Series: Detective Natalie Ward #1
Published by Bookouture on September 27, 2018
Genres: Mystery, Thriller
Pages: 316
Amazon UK
Goodreads
Also by this author: What Happens in France, Little Girl Lost , Secrets of the Dead, The Missing Girls , The Silent Children , The Chosen Ones, Life Swap, Take A Chance On Me, What Happens in France, Suddenly Single, The Birthday, Last Lullaby, The Dare , The Sleepover, The Blossom Twins , The Secret Admirer, Somebody’s Daughter , EndGame, An Eye for an Eye, A Cut for a Cut
One hot summer’s afternoon, five-year-old Ava Sawyer went to a party. She never came home…
When five-year-old Ava Sawyer goes missing from a birthday party at a local garden centre, the police are bewildered by the lack of leads. That is until two years later, when Ava’s body is found and another little girl, Audrey Briggs, goes missing. Audrey also attended that party …
Leading the investigation is Detective Natalie Ward . A mother of two teenagers, this case chills her to the bone, and is a disturbing reminder of the last job she worked on. One that ended very badly.
Natalie soon discovers that Ava’s mother has some worrying gaps in her alibi and as she digs deeper, she’s sure Ava’s father is not telling the full story. And what did the owner of the garden centre Elsa see that day? Something that she’s not telling Natalie …
Just as Natalie is facing up to the grim possibility that Ava and Audrey were killed by someone close to home, another little girl from the party doesn’t come home from her ballet lesson. Can Natalie find a way to stop this killer before more innocent lives are taken?
What a day to share my review, not only am I closing the blitz with some fab bloggers….but I went to a 5-year-old kids party!! Thankfully different setting to the book and NO yellow dresses or shoes!! I also have another announcement, one that might upset a lot of people…..but this is my first encounter with Carol Wyer…I know right! Where the hell have I been? I can only apologise! However, things are going to change!! I will be getting
I LOVED Natalie Ward, this character is such a wholesome character. What do I mean by this? Well
The prologue is chilling, chilling to the core. A little girl at a birthday party goes missing. I found this terrifying being a mum, (doesn’t help one of my friends has a little girl called Ava!) makes you fear everytime you leave them with people who are meant to be looking after them. I hated the attack of abuse and the spiralling life the mother had after Ava went missing. Again, it felt like it could have been someone that you know, everything felt too real and close to home. Then Ava’s body is found and another girl from the same party has gone missing!? What the hell is going on? Someone obviously does not like yellow!! (Must remember this!)
As I have said I did love Natalie, despite everything, and her
Natalie’s
It is an intense, thrilling and terrifying book because it is about children, not adults, it makes everything much more heightened. All senses and emotions go off the charts as you have to feed the addiction of solving the murders as you burn the midnight oil. I actually thought I had solved this one, but no as my daughter would say, Carol, was being “tricksy”. I didn’t see it coming, and to me is the sign of an awesome writer (I can’t keep saying epic! lol) with an OMG ending!
I just want the next book now – is that a bit demanding?! lol
*Thank you so much to Kim at Bookouture and the author Carol Wyer for a copy of this book in return for my honest and unbiased review*
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
Shalini says
Lovely review.. I loved the book too
Zoe says
Thank you. It was a great book!