Dark Waters is a follow-up to Miami Requiem. I was fascinated to see where Mr Turner took the character of Deborah Jones but also a little concerned that the first book was such an emotional roller-coaster for Miss Jones that it would be hard to follow. I was pleased to find that there were plenty of depths yet to explore.
I knew the bloke in the bar at the beginning had to be dodgy. He was drinking Laphroaig and water and that is just plain wrong. Somehow that shocked me more than the first murder. This is one of those crime stories that makes you wonder if you could be the victim of some of the state sponsored surveillance techniques featured. It is hard not to be a little paranoid whilst reading this book and I did consider taking the battery out of my phone at one point.
The story is about a hacker that finds more than he expected to but gets killed before he can pass the information directly to the reporter he contacted. Some of the information is sensitive to high level intelligence officials that will stop at nothing to get their data back. The things done to bury the story are plain scary because each and every one is easy to imagine happening. Although this story is mainly about the insidious conspiracy it still manages to be primarily about the characters.
One of the differences between this authors and some others that I’ve read is the way that he treats the supporting cast. It would be easy for some of the less salubrious characters to be down on their luck and staying there, but in this book most of these characters have a way to better themselves. The prime example of this is the ladies soccer team (it is set in Miami so I can’t say football) that Deborah plays for. Unlike other crime stories I find myself uplifted after reading Mr Turner’s work and it makes a nice change.
Tony's Thoughts 