Book 3! God this is a hard book to review, while I compose myself check out the trailer and snippet.
The Dare by Carol WyerSeries: Detective Natalie Ward #3
Published by Bookouture on April 25 2019
Format: eARC
Source: Net Galley
Pages: 348
Amazon UK
Goodreads
Also by this author: The Birthday, 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 Sleepover, The Blossom Twins , The Secret Admirer, Somebody’s Daughter , EndGame, An Eye for an Eye, A Cut for a Cut
Jane’s daughter is a good girl. What is she hiding?
When thirteen-year-old Savannah Hopkins doesn’t come straight home from school, as she always does, her mother Jane immediately raises the alarm.
Leading the investigation is Detective Natalie Ward whose daughter Leigh is the same age as Savannah. Soon Natalie’s worst fears are confirmed when the teenager’s broken body is found in nearby shrubland.Evidence points towards a local recluse, but just as the net is closing around him, one of Savannah’s friends, Harriet, is reported missing.
As Natalie delves into the lives of both girls, she soon discovers a sinister video on their phones, daring the girls to disappear from their families for 48 hours.But Natalie isn’t quick enough for this killer, and she is devastated to find Harriet’s body on a fly tip a day later.
Caught up in the case, she takes her eye off her own daughter and when Leigh goes missing after school she knows she must be in terrible danger. The clock is ticking for Natalie. Can she catch this killer before her little girl becomes the next victim?
Is it me but do these book trailers get darker and darker?
The all important audiobook
I spent the last 5 chapters of the book with tears in my eyes and the last pages crying. The story has made me feel sick to the stomach and made me want to wrap my mini-me up and never let go. I am already fearing what our relationship will be like when she is a teenager and with these crazy “dares” floating around I am worried. I am worried before it has even happened but as a parent, you can’t help it.
I am beginning to work out how Carol’s dark mind is working and it is always to expect the unexpected. I had kind of figured out who had done it and eventually why, but crazy as it sounds I wanted it all to be make-believe. I did not want to read the story in front of me. I am terrified!
Natalie’s life is just spiralling out of control with David, he is keeping his secrets and when this case hits home for Natalie you do wonder how much more she can take. The home life is pivotal in one respect for events that occur and I think it could be the catalyst for something big to come. (Spoiler, I, unfortunately, know what is coming but I won’t spoil it here) There is not so much on the home life as in the previous books, we have a lot more on the case and well…Mike. Mike is prominent for Natalie, she knows it’s wrong but he gets her and he gets this case, so it’s just a safety measure, right?
I don’t want to talk about the plot too much because it is one you need to discover for yourself but it is not one to take lightly. The scary world of internet and social media is large and I mean who the hell creates a website called Disappear! I mean who creates something that would parents and friends through hell, well apart from Carol’s mind! Terrifying.
I do love that we see more of Lucy and Bethany but we hear more about Murray and Ian, but I would still love to know more about them. I know it’s the Natalie show but the team are her life support outside of her family unit. I do worry about her.
A new dimension has been added to the series, we not only have Natalie’s team, we have Mike’s team but also Missing Persons have been added to the story. It creates a fluidity to the story as we see how everyone works together to solve the crimes and that the different units are not working singularly.
I did have to chuckle when I saw a Zoe, Shane and an Alicia (spelt Alisha) in the book because it was like my family were immortalised in a few sentences! But this is not about me!
I can not even lie, this book is intense. The subject matter is one that will hit home, Carol knows how to twist the knife when she needs to. Everything ramps up way too quickly and takes your breath away and it most definitely shocks you. Not only does the book ramp up but so does Carol’s writing, she has ramped up the darkness and she has no qualms with writing this darkness down. It is like she is peering into your mind and taking the dark thoughts out of them, the things you keep deep in your mind, your worst fears and she creates a case for Natalie to take on instead.
I would love to say, Natalie, her family and the team have it easier in the next book but I read the blurb and I can’t lie to you! I now need to go to bed and give my mini-me a huge squeeze!
Until next time xxx
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
carolwyer says
Ooh, Zoe, in a top 10 list of my favourite reviews about any of my books, this would have to edge into first place. I was in France when I conjured up this plot brought about by reading about French teenagers who’d been taking on a dare/challenge called 48 ,similar to the one in the book. I researched other internet dares teenagers were taking on and hey presto, the plot began bubbling in my head before I’d finished reading.
Your review is truly amazing, returning exactly the reaction I hoped for when I wrote the book. I was astounded to see I’d included Zoe, Alisha and Shane – that’s weird. I seem to do that a fair bit. The characters name themselves. I go through names and settle on one that suits that character. In my latest book I have sisters Faith and Hope and when my agent read the script for the first time, she emailed to say her mother and aunt were called Faith and Hope – a good omen, more so when she said she loved the story and wanted to represent me!
Sending you huge thanks and hugs for both you and Mini You. xx
Zoé says
Oh wow! That is an honour in itself! Wow! And this was a review I wrote at midnight! How scary that there is something like actually like that out there!! Yeah different spelling to my Alicia but how funny we all featured in your book! Oh I remember you saying that about Faith and Hope so spooky how these things happen! Sending hugs back to you xxxx