Book Description
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.
Published by Bookouture and available to purchase at amazon.co.uk
My Thoughts
The Missing Ones is the debut novel by Patricia Gibney and book one of the Lottie Parker series. I just love a series and was super excited to read this one, the cover had me intrigued and then I read the description and I was sold and had to get stuck right in.
Detective Lottie Parker is hard working, she’s intelligent and doesn’t suffer fools lightly, she’s also a widow and mum to 3 teenagers. Lottie’s had a difficult time, loosing her husband she turned to drink but has sorted herself out and she has a real on off relationship with her mum. She’s a fabulous character, real feeling and very likeable. Her work partner Mark Boyd is another great character and there’s a chemistry between the pair which I hope will develop further through the series.
The prologue left me open mouthed and desperately needing to read on. The story is set over nine days but flits to the past very cleverly. I’m not going to go into the plot too much as this is such a fantastic story I wouldn’t want to give anything away. I will say however it has twists and turns, it has difficult subject matters which gave me shivers and probably not for the faint hearted but it was really well written, even though some scenes made me cringe I was desperate to keep on reading and to find out who done it and each time I thought I had an idea, boom another twist.
I’ll end on saying that this is a brilliant start to what looks likely to be a brilliant series with great characters and I’m eagerly waiting on book two now. I definitely recommend The Missing Ones.
*My thanks got to Bookouture and NetGalley*
It's all about the books 
Go glad you enjoyed this one! That cover had me from the get too. So many people have loved this book – I can’t really figure out why it didn’t gel with me. Maybe I was just in an off reading moment when I picked it up. Sigh.
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That’s a shame it didn’t gel with you. There’s been a few books I’ve read that people have loved and I didn’t get the buzz like them. It can be quite disappointing especially when it’s been hyped up so much.
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Yes I know! I always feel a little guilty when I don’t like a popular book. I’m just like “it’s me, not you” lol.
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