Le tueur du lac

In theory, 'Killer by the Lake' has all the ingredients for a classic detective thriller: a complex plot, three-diemnsional police characters with intereting personal lives, decent acting, and a gorgeous Alpine backdrop. But somehow, as with its predecessor series 'Vanished by the Lake', it just feels a little too formulaic. Our screens are full of detective dramas, and it takes something special for one to stand out: in this case, all the elements are lined up, but there's no unique ingredient that brings it to life. You'll see many less professionally-made series, but there's a certain lack of inspiration here.

This French crime drama can be looked at as the second season of 'Vanished by the Lake'; protagonists, policewoman Detective Lise Stocker and her partner gendarme Clovis Bouvier have moved to Annecy; another lakeside location with their nine month old son. A series of murders provides the backdrop to the story; it appears that a serial killer is targeting women he meets online. As the investigation progresses it seems that the killer has access in inside knowledge and Lise suspects that Clovis is hiding something from her.

Having enjoyed 'Vanished by the Lake' I had high hopes for this series; while I did enjoy it I don't think it was quite as good as the first. Barbara Schulz, who played Lise in 'Vanished' is replaced by Julie De Bona; this wasn't a problem though as she isn't too different and does a fine job in the role. The story provides some good mysteries; as well as the identity of the killer there is the question of the woman who appears to haunt Clovis' memories... the latter question is resolved sooner leaving the conclusion to the question of who the killer is and how they stay one step ahead of the investigators. As the end approaches there is still a variety of suspects and the identity of the killer is far from obvious... my guess was incorrect! The tension increased nicely to the point that by the end I was on the edge of my seat. Overall I'd definitely recommend this to fans of 'Vanished'; even if it isn't quite as good it is pretty close.

These comments are based on watching the series in French with English subtitles.

We watched up to episode 5, but this episode was so poor we dumped the rest of the series. This was nowhere near as good as Vanished by the Lake. There was no real continuity at all between this story and the previous one apart from Lise's mother, which really was tiresome anyway. So, recasting Lise Stocker with a different actress was just confusing. There are too many uninteresting personal relationship storylines going on and some of the scenes are absurd. The guy clambering over roof tops making about as noise as possible but going undetected being a good example. Towards the end of episode 5 there are scenes which alternative between snow covered ground and sunshine by the lake. It was most peculiar. Very patchy and just not plausible. We had guessed the killer by episode 5 anyway and couldn't face another 3 episodes.

8 episodes and so many story lines veering off the main one. Lise is a rubbish friend - always too busy to 'talk', and if there were any real life detectives like her, then they should be kicked off the force. So many clues that she missed, procedures not followed, there was only the toy teddy left that hadn't been pin pointed as a suspect !

Lots of slow drawn out scenes so I fast forwarded - a lot !