely on Joe to navigate the complex relationships of the close-knit community.
I loved author Hilary’s writing style, and the character of Joe in particular, with his complexities taking this book beyond the usual police procedural. Whether or not he is really in touch with the ghosts of his childhood, he is a fascinating character and an excellent police officer. I was pleased to see that this is the start of a series featuring Joe, and I’m already looking forward to reading more about this character!
April 13, 2026
To say I’ve been eagerly anticipating this book is an understatement. I have loved each of Sarah Hilary’s stand-alone psychological novels, but there’s been a Marnie Rome series-sized hole in my reading since it ended. It was Sarah Hilary’s Someone Else’s Skin, the first Marnie Rome book, that inspired me to start my blog, and I have been a huge fan ever since.
Now Sarah Hilary is back with a cracking new series, and it is a belter! Set in the fictional town of Edenscar in the Peak District, this police procedural is anchored by two compelling characters. 28-year-old D.S. Joseph Ashe was the only survivor of a bus crash that claimed the lives of his classmates, including his best friend Sammi. Riven with survivor’s guilt, he has a unique way of handling his history. Sarah Hilary’s beautiful writing makes Joseph an immensely interesting character.
Some despise Joseph for being the only child to survive; others consider his survival a miracle. For Joseph, though, it is an event that never leaves him and that he takes with him through everything he does. It also means he has a unique position in this place that sets him apart from others in this town, which is haunted by its past.
Barely a few pages into this book, you can already feel the charged atmosphere that permeates the town. Sarah Hilary has made Edenscar a fascinating place. It is ‘brutal, brooding, blighted.’ Surrounded by dark moors, and even darker forests, with that fatal reservoir looming ever large. It is a dark, claustrophobic place with an air of tragedy that forever hangs over it. Edenscar is a place of secrets; a place where Joe is ‘stared at and talked about’.
Joining Joe in Edenscar is D.I. Laurie Bower. She has transferred to Edenscar from Salford, because of her father-in-law’s rapidly accelerating Alzheimer’s. Used to urban policing, she is a smart detective, a no-nonsense cop, whose need to establish herself drives her to get on top of her first criminal case in this town. Her husband, Adam, is a trauma counsellor, which is bound to come in handy in future books!
Laurie has barely had time to get her feet wet before she’s confronted with a disturbing triple murder that takes place on the moors. Tragic and devastating, Laurie and Joe must work together, despite being quite different character types, to solve these challenging murders.
I also loved Joe’s grandmother, Merry. Prone to swearing like a trooper and with an extensive knowledge of everyone in the vicinity, she has a clear insight into what drives Joe and can put his mind at ease when he is troubled.
Verdict: I absolutely loved this book, especially the characters and the setting. Atmospheric, chilling, and sometimes downright eerie, with a tinge of something nicely spine-tingling, The Drowning Place is exquisitely written, beautifully plotted, and emotionally compelling as well as absolutely compulsive reading. Go get it now. You won’t be disappointed.
Now Sarah Hilary is back with a cracking new series, and it is a belter! Set in the fictional town of Edenscar in the Peak District, this police procedural is anchored by two compelling characters. 28-year-old D.S. Joseph Ashe was the only survivor of a bus crash that claimed the lives of his classmates, including his best friend Sammi. Riven with survivor’s guilt, he has a unique way of handling his history. Sarah Hilary’s beautiful writing makes Joseph an immensely interesting character.
Some despise Joseph for being the only child to survive; others consider his survival a miracle. For Joseph, though, it is an event that never leaves him and that he takes with him through everything he does. It also means he has a unique position in this place that sets him apart from others in this town, which is haunted by its past.
Barely a few pages into this book, you can already feel the charged atmosphere that permeates the town. Sarah Hilary has made Edenscar a fascinating place. It is ‘brutal, brooding, blighted.’ Surrounded by dark moors, and even darker forests, with that fatal reservoir looming ever large. It is a dark, claustrophobic place with an air of tragedy that forever hangs over it. Edenscar is a place of secrets; a place where Joe is ‘stared at and talked about’.
Joining Joe in Edenscar is D.I. Laurie Bower. She has transferred to Edenscar from Salford, because of her father-in-law’s rapidly accelerating Alzheimer’s. Used to urban policing, she is a smart detective, a no-nonsense cop, whose need to establish herself drives her to get on top of her first criminal case in this town. Her husband, Adam, is a trauma counsellor, which is bound to come in handy in future books!
Laurie has barely had time to get her feet wet before she’s confronted with a disturbing triple murder that takes place on the moors. Tragic and devastating, Laurie and Joe must work together, despite being quite different character types, to solve these challenging murders.
I also loved Joe’s grandmother, Merry. Prone to swearing like a trooper and with an extensive knowledge of everyone in the vicinity, she has a clear insight into what drives Joe and can put his mind at ease when he is troubled.
Verdict: I absolutely loved this book, especially the characters and the setting. Atmospheric, chilling, and sometimes downright eerie, with a tinge of something nicely spine-tingling, The Drowning Place is exquisitely written, beautifully plotted, and emotionally compelling as well as absolutely compulsive reading. Go get it now. You won’t be disappointed.
September 4, 2025
4* Mismatched cop duo, with a not-likeable female with lots of prejudices - a great quality in a DI, not!! - and a good storyline.
This tale drags quite a bit. I'm not sure I can review without Spoilers, so apologies in advance.
We start off in the past on a school trip, followed by an accident and the drowning of all kids and adults, bar Joe. Who, now aged 28 and a cop, sees, communicates with, and can touch dead people. He's having to keep this a secret from his superiors or he'll have to undergo various assessments and may be deemed unfit for his role. The dead kids he sees are past and present, with all bar Sammi, his BFF and love interest at the time - Joe is bi, calls himself queer - not ageing. Sammi is his eyes, ears and early warning system. But they never address their past or present relationship.
The tale starts with a break-in, then a horrible crime, and things in the village escalate, with unsavoury secrets coming to light. It's hard to know who Joe can trust, but it's all well done and very sadly believable when the killer is revealed. Sins of the father 😪
But, DI Laurie is such an arrogant and unlikeable character. She's wondering if she knew her husband and the man he's becoming, as the poor sod watches his dying dad's dementia deteriorate. She doesn't like her sisters-in-law. She doesn't like her father-in-law - he's unpleasant, yes, his mind is gone, but she doesn't really make allowances. She's a bit of a bully. She expects and demands respect for her position because of the position, but she does nothing to earn it or endear herself to her new team and doesn't attempt to be part of the team. She's clearly of the opinion that being a DI in Salford is more worthy of being a DI in Sleepyville, Peak District. There's mention of her deceased sister, a couple of random sightings of the latter's hands (?), but strangely the partners don't address this.
It was an engrossing tale but it dragged in bits. Too many characters, too many little arcs, too little made of the 'I can see dead people'. I'd still read more of this series but hope that Laurie gets a personality transplant, or that her extended family dumps her.
ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Harvill Random House Vintage UK, for my reading pleasure.
This tale drags quite a bit. I'm not sure I can review without Spoilers, so apologies in advance.
We start off in the past on a school trip, followed by an accident and the drowning of all kids and adults, bar Joe. Who, now aged 28 and a cop, sees, communicates with, and can touch dead people. He's having to keep this a secret from his superiors or he'll have to undergo various assessments and may be deemed unfit for his role. The dead kids he sees are past and present, with all bar Sammi, his BFF and love interest at the time - Joe is bi, calls himself queer - not ageing. Sammi is his eyes, ears and early warning system. But they never address their past or present relationship.
The tale starts with a break-in, then a horrible crime, and things in the village escalate, with unsavoury secrets coming to light. It's hard to know who Joe can trust, but it's all well done and very sadly believable when the killer is revealed. Sins of the father 😪
But, DI Laurie is such an arrogant and unlikeable character. She's wondering if she knew her husband and the man he's becoming, as the poor sod watches his dying dad's dementia deteriorate. She doesn't like her sisters-in-law. She doesn't like her father-in-law - he's unpleasant, yes, his mind is gone, but she doesn't really make allowances. She's a bit of a bully. She expects and demands respect for her position because of the position, but she does nothing to earn it or endear herself to her new team and doesn't attempt to be part of the team. She's clearly of the opinion that being a DI in Salford is more worthy of being a DI in Sleepyville, Peak District. There's mention of her deceased sister, a couple of random sightings of the latter's hands (?), but strangely the partners don't address this.
It was an engrossing tale but it dragged in bits. Too many characters, too many little arcs, too little made of the 'I can see dead people'. I'd still read more of this series but hope that Laurie gets a personality transplant, or that her extended family dumps her.
ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Harvill Random House Vintage UK, for my reading pleasure.
May 21, 2026
If you’re on the lookout for a crime novel that completely wraps you up in its atmosphere, The Drowning Place is one to add to your reading list. It’s a slow-burn of a book, but I found myself totally sucked into its bleak, watery setting right from the start.
Sarah Hilary has done a fantastic job of creating a town that feels haunted before the story even properly begins. The entire community is living under the shadow of a horrific past tragedy—a school bus crash where nearly all the local children drowned. You can really feel how this massive cloud of grief affects everyone, making them cautious, quiet, and deeply mistrustful of one another. The way the author handles this lingering trauma is so moving and gives the whole book a heavy, sub-surface tension.
What really kept me turning the pages, though, was DS Joseph Ashe. He’s a wonderful lead character because he’s so beautifully flawed. Instead of a glossy, perfect TV detective, he’s a man fractured by his own past survival, trying to do his job in a place that constantly reminds him of his own ghosts. I also loved the friction between him and DI Laurie Bower. They have completely opposite styles—one relies on cold logic, the other on pure instinct—and that clash works brilliantly against the soggy, unsettling backdrop of the town.
Don't go into this expecting a flashy, action-packed thriller with a massive twist on every page. The mystery here unfolds very gently, layering a new crime over old, buried secrets. I’ll admit the middle section did slow down a bit too much for my liking, and I felt it lost a touch of its urgency there. But looking back, that deliberate, restrained pace is exactly what makes the heavy mood of the book stick with you. It forces you to sit with the discomfort rather than rush through it.
Ultimately, this is a haunting, character-led mystery with a wonderful sense of place and real emotional weight. It's a really touching look at survivor's guilt and how a community handles a tragedy but still finds a way to keep going. A thoroughly absorbing and atmospheric read!
Sarah Hilary has done a fantastic job of creating a town that feels haunted before the story even properly begins. The entire community is living under the shadow of a horrific past tragedy—a school bus crash where nearly all the local children drowned. You can really feel how this massive cloud of grief affects everyone, making them cautious, quiet, and deeply mistrustful of one another. The way the author handles this lingering trauma is so moving and gives the whole book a heavy, sub-surface tension.
What really kept me turning the pages, though, was DS Joseph Ashe. He’s a wonderful lead character because he’s so beautifully flawed. Instead of a glossy, perfect TV detective, he’s a man fractured by his own past survival, trying to do his job in a place that constantly reminds him of his own ghosts. I also loved the friction between him and DI Laurie Bower. They have completely opposite styles—one relies on cold logic, the other on pure instinct—and that clash works brilliantly against the soggy, unsettling backdrop of the town.
Don't go into this expecting a flashy, action-packed thriller with a massive twist on every page. The mystery here unfolds very gently, layering a new crime over old, buried secrets. I’ll admit the middle section did slow down a bit too much for my liking, and I felt it lost a touch of its urgency there. But looking back, that deliberate, restrained pace is exactly what makes the heavy mood of the book stick with you. It forces you to sit with the discomfort rather than rush through it.
Ultimately, this is a haunting, character-led mystery with a wonderful sense of place and real emotional weight. It's a really touching look at survivor's guilt and how a community handles a tragedy but still finds a way to keep going. A thoroughly absorbing and atmospheric read!
August 11, 2025
Sarah Hilary takes an unusual premise in ‘The Drowning Place’ – that of a detective, Joe Ashe, who sees ghosts, in particular, his best friend Sammi who drowned, along with several other class mates, on the day when the school bus plunged into a lake a couple of decades ago. Strangely, Sammi the ghost has aged alongside Joe and so the latter has plenty of conversations with him as the plot develops. It’s a way of the author allowing the reader to understand the inner workings of Joe’s mind as his vulnerabilities and concerns are exposed through these exchanges.
Whilst Joe is Edenscar born and bred, his boss has been drafted in from Salford on a six month secondment so that she can support her husband as he cares for his elderly father who has dementia. DI Laurie Bower is not thrilled to be working in a rural community and, when a triple murder happens on her patch, she can’t help but feel that her talents and experience may come in to play. However, she certainly needs Joe’s local knowledge to fully understand the crime.
I am assuming that ‘The Drowning Place’ has been written as the first of a series. Sarah Hilary gives us plenty of background on both of the central characters, not all of which seems particularly relevant. Possibly this will be developed further in Book 2. Hilary captures both the close-knit community feel and the dull routines and petty grudges arising from a rural life where money is tight and change eyed with suspicion. Whilst I wasn’t wholeheartedly engaged with the characters and the crime to be solved, Hilary’s plot is tight; she builds tension successfully and there are some effective narrative twists. Give it a go if the ghost treatment appeals.
My thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK, Vintage for a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.
Whilst Joe is Edenscar born and bred, his boss has been drafted in from Salford on a six month secondment so that she can support her husband as he cares for his elderly father who has dementia. DI Laurie Bower is not thrilled to be working in a rural community and, when a triple murder happens on her patch, she can’t help but feel that her talents and experience may come in to play. However, she certainly needs Joe’s local knowledge to fully understand the crime.
I am assuming that ‘The Drowning Place’ has been written as the first of a series. Sarah Hilary gives us plenty of background on both of the central characters, not all of which seems particularly relevant. Possibly this will be developed further in Book 2. Hilary captures both the close-knit community feel and the dull routines and petty grudges arising from a rural life where money is tight and change eyed with suspicion. Whilst I wasn’t wholeheartedly engaged with the characters and the crime to be solved, Hilary’s plot is tight; she builds tension successfully and there are some effective narrative twists. Give it a go if the ghost treatment appeals.
My thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK, Vintage for a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
The Drowning Place Sarah Hilary
4 stars
The first in an intriguing new series
This is the first book that I have read by this author but it will not be the last as I really enjoyed not only the plot but the burgeoning working relationship between the two main characters, DS Joe Ashe and DI Laurie Bower.
The story is set in the small town in Derbyshire called Edenscar where DI Joe Ashe has lived all his life. At the age of 11 he was the sole survivor of his school bus crashing into the river in the woods and has always, not surprisingly, been haunted by this so much so that he still sees his best friend of the time, Sammi, with him every day giving him advice.
DI Laurie Bower has relocated to Edenscar for six months, with her husband, Adam, to help look after Adam's father, Peter who has been diagnosed with a rapid form of dementia. Laurie is used to the violent crimes in Salford where she originally worked and is expecting a quiet time in her new job.
However when a local electrician, Chris Miles and his wife Odette are murdered and their baby son left to drown in his bath both Laurie and Joe combine their different talents to try and solve this crime.
There were lots of twists and turns and I never suspected the eventual murderer but | enjoyed the descriptions of all the various characters and how they interacted in a small community full of secrets and I can foresee a lot more unravelling of both the main characters back stories as their working relationship blossom,s hopefully in the next book of the series which I will look forward to reading. My only slight criticism was that I got slightly confused by the various potential suspects and their roles in the plot but I suspect that might be because this is the first in a series and it was setting the scene for future books.
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Karen Deborah
Reviewer for Net Galley
4 stars
The first in an intriguing new series
This is the first book that I have read by this author but it will not be the last as I really enjoyed not only the plot but the burgeoning working relationship between the two main characters, DS Joe Ashe and DI Laurie Bower.
The story is set in the small town in Derbyshire called Edenscar where DI Joe Ashe has lived all his life. At the age of 11 he was the sole survivor of his school bus crashing into the river in the woods and has always, not surprisingly, been haunted by this so much so that he still sees his best friend of the time, Sammi, with him every day giving him advice.
DI Laurie Bower has relocated to Edenscar for six months, with her husband, Adam, to help look after Adam's father, Peter who has been diagnosed with a rapid form of dementia. Laurie is used to the violent crimes in Salford where she originally worked and is expecting a quiet time in her new job.
However when a local electrician, Chris Miles and his wife Odette are murdered and their baby son left to drown in his bath both Laurie and Joe combine their different talents to try and solve this crime.
There were lots of twists and turns and I never suspected the eventual murderer but | enjoyed the descriptions of all the various characters and how they interacted in a small community full of secrets and I can foresee a lot more unravelling of both the main characters back stories as their working relationship blossom,s hopefully in the next book of the series which I will look forward to reading. My only slight criticism was that I got slightly confused by the various potential suspects and their roles in the plot but I suspect that might be because this is the first in a series and it was setting the scene for future books.
.
Karen Deborah
Reviewer for Net Galley
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