Black River

Over a long hot Sydney summer a killer is on the loose. He is so good at cleaning up the traces. His very distinctive, brutal style of murder is specific for a person with some serious mental health issues, which while it helps the detectives to try and understand what is going on, it is not helping them solve the murders of two young women living in the same suburb, but totally unknown to each other.

When a third murder occurs at a prestigious Sydney boys school, there appears to be no real link to the BMK (Blue Moon Killer) murders, but in desperation, Riley and her boss O’Neil, decide that perhaps there could be a commonality here; O’Neil makes the decision to keep the case, even though the thread is fine.

Bowman, a down on his luck night desk reporter at the ailing The National broadsheet, gets told to go cover the story as he was an old boy at the prestigious Prince Alfred College. Bowman is none too happy about this, as he is not the crime reporter and going back holds too many bad memories; memories he does not want to revisit.

Fast paced with a skilfully-crafted plot, Dark River paints the profile of a man who is dangerously unstable. Because of his method of cleaning the site of his murders, he has an excellent knowledge of forensics, therefore could very easily be one of the Police force, and a family with secrets to hide, that keep the police guessing; in need of a small glimmer of hope.

The logistics of the cases keep coming back to the river that runs past the previously murdered women’s homes and also runs through the campus of Prince Alfred Campus. Is this a link or is it simply a co-incidence?

Making the decision to use Bowman as a strategic leek, O’Neil, Riley and new recruit to the division Patel, work well as a team, as they slowly uncover far more than they ever imagined over the long hot summer; where politics, the mafia, greed, tragedy, obsession and horror come together to form murder.

Spencer has created characters who are very real, with flaws in their makeup which adds a dose of realism to the story, taking it from the world of fiction into the world of everyday, giving the story an edginess that draws you in and refuses to let go until the killer is caught.

Former journalist Matthew Spencer has delivered a blockbuster of read with his first novel, Dark River and one, even though it is only six months into the year, could be considered as one of the best crime thrillers of 2022,