Title: The Missing Ones
(Detective Lottie Parker #1)
Author: Patricia Gibney
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Fiction
First published: March 16th 2017
Publisher: Bookouture
Finished reading: March 9th 2017
Pages: 518
“No one had seen anything. Was Ragmullin the town of the deaf, blind and mute? What had happened to the valley of the squinting windows?”
*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and Bookouture in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***
❤ Happy publication day to The Missing Ones!! ❤
You can never have enough psychological thrillers, right? I had high hopes for this first book of a new detective series, especially since I’ve heard a lot of great things about it lately. Now I have finally been properly introduced to Lottie Parker in The Missing Ones, I have instantly joined the fan-crew. Psychological thriller plots can tend to start sounding the same if you read a lot of them, but Patricia Gibney had me fully intrigued by this story. Not only is The Missing Ones a very well written story, but it also has an intriguing and complex plot and very interesting characters as well. Sure, detective Lottie Parker is a bit of a cliche with her messed up personal life, but she does grow on you. And the case itself is a mix of twisted, disturbing, dark and intriguing and will have you on the edge of the seat until the very end. 1970s flashbacks are mixed in with the present and will slowly start to reveal more about the past and what really is going on… And boy, you will find some very disturbing details and plot twists along the way! I also loved the little Rome bits, especially since the Santa Maria Maggiore and me have a little history and my heart literally skipped a beat when it was mentioned. In short, The Missing Ones is a rich, intriguing and gripping psychological thriller that is both well written and will manage to surprise you more than once. Disturbingly good!
When just after Christmas a woman’s body is discovered in a cathedral and hours later a young man is found hanging from a tree outside his home, Detective Lottie Parker is called in to investigate both cases. The deaths seem random, up until it becomes clear both bodies have the same tattoo crudely inscribed on their legs. The two seem to be connected, but how exactly? Lottie Parker has to dig into the past to find out more about both victims, and the evidence leads her to St. Angela’s. Suddenly the case has become personal, as the former children’s home has a connection to her own dark family history… And the current victims might be linked to decade old unsolved murders. Will she be able to discover the truth before the killer strikes again?
If you like well written psychological thrillers with a complex plot and excellent plot twists, I can definitely recommend The Missing Ones. The story is a bit longer than your average thriller, which only contributes to the richness of the plot without slowing down the pace. The switches between the past and present are well executed and only add to the intrigue as well. There are definitely a lot of disturbing and twisted details and reveals along the way! I will be looking forward to the next book in this series.
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