Lost Girls

Angela Marsons is rapidly becoming one of my favourite authors ever. Ever since I read the AMAZING Silent Scream, I have been addicted to her slick and compelling narratives. I thoroughly enjoyed Evil Games earlier this year and was completely thrilled when I heard the announcement about Lost Girls.

Lost Girls is the third book in the DI Kim Stone series (I’ll get back to her later) and follows the horrific story of two girls who are kidnapped from their local sports centre. At first it just seems like a foul person playing a horrible game but Kim soon realises there are similarities to an old case. When it’s requested she leads the operation, she feels an immense sense of pressure to reunite the two families with their daughters and will do nothing until the two girls are found safe and well.

Using the old case and her team of experts, she begins to piece together the very few strands of evidence they have at their fingertips and as the book rushes towards the conclusion we can’t help but feel time is truly running out for the girls. Will they be found alive? And if not, will Kim ever be able to forgive herself?

I loved this book – maybe not so much the graphic descriptions of dead bodies or the horrible horrible people who took the girls, but I loved the pace and the journey Marsons took us on. Every case that Kim is faced with is planned meticulously, sewing little seeds throughout that all seem blindingly obvious once the case is solved. I couldn’t have guess the conclusion of this story and I would be highly impressed by anyone that can!

My favourite aspect of these novels though is Kim. The star of the show. I think I’ve said this before but she reminds me very much of an English Kay Scarpetta. She is full of drive and determination to achieve justice for those that have been wronged. She has this inbuilt need to help others and man, is she feisty! She’s the kind of woman who speaks her mind, tells the truth, and knows exactly how to rub people up the wrong way. She doesn’t want people to look after her or care about her, she just wants people to do their job. I reckon if I had to work with her in real life I’d detest her, but reading about her is different: she is a legend!

Another favourite aspect of this novel was the setting. It felt very claustrophobic, both where the girls were and where the team were working. The parents of both girls were staying in the same house and everything was very intense and fraught which added some great tension to the plot.

My only criticism, and, it’s not really criticism at all, is that I wanted it to be longer! I wish this book had been a million pages long because as you turn the last page of any Kim Stone book, you still don’t feel like you’ve had enough!

But, fear not for Angela has said she is working on the next one in the series and this is such exciting news! I can’t wait to read more of Angela’s books!

Compelling, addictive and frightening, Lost Girls is a book you can’t afford to miss.