Publication Day: 7th October 2024
Published by: Bookouture
Dawn breaks over the mountains. Not a single part of the girl’s once-beautiful body is free from pain. She prays she’ll slip into a blissful unconsciousness, but the sound of an engine rouses her. Her swollen eyes struggle to focus as she raises a bruised arm and waves from the long grass. A decision that will cost her much more than her innocent little life…
With her partner missing, Detective Madison Harper has her work cut out for her juggling the discovery of a body in the murky shallows of Lost Creek and a distraught mother searching for her missing baby boy. She barely has time to eat or sleep. But someone in this small town has lost a loved one, and a child’s life could be in danger. Madison’s sense of duty drives her on, poring over cold case files and interviewing inhabitants of the trailer park near where the headless body was found.
Without a face to identify, or teeth to match to dental records, the decapitated victim is almost impossible to name. Then the postmortem reveals a single red rose stem forced down his throat. What monster would do such a thing? What message were they trying to send? It feels like a dead end until Madison returns home to find the photo of a distressed-looking girl on her windshield. Written on the back is a message that grips her with ice-cold fear: Sofia. Day 1.
Now hunting for a missing child, a murderer and a missing girl, Madison is pushed to her limit. As terror chokes the close-knit community, she vows that no more innocent lives will be lost on her watch. But as these cases connect, and she comes face to face with the twisted individual at the heart of it all, will there be anyone left to save?
A totally addictive and twist-packed crime thriller guaranteed to get your heart racing! Perfect for fans of Lisa Regan, Melinda Leigh and Kendra Elliot.
MY REVIEW
I will start my review with my apologies for the delay on my review! It’s been a hectic couple of weeks.
OH MY DAYS OH MY DAYS OH MY DAYS
I mean seriously!! This book was dark, sinister, shocking and totally totally heartbreaking!!! I spent alternate chapters crying, and my heart just broke. This must have been one heck of a book to try and write. I don’t even know if I can write anything coherent as I am just sitting here stunned at what I have just read. I bought the audiobook because I just love the narrator, and god it broke me.
You have the Gina storyline, Nate’s sideline – where I was just crying, Steve’s storyline – man I broke, Madison’s trying to solve a case. The ending was explosive, and I need Book 9. I know there will be so much fallout on its way. The big reveal SHOCKED ME SO MUCH! I had to skip back in the audiobook and then read it on the Kindle, as I couldn’t believe what I was hearing and then reading!!!!!! I couldn’t believe how much the rug had been pulled away from me. I was gasping! I mean there is so much more that happens – which definitely caused tears, it was just senseless. Not sure a book will be able to top this one for a while.
I have to say, this one will stick with me for a while, and I have to say it’s possibly the best one in the series. Wendy has written such a hard-hitting book, that blows your mind, and leaves you shocked at the end. I still can’t believe it!!
Until the next time xxx
Thank you so much for Jess @ Bookouture for the tour invite, and a copy of the book in return for my honest and unbiased review.
About Wendy Dranfield
Wendy is the bestselling author of the Detective Madison Harper series and the Dean Matheson series, as well as two standalone thrillers: The Birthday Party and The Night She Vanished.
She is a former coroner’s assistant turned crime writer. Some of her books have been shortlisted for various writing competitions and awards, including the International Thriller Writer Awards.
You can find more information on her website.
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