I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Angel Creek Girls by Leslie WolfeAlso by this author: The Girl from Silent Lake, Beneath Blackwater River, The Girl on Wildfire Ridge, Missing Girl at Frozen Falls
Series: Detective Kay Sharp #3
Also in this series: The Girl from Silent Lake, Beneath Blackwater River, The Girl on Wildfire Ridge, Missing Girl at Frozen Falls
Published by Bookouture on 19th August 2021
Genres: Crime, Suspense, Thriller
Pages: 352
Format: eARC
Source: from Netgalley
Goodreads
Amazon Kindle
Her chestnut hair, long and shiny, fanned around her head, moving gently in the wind. Her eyes, still open, stared at the back door, and her hand stretched out in a pleading gesture. Her lips, pale under the rosy lip gloss, were parted slightly as if to whisper one last word, to draw one last breath.
9 HOURS AGO: In a sleepy mountain town, widow Cheryl Coleman stares anxiously out of her kitchen window while a storm rages outside. When the knock comes, she glances back at her daughters before opening the door with trembling hands…
NOW: Detective Kay Sharp vows to get to the bottom of a heartbreaking murder that has rocked Mount Chester. A single mother has been brutally killed in front of her three daughters. The youngest, three-year-old Erin, is lying inches from the body, her pigtails loose, her face tear-stained. Eight-year-old Heather is discovered hiding under her bed. Sixteen-year-old Julie is nowhere to be found.
The first twenty-four hours are critical in child abductions, and the girls are the key to saving their missing sister. But Heather is in shock, unable to communicate, and all tiny Erin can say is “A monster came”. When Kay finds three suitcases lined up in the hallway, it’s clear that the family were about to run away. But why? And who were they trying to escape?
Thanks to her own past, Kay knows all about traumatic childhoods shrouded in tragedy, and she works around the clock to get justice for the orphaned girls. Turning the town upside down, she uncovers the shocking truth about their peaceful community: it’s home to a serial killer who preys on helpless girls. Faced with the most twisted case of her career, can she catch the monster before another innocent life is lost?
Thank you to Bookouture for my copy of this book via NetGalley and for letting me take part in this tour. This is the third book in the Detective Kay Sharp series but all books can be read as standalones.
This case was a weird one. It always astounds me how some serial killers go unnoticed for so long. I think as a Brit it’s harder for me to understand the vastness of America and the technology needed to notice the patterns over such a large area.
I liked the different POVs and the chapter titles. If you are a regular reader of my reviews then you know that this is a feature I always love.
The story was tense from beginning to end. I think the weather really helped to add to the tension. I always find I want to hide away from the world when there are storms or torrential rain.
Leslie does an excellent job of keeping you guessing from the beginning. There is lots of action for those that enjoy that but also a lot of twists and turns.
This was a thrilling ride and I can’t wait to see what happens next with Detective Sharp.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
@LWNovels Thank you!