Series: Detective Madison Harper #2
Published by Bookouture on February 22 2021
Format: eARC
Source: Net Galley
Pages: 341
Amazon UK
Goodreads
Also by this author: Who Cares If They Die, Where the Snow Bleeds, Won't You Save Me, Where the Snow Bleeds, The Girl Who Died, Who Cares If They Die, Shadow Falls, Little Girl Taken, Gone to Her Grave, Catch Her Death, The Night She Vanished, Her Lonely Bones, Grave Mountain
Shivering in the early morning chill, the caretaker flips the switch on the Ferris wheel and stumbles back in shock. The teenage girl’s body is slumped in a halo of pretty colored lights, long red hair spilling over her tear-stained cheeks, her eyes fixed forever on her dangling feet.
When teenager Nikki Jackson’s body is found at an amusement park, just hours after Fourth of July fireworks lit up the night sky, the Lost Creek police rule her death as suicide––a devastating final act from a girl who had lost all hope. But the absence of the knife used to make the wounds on her delicate wrists makes Detective Madison Harper think otherwise. And the partial fingerprint found on the girl’s face proves her right. Someone else was with Nikki in her final moments…
Back home in Colorado for the first time in seven years to investigate the murder of a woman with ties to the son she lost to the care system, the pressure is on for Madison to work both cases at once. Fearing the team has missed a vital clue, Madison searches the crime scene alone and finds the last thing she ever expected: a note proving the victims knew each other, and that the cases are linked. Is this a coincidence, proof a dangerous murderer is on the loose, or a trap set to lead Madison off the trail?
It’s only when Madison finally finds the knife used to harm Nikki, tucked in an almost impossible to find hiding place, that she knows she is closing in on a twisted killer. But the last person she expects to see dragged into the department in handcuffs is her own missing son…
My emotions are all over the place! I have spent most of this book, reading with baited breathe as we finally find out what happened to Madison, I was even crying through some of it! Some of the events clicked into place before Madison and Nate got there but some didn’t until the final showdown. Boy, this was cataclysmic, the shock waves will take a while to die down with this one.
I have felt so much anger for Madison and the injustice she has had to experience. I was so angry with what happened and the repercussions left me empty. I felt angry for one character, even though she was innocent, as there was just no fight, in the end, it was all too bleak for her and it was hard to see how freely her decision was made. I just wanted to jump in and help in some way.
This really is one intense book, again with the timelines, of Nikki’s past and the present day but given this time the insight into other characters add to the intensity. We see just how deep deception can run, how one bad mistake can lead you down a dark path with no way of getting off the track. The manipulation of people and the fear that someone can hold over your life can be crippling and sadly it plays a part here.
So much I want to talk about but I have to gloss it over. I didn’t read the blurb so I had no idea what was to come, I just knew it would be good. It was better than good, it was mind-blowing, it was breathtaking and it shocked me. I was lying there with my hand over my mouth trying to read the words quicker as I was soaking up the information in front of me. The plot is like a spaghetti junction with so much going on and so much interlinking, however, none of it was convoluted, it all made sense and was easy to follow. However, I did not like the path we were going on.
God, this series is just phenomenal and I love that there are potentially at least 5 books in this series. I am not sure how it will pan out now but I just know Nate and Madison need to stick together. I know everything is up in the air but I need them to stick out in the long run. I mean we still have Nate’s storyline to go yet and as much as this one was emotional, I fear it will be worse with Nate.
This is a book I could not put down and in all honesty, I did not want to put it down. It blew me away. I can not wait for the next one for sure. Wendy astounds me each time I read something of hers and she confuddled me again. What a read!!
Until next time xxx
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
Wendy Dranfield Author says
Thank you so much! xx
Zoé says
You are always welcome xx
Carla says
Wonderful review Zoé. I had not heard of this author until recently, but with all the amazing reviews, I am adding this series to my TBR.