The Missing Girls @carolewyer @bookouture

One girl found dead. Another girl gone...

Long shadows danced on the tin walls. Inside the trunk lay Carrie Miller, wrapped in plastic, arms folded across her ribcage, lips sealed tight forever...

When a girl’s body is found at a Midlands storage unit, it is too decomposed for Detective Robyn Carter to read the signs left by the killer.

No one knows the woman in blue who rented the unit; her hire van can’t be traced. But as the leads run dry another body is uncovered. This time the killer’s distinctive mark is plain to see, and matching scratches on the first victim’s skeleton make Robyn suspect she’s searching for a serial-killer.

As Robyn closes in on the killer’s shocking hunting ground, another girl goes missing, and this time it’s someone close to her own heart.

Robyn can’t lose another loved one. Can she find the sickest individual she has ever faced, before it’s too late?

An utterly gripping and darkly compelling detective thriller that will have fans of Robert Dugoni, Angela Marsons and James Patterson hooked from the very start. You will not guess the ending!

My review of The Missing Girls

DI Robyn Carter and her team are back in the third book of this detective series. Having read the previous two books I couldn't wait to read this one, and by 'eck what a fabulous read it was! This series just gets better and better. I must just add that if you haven't read the previous two books, then this novel works very well as a stand alone.

This book opens with a dramatic and disturbing prologue, that pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the novel. We meet a young girl who is being held captive, we have no idea where she is or who her attacker is, but what we do know is that it will end badly for this young woman. This sense of doom is then further heightened when the action switches to that of a body being found in a trunk in a self-storage unit. The victim is a young teenage girl.

Robyn is at the centre of this book, we are with her every step of the way as she tries to find the murderer, and the missing girls. She is a truly inspiring and captivating character, whom I learn more about as time goes by. She is a woman who lost the love of her life, and her unborn child, and who now strives to protect the innocent and to make a difference in the world. She is fiercely loyal to her team and very much comes across as the woman next door. The kind of woman you could sit down with, have a cup of coffee and tell your innermost secrets, knowing that she would never tell a soul. I also loved her encounters with DCI Flint, in their disagreements, and that Robyn stood firmly in what she believed to be true. They make an excellent team.

Once again we meet Robyn's cousin Ross, who should by rights have his own PI series, I love him so much! We follow him in his own investigation, in trying to find an abducted dog, knowing that his investigation at some point will cross paths with Robyn's.

The novel is packed with twists, turns and red herrings, and you simply have to keep up with the relentless pace. And as for the ending, well, what a different kind of cliffhanger. I usually dislike books with a cliffhanger, but this one was so unexpected that I realised it suited the book perfectly. It couldn't have ended any other way.

The Missing Girls is an unsettling read, and a most enjoyable one. I can't wait to read the next book in the series.

The Missing Girls is published by Bookouture on 14 September and can be found on Amazon here.

With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an Advanced Reader Copy.