As it says on the front cover, Lost Girls by Angela Marsons is one of the series of D.I. Kim Stone novels. According to Goodreads, it is book number 3, following on from Silent Scream and Evil Games. However, there is also a listing for a book number 0.5, First Blood. The series continues up to book number 12, released just a few months ago, so there are plenty of novels to get your teeth into. I was a complete newcomer to the series however and I didn't feel that I was at a disadvantage.
The book follows two families whose lives are thrown into complete disarray when their nine-year-old daughters are kidnapped. The girls and their parents are all good friends and the kidnapper has a heart-chilling message : only one girl will be released. It's up to the families to make the best offer to save their child. As a parent, this is a horrific situation to imagine yourself in. While you'd do anything to save your own daughter, you obviously wouldn't want to sign the death warrant on the other child. A previous case with many similarities had led to the release of just one girl, so everyone - particularly the parents - realises just how serious this is.
The relationship between the parents - at first supportive, but gradually turning sour - is interesting, but the dynamics between the different members of the police team are equally so. Kim is a realistic leading lady and one that we can all relate to. She will take more and more pressure on to her own shoulders, determined to put in more than her fair share of hours of work, until one of her friends and colleagues tells her to take a step back. This obviously goes down as well as expected, until he brings around her beloved dog - apparently the only "person" that she will open up to and reveal her doubts and inner struggle.
The ending came as a bit of a surprise - I had absolutely no inkling of who was involved in the kidnapping - but ultimately, it didn't really matter. The reader's tension and compassion are provoked by putting yourself in the parents' position and imagining their pain and absolute sense of powerlessness, so anything else pales into insignificance.
star rating : 5/5
RRP : £7.99
- Paperback: 480 pages
- Publisher: Zaffre (1 Jun. 2017)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 9781785762178
- ISBN-13: 978-1785762178
- ASIN: 1785762176
Sounds gripping! There are so many crime series I haven't read or even heard of.
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