Monday 20 March 2017

The Missing Ones - Patricia Gibney



About the book… 

The hole they dug was not deep. A white flour bag encased the little body. Three small faces watched from the window, eyes black with terror. 

The child in the middle spoke without turning his head. ‘I wonder which one of us will be next?’

When a woman’s body is discovered in a cathedral and hours later a young man is found hanging from a tree outside his home, Detective Lottie Parker is called in to lead the investigation. Both bodies have the same distinctive tattoo clumsily inscribed on their legs. It’s clear the pair are connected, but how? 

The trail leads Lottie to St Angela’s, a former children’s home, with a dark connection to her own family history. Suddenly the case just got personal. 

As Lottie begins to link the current victims to unsolved murders decades old, two teenage boys go missing. She must close in on the killer before they strike again, but in doing so is she putting her own children in terrifying danger? 

Lottie is about to come face to face with a twisted soul who has a very warped idea of justice. 

Fans of Rachel Abbott, Karin Slaughter and Robert Dugoni will be gripped by this page-turning serial killer thriller, guaranteed to keep you reading late into the night.

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About the author… 

Patricia yearned to be a writer after reading Enid Blyton and Carolyn Keene and even wanted to be Nancy Drew when grew up. She has now grown up (she thinks) but the closest she’s come to Nancy Drew is writing crime!

In 2009, after her husband died, she retired from my job and started writing seriously. Fascinated by people and their quirky characteristics, she always carries a notebook to scribble down observations.

Patricia also loves to paint in watercolour and live in the Irish midlands with her children.

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My thoughts…

Wow, where to begin with this one?  This is a crime thriller that will grab you by the throat - literally!  A story that will grip you from the start, it has a dizzying amount of characters and unexplained events that conspire to confuse and throw you off the scent. Who would be a police detective?  The story is told from the voice of many characters and it is the job of Detective Lottie Parker, side kick Boyd and her team to unravel the motives for so many seemingly random murders.

Almost each and every character within The Missing Ones has a back story and not all of them visible or obvious - add to that a detective with her own issues and problems and you can imagine how cloudy the waters are!

The story is told over a nine day period set in the present but periodically flicks back to a narrative from the 1970s and a children's institution it is a heart pumping, dark and twisted tale that at times is so awful t's difficult to read, yet you're compelled to keep turning the pages.  Events unfurl at a lightning pace - so many events and incidents seem to occur to many people all at the same time leaving no time to second guess the next move or connection.

One thing I am sure about though is, events that happen in our childhood shape the adults we become — not always for the best and not all of us get the solid foundations we should -each turn of the page in The Missing Ones sees a number crumbling that you wouldn't expect. A brilliant debut and a fantastic start to a new detective series.

I highly recommend this book, it is compulsive reading above and beyond and once you've read the prologue you'll be speechless, turning the pages in search of answers.

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