Review: Two Broken Girls

Posted 15th April 2025 by Emma in Reviews / 0 Comments

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.

Two Broken Girls by Helen Phifer
Also by this author: Last Light, One Left Alive, The Killer's Girl , The Hiding Place
Series: Detective Morgan Brookes #13
Also in this series: One Left Alive, The Killer's Girl , The Hiding Place , First Girl to Die
Published by Bookouture on 17th October 2024
Genres: Crime, Suspense, Thriller
Pages: 266
Format: eARC
Source: from Netgalley
Goodreads
Amazon Kindle

"Sweat trickles down the girl’s spine as she dances around her bedroom. The curtains blow open and a gust of hot, humid air comes through the window. She has no idea she is being watched from the street below. The dainty chain around her neck will soon be his. Another keepsake. His second broken girl.
On the banks of the River Rothay, as the first rays of sunshine hit the fast-flowing water, Melody Carrick’s body lies lifeless, red strangulation marks where her gold cross necklace used to hang. Detective Morgan Brookes is certain the killer was surprised by early-morning dog walkers, and she won’t rest until she unearths the evidence she needs to stop his next attack.
But before Morgan has a chance to attend the post-mortem, seventeen-year-old Paige Evans rushes into the police station claiming her stepfather Alan kidnapped her best friend. He has an old wooden box full of jewellery that she believes are trophies. Morgan’s blood runs Melody’s necklace is tangled up in the chains.
Morgan races to Alan’s home, but on the way, she spots a young woman stumbling out of a nearby forest. She’s not Paige’s missing friend. Disorientated, with ropes cutting into her wrists and tears running down her face, the girl claims to have been abducted and then suddenly set free. By a man who looks nothing like Alan.
Chasing the most twisted killer of her career, can Morgan discover the connection between these terrible crimes? With two girl's lives already in ruins, can she find the latest innocent victim this monster has hidden in time?

Thank you to Bookouture for my copy of this book via Netgalley. This is the thirteenth book in the Detective Morgan Brookes series but could be read as a standalone.

Morgan and the team kept me right on the edge with this one. There seemed to be so much at risk and so few leads. It felt like there was danger around every corner!

As usual Helen is not afraid to be gritty and gruesome.. She does not hold back on the details or fade to black. Her writing is vivid and sometimes those images really stay with you!

A story full of suspense and lots of twists and turns. Perfect if you love a good police procedural that will hook you from the first to the last page!

About Helen Phifer

Helen Phifer lives in a small town called Barrow-in-Furness with her husband and five children.
Helen has always loved writing and reading. Her love of horror films and novels is legendary. Helen adores reading books which make the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. Unable to find enough scary stories to read she decided to write her own.

Reading this book contributed to these challenges: