Bleak Water

“Reah delivers brilliant and chilly set pieces . . . she is a fine writer and her projection of sheer terror is enviable scary.”—The Literary Review

“This is a crime novel with a strong element of psychological suspense . . . it combines the world of modern art with the world of the modern police force . . . the last fifty pages are nail biting.”—Irish Examiner

“Reah is skilled at splicing domestic life with the menace of fear and at creating characters who are vulnerable, intelligent and humane.”—Manchester Evening News (England)

Beyond the new city center developments, the old Sheffield canal is overgrown, run down, and deserted. Signs of regeneration creep along its towpaths, including a small innovative gallery housed in one of the warehouses. But between the renovations it’s a dark and lonely place—the perfect site for an exhibition reworking Brueghel’s The Triumph of Death.

For Eliza Eliot, the curator, the chance to show well-known artist Daniel Flynn’s work at the gallery is a coup. But when a young woman’s body is found in the canal, Flynn’s nightmare images begin to spill out into the real world. Still affected by the murder of her friend’s daughter four years earlier, Eliza is drawn deep into the violence that seems to surround the gallery. Is this the work of a psychopath, or is there a link between present horrors and the tragedy of four years ago?