The Shark 

 The Shark 

Reviewed By  Nan van Dissel       April 12, 2026

 

Author  Emma Styles.

Distributor:      Amazon
ISBN:                 978-1408722428
Publisher:         Hachette
Release Date:   10 March 2025  

   Website:   https://www.amazon.com.au/Shark-Emma-Styles/dp/1408722429

FaceBook:   https://www.facebook.com/HachetteAustralia 

YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/user/HachetteAustralia 

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/hachetteaus/ 

X Formally Twitter:   https://x.com/HachetteAus 

True Crime readers will no doubt remember the Claremont Killings of 1996-7, which resulted in a 24-year investigation; the longest and most expensive investigation in Australian history and the ultimate conviction of the murder in 2020. Award winning author Emma Styles, latest crime thriller “The Shark” was inspired by this event.

In the Cottesloe area of Perth, Western Australia a serial killer is targeting young swimmers, who go missing, only to be found horribly mutilated some time later. When Rachel’s close friend, Piper goes missing, she not only suffers from survivor’s guilt but also from a desire to do something to solve the mystery of her friend’s disappearance.

Carmen, having found the first body appears to have a mysterious connection with the murderer. Both are impatient and angry about the lack of progress by the police to solve this case. On the anniversary of Piper’s disappearance and wanting answers to their questions, these vulnerable young women, having met briefly in a psychiatric unit, reluctantly form an uncomfortable alliance and take matters into their own hands.  Convinced that Neil Lock, known as ‘The Shark’ is the perpetrator of these horrific crimes, they kidnap him; but is he really the serial killer?

Many readers will find this ‘serial killer’ fiction intriguing despite the unreliability of the unlikeable narrators Rachel and Carmen. The complex storyline is at times a little disjointed and disturbingly graphic.  Although not and easy read, it picks up in the last third of the book with its twists and turns; it is an interesting fictional take on a similar event.

Crime, Fiction, Thriller