REVIEW: Why She Ran by Geraldine Hogan (ARC)

Why She Ran (DS Iris Locke #2) by Geraldine Hogan

Genre: Crime fiction, police procedural

Read: 15th February 2020

Goodreads

Purchase: Amazon

(publication date: 19th December 2019)

★★★ 3 stars

It's been a long time since I've read two books from the same series one after the other. So when WHY SHE RAN came up as next on my TBR list, and I hadn't yet read the first one, something told me I had to read the first one before the second one. And I am glad that I did. Because had I dived into this one first, I would have been disappointed to have comes across the spoilers from the first book peppered throughout. So trust me....read "Silent Night" aka "Her Sister's Bones" first!!!

DS Iris Locke is still reeling from grief and coming to terms with the revelations that have left her life in turmoil. Unable to return to her flat after the events culminating towards the end of the last book, Iris has taken a room at boarding house for the interim but has thankfully stayed on at Corbally and the Murder Team in Limerick. Despite the ghosts of the past surrounding her in the town, Iris knows this is where she belongs.

When her partner DS Ben Slattery calls her with a new case, Iris leaps at the chance to push her thoughts to the back of her mind and focus on the investigation at hand. A young woman has been found murdered at Curlew Hall, a residential care facility for troubled teens with rich parents. Rachel McDermott was bludgeoned to death on the kitchen floor and the patient in her care, 15 year old Eleanor Marshall, has disappeared.

As the daughter of a prominent local businessman, Eleanor has been deemed troubled for years. With reports of arson, violence and aggression leading to her being placed in the care facility and now the fact that she is missing, leads detectives to suspect that Eleanor is responsible for Rachel's death. But Iris is finding it difficult to connect a 15 year old to such a violent crime...and yet the evidence appears to point in her direction. But if she's innocent, then why did she run?

Eleanor's father calls a press conference pleading for the safe return of his daughter and yet he supplies a photo that is at least 4 years out of date. What is he hiding? And why is he trying to control the information being conveyed to the press?

A massive search is underway as both the Gardai and the public comb the woods surrounding Curlew Hall for the missing teenager. But the woods are endless and the area massive...and Eleanor is a vulnerable girl suffering from epilepsy. What if she has a grand mal seizure? And if she does, what if, with no help at hand, she dies as a result? The race is on to find Eleanor before it's too late. Too long in those woods and they could be looking for a body.

When a body of a young girl is found in the woods near Curlew Cross, Iris and Ben immediately feel they have failed Eleanor by not finding her time. But upon arrival at the crime scene are surprised to find the victim is not Eleanor but her younger sister Karena. The mystery deepens as the team then try to figure out who would want to kill Karena and why?

Returning to the care facility, Iris and Ben question staff and residents once again. Someone is lying. Where is Rachel's laptop? Why did she have over twenty thousand euro and where did it come from? And what possible motive did someone have for killing her? Rachel was well-liked by everyone. And Karena? Where did she fit into all this?

Although I didn't pick the villain in this one, it didn't shock me. I'm not sure why that is...maybe coming out of the first book with a twist that was both brilliant and shocking, I may have felt this one was a bit of a let down. If Iris is still reeling from the shock of those revelations in "Silent Night", I'm still reeling as well!

I enjoyed meeting up with the same old characters and the camaraderie between them all, particularly that of Iris and Ben who work extremely well together. Despite being so vastly different from one another, they seem to get each other perfectly. It was also somewhat bittersweet watching Ben with his estranged wife Maureen, in light of her recent diagnosis of dementia. The one character that was sorely missed from this installment was DI Coleman Grady. I especially wanted to delve into his past and uncover his secret tragedy. I hope his secondment was temporary because he was incredibly missed!

WHY SHE RAN is well-written but again, the story moved a little slowly in parts, going back and forth between the same people over and over. I don't have a lot of patience with overt descriptions and slow pacing in crime fiction. I enjoy the fast pace with pieces of a confusing puzzle coming together in an attempt to solve a baffling crime. But although it didn't have the same breakneck speed race to the end as the first one, but it is still enjoyable just the same.

Whilst I heartily recommend WHERE SHE RAN, I do advise you to read "Silent Night" aka "Her Sister's Bones" first. This is one series you can't do standalones with.

I would like to thank #GeraldineHogan, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #WhySheRan in exchange for an honest review.