Genre: Crime / Thriller
Publisher: Bookouture
Publication Date: 6th Nov 2015
Pages: 359
MY REVIEW:
I received an advance copy of Lost Girls (D.I. Kim Stone #3) by Angela Marsons from Netgalley in
exchange for an honest review. This is said review. This book is published by Bookouture.
So number three in the Kim Stone series. It was a no
brainer that I was going to try and pick this up for review after reading the
first two. You can read my review of Silent
Scream (D.I. Kim Stone #1) here and Evil
Games (D.I. Kim Stone #2) here. This is a series that, I was hoping, would just
keep getting better and better. Was I right?
D.I. Kim Stone and her team have been given a case that
they normally wouldn’t have. They have got it against her superiors wishes and
only because she was specifically requested. It is a case that will test the
resolve of her and her team to the bitter end.
Two young girls have been abducted. Text messages are
received from the abductors to advise they are well and to await further
instructions. The two families know each other and are best of friends. How
long they will stay friends is in doubt after the next text is received. It’s
simple and to the point. The abductors want money, but they will only take the
money from one family. The highest bidder gets their girl back. The girl from
the lowest bidding family dies.
Kim and her team must battle against time and everything
else that is thrown at them to try and make sure both girls come back alive.
This is one of those times where the review should read
as follows
Bloody amazing. Just go buy the damn thing.
I started reading this one night just before bed. I
thought I would read the prologue and maybe the first chapter and leave it at that.
Fourteen percent later I was totally and utterly in love with this book. I will
try and write this review without gushing too much.
A lot of the characters in this one are thankfully,
familiar to anyone who has been keeping up with the series. If you haven’t,
then the boss of the team is D.I. Kim Stone. A young lady with a dark past that
is largely hidden from everybody. She is tenacious, hard-nosed, totally driven
and any other fancy names you can think of to describe someone totally
dedicated to their job. She is like a closed book sometimes but at the same
time is one of the most caring and compassionate people you could ever meet.
Her team of Stacey, Bryant and Dawson all remain the same. Hard working and
dedicated to their boss and everything she expects of them. Bryant is serious
and funny at the same time. The closest thing Kim has to a friend. Stacey is
still to come out of her shell a bit but Dawson hits new personal heights in
this one and is finally given the opportunity to shine a bit on his own.
The families in this are a mixture of individuals, a couple
of them holding secrets very close to their chests that will explode as the
story progresses. Some others are drafted in to help Kim and her team. She is
naturally suspicious of them all but they eventually fit in perfectly.
The villains in this one are also a mixture. Subject One
is the planner, the thinker. He doesn’t like the violent side of things, as in
carrying it out. That’s why Subject Two is there. Cold and brutal, he loves the
thrill of the kill and there is only one reason he is there.
The plot? I said it all at the beginning. Two girls go
missing, Kim must get them back. Sound simple? Well if you have read Ms Marsons
before you will know that is not the case. I cannot emphasise enough how much
this lady can write. This should be a simple plot but there are so many twists
and turns in this story that you will have no idea what is going to happen next
and who is involved in which bit of the story. You know there is Subject One
and Subject Two but the belief is that there is a Subject Three running the
show in the background. Good luck in guessing exactly who that is. I knew from
early on. But I didn’t really because I changed my mind. I changed it back
again. I went for someone totally different. Guess what? I found out in the
last few pages I was wrong all along. I would never have got it. I’m normally
pretty good at the guessing games in books. Hat’s off to Ms Marsons for fooling
me again.
So what makes this different to any other crime book you
will read? Simple. The writing. Angela Marsons has a very unique style. It is
both very fast paced but laid back at the same time. There is always a sense of
urgency with Kim Stone but at the same time she never seems to lose her cool.
The tension is immense in Ms Marsons writing. It builds and builds from the
very first page of the book and will never let you go until you are finished.
There are over one hundred chapters in this book. I love that style because
they are short and punchy and the way it is written, every chapter ends with a
cliff hanger, forcing you to read on to see what happens next.
You cannot help but get involved with the lives, feelings
and emotions of every single character in this book. You get drawn into
everything. You will smile and laugh when people are happy but you will also
feel drained and emotional when the characters feel it. You will be exhausted
when you finish this one because you will feel like you have lived every single
second of it with the team. For most of this story there is a feeling of
hopelessness. There is no way around what they are up against and the ingenious
way that things are figured out is fantastic. There are little clues throughout
the story that, if you are smart enough to pick up, might take you in the right
direction but they are never enough to reveal the answers to the twists that
are revealed in the final few chapters.
To summarise: seriously just buy it. You could read it as
a stand-alone but if you haven’t read the first two books, just buy them too.
You will thank me later.
General rating:
★★★★★ seriously need a six star rating.
Thriller rating:
★★★★★ and again.
If you would like to help support Confessions of a
Reviewer then please consider using the links below to buy Lost Girls (D.I. Kim Stone #3) or any other books from Angela or
indeed anything at all from Amazon. This not only supports me but also
lets me know how many people actually like to buy books after reading my
reviews.
Thanks.
Book Synopsis:
Two girls go missing. Only one will return.
The couple that offers the highest amount will see their
daughter again. The losing couple will not. Make no mistake. One child will
die.
When nine-year-old best friends Charlie and Amy
disappear, two families are plunged into a living nightmare. A text message
confirms the unthinkable; that the girls are the victims of a terrifying
kidnapping.
And when a second text message pits the two families
against each other for the life of their children, the clock starts ticking for
D.I. Kim Stone and the squad.
Seemingly outwitted at every turn, as they uncover a
trail of bodies, Stone realises that these ruthless killers might be the most
deadly she has ever faced. And that their chances of bringing the girls home
alive, are getting smaller by the hour…
Untangling a dark web of secrets from the families’ past
might hold the key to solving this case. But can Kim stay alive long enough to
do so? Or will someone’s child pay the ultimate price?
Angela Marsons is the author of Amazon #1 Bestseller
SILENT SCREAM.
She lives in the Black Country with her partner, their
bouncy Labrador and a swearing parrot.
She first discovered her love of writing at Junior School
when actual lessons came second to watching other people and quietly making up
her own stories about them. Her report card invariably read "Angela would
do well if she minded her own business as well as she minds other
people's".
After years of writing relationship based stories (My
Name Is and The Middle Child) Angela turned to Crime, fictionally speaking of
course, and developed a character that refused to go away.
She is signed to Bookouture.com in an 8 book deal.
And
for more about Angela, visit her site or find her on social media:
Website - Facebook - Twitter - Goodreads - Amazon Page
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