Elizabeth George's Reviews > Crimson Lake

This is a wonderful start to a crime series featuring two wounded souls who are put together by an attorney serving as the divorce lawyer for one of them. The duo comprises a man and a woman who have both been targeted by their communities because of their alleged involvement in separate crimes. The man--Ted--is a former cop who was arrested and jailed pending trial for the brutal rape of an eight-year-old girl. There is no trial due to lack of evidence and an absence of witnesses, but no one believes he's innocent. So although he's released, he's a marked man. The woman is Amanda. She has served time for the brutal murder of a popular teenager when she herself was a teenager. Out of prison now, she has opened an investigation agency and has been hired to prove that the sudden disappearance of a celebrated writer is actually the death of that writer.

There are many things I admired about the novel. It takes place in a crocodile-infested tropical area of Australia in a place called Crimson Lake, and the author brings this location alive with chilling and skin-crawling details (including a python slithering on the porch of Ted's cabin). The characters are both real and unforgettable, particularly bicycle-riding Amanda whose body is covered in colorful tattoos. The author even makes a goose (called Woman) and her goslings not only memorable but such attractive little characters that one wants to protect them as much as Ted does. There's an aging forensic pathologist who doesn't suffer fools, some seriously dangerous cops who would like to throw both Amanda and Ted to the crocodiles, two lovestruck teenagers determined to be together at all costs, and a dead girl's sister who only wants to be left alone with her nightmares. It's clearly the set-up for a series, and frankly, I'm looking forward to seeing where the author takes her terrific crime-fighting duo.