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 Girl in the River by Rita Herron Also by this author: The Silent Dolls, Wildflower Graves, The Burning Girls, Frozen Souls
Series: Detective Ellie Reeves #7
Also in this series: The Silent Dolls, Wildflower Graves, The Burning Girls, Frozen Souls
Published by Bookouture on 6th December 2022
Genres: Crime, Suspense, Thriller
Pages: 463
Format: eARC
Source: from Netgalley
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Amazon Kindle
The body lay in the river, arms outstretched. Long brown hair swirled in all directions, flowing with the current of the water. Her eyes were wide open in death, pale pink lips parted in a scream.
Detective Ellie Reeves should be enjoying the wedding of her dear friend Mia Norman. But instead of celebrating, she is frantically searching for the missing bride. Something is terribly wrong—just hours ago, Mia was blissfully happy. Why would she suddenly vanish?
Bursting through the dressing room, Ellie finds it in disarray—chairs overturned, a perfume bottle shattered. Hiding in the bathroom is Mia’s six-year-old daughter Pixie, curled in a ball and sobbing her heart out. The little girl says she was locked inside when she heard a man’s voice, and her mother crying. “I just want my mommy back,” she pleads. Ellie vows to make that happen.
Turning the venue upside down, Ellie’s blood turns to ice when she reaches the riverbank. Someone is dead in the rippling water, floating beside a white veil. Ellie holds her breath as she turns the body over. It belongs to Tori, Mia’s bridesmaid, a gunshot wound in her back. Near the murder scene, Ellie discovers a button from a man’s shirt, and her friend’s engagement ring. The race is on to find Mia—before it’s too late.
When forensics come back, the investigation takes a dark turn. DNA proves that Mia was actually Jesse Habersham, a woman who went missing five years ago. Ellie is certain that Mia was running from someone. Did her past finally catch up with her?
Facing the most complex case of her career, Ellie is in a race against time. Can she uncover the truth before her friend is brutally killed? And when the murderer comes after innocent little Pixie, will Ellie save her from the clutches of death?
Thank you to Bookoture for letting me take part in this tour and for my copy of this book via Netgalley. This is the seventh book in this series but they can all be read as standalones.
Rita has written another intense and action-packed crime thriller. I love the short chapters they really help to keep the fast pace of the book flowing. I found myself flicking page after page, chapter after chapter. I just couldn’t put it down.
This story had layer upon layer. The more Ellie dug into Mia’s life the stranger it became. The town of Red River Rock was a tight-lipped community indeed. Then you throw in a little girl who just wants her mother back and you have quite the case for Ellie Reeves to solve.
Rita really did an excellent job of keeping me in suspense. From the very first page, I was on the edge of my seat, tense and desperate to fund out what happened to Mia.
Another fantastic addition to this series, don’t delay grab your copy today!
About Rita Herron
USA Today Bestselling and award-winning author Rita Herron fell in love with books at the ripe age of eight when she read her first Trixie Belden mystery. But she didn’t think real people grew up to be writers, so she became a teacher instead. Now she writes so she doesn’t have to get a real job.
With over ninety books to her credit, she’s penned romantic suspense, romantic comedy, and YA novels, but she especially likes writing dark romantic suspense and crime fiction set in small southern towns.
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