The Staffymum's Book Nook: REVIEW: Broken Girls by Joy Kluver

Tuesday 27 July 2021

REVIEW: Broken Girls by Joy Kluver

Broken Girls (DI Bernie Noel #2) by Joy Kluver

Genre: Crime thriller, Crime fiction, Police procedural

Read: 18th July 2021

Published: 27th July 2021

★★★★ 4 stars

DESCRIPTION:

Brambles catch her dress, scratch her legs, pierce her feet. To escape, she’d had no option but to go barefoot. They’d been laughing together a few minutes before, but things can change in the blink of an eye…

The woman is dark-haired and young, judging by the short red dress. Any other signs of her identity have been erased during her long wait to be found, but it’s clear she was strangled: this was a passionate and personal murder.

D.I. Bernadette Noel knows that every second counts if she is to catch this killer, but she has no leads – until the discovery that the dead woman’s rings match a stolen property report, and the rings’ owner mentions Rosa, her missing nanny.

Just when Bernie and her team think they’re getting somewhere, a shocking discovery about Rosa – and the news that another young girl has been abducted – changes everything the team thought they knew about the case.

Laura is only twelve, and her parents are beside themselves with worry – but Bernie has an additional fear. Laura’s home is right next to the woods where their murder victim was found: are the cases connected?

When Bernie notices similarities between descriptions of the man last seen with Rosa and someone Laura was messaging online, these fears grow stronger. But they still have no clear leads as to the identity of the culprit.

With few options left, and time running out, she makes a desperate plan to trap the predator. But any mistakes will mean another innocent life lost…

A gripping crime thriller with a nail-biting climax. If you like Angela Marsons, Val McDermid or Cara Hunter, you’ll love Joy Kluver.

MY REVIEW:

I am excited to be taking part in the #BooksOnTour #BlogTour for Joy Kluver's next exciting crime thriller BROKEN GIRLS.

I thoroughly enjoyed Joy's debut thriller "Last Seen" where readers were introduced to DI Bernadette Noel who had transferred from The Met to Wiltshire, not so much under a cloud as trying to escape what she left behind there. And while there was a hint of what she was running from in the first book there isn't a mention of it here. In the last book we met Bernie's long lost father who had been following her and she thought she was under threat and in the months since then they have forged a relationship together, though he features very little in this installment.

Readers are thrown right into the deep end as the story opens directly onto Bernie and her team having been called to the scene of a horrific murder in which the victim's bloated body has been discovered in the woods, having been left undetected for almost a week. Bernie cannot contain her retching as the smell of the decomposed remains permeates through her senses and as soon as she leaves the cordon, she evacuates whatever breakfast she'd managed that morning.

Whilst normally DCS Wilson has overseered her investigations, he is currently on sick leave and she is left having to work under DCI Patrick Worth, or Worthless as he is more commonly known. So when the booming voice of her superior arrives on scene, she has to talk him through the evidence thus far whilst revisiting the remains. Thankfully, she keeps her stomach this time. Worth, on the other hand, finds it difficult not to retch.

Due to the nature in which she was found, it is proving almost impossible to identify her. She cannot be visually identified, nor can her fingerprints do so, which leaves DNA and dental records. Unfortunately, for that to happen, the team need an idea of who their victim may be to compare them against. All they have to go on is the short red dress she is dressed in the exorbitant 10cm stilettos, also red, she'd been wearing. And the rings found her on her fingers engraved "To H love R". Bernie delegates her team to searching for the dress and the shoes online until a match is found.

The search leads them to a missing au pair for Rupert and Harriet Fox. Their au pair Rosa Conti had been discovered entertaining a male friend in her bedroom one evening and she was dismissed immediately, but apparently, not before she took Harriet's wedding rings with her. Whatever happened to her after that, the Foxes do not know...or they're not saying. But Bernie is suspicious. The couple appear to be hiding something, though what she doesn't know. She is equally suspicious of her bumbling superior, DCI Worth, who insisted on accompanying her to interview the Foxes. Why was he so interested when he would normally remain in the station, delegating and overseeing tasks?

Then a girl goes missing. Laura Moffat, the 12 year old sister of Craig Moffat who had discovered the body has disappeared and a search of her instagram account reveals her intimate conversations with a Luke Davidson, who claims to be 17 years old, though the team are immediately suspicious. His side of the conversation involve clear grooming tactics, lulling the unsuspecting girl into false sense of security and convincing her to send topless photos of herself. Hacking into his account, they discover that Laura isn't the online girl he has been grooming. He had been in conversations with Chloe Hampton, Laura's best friend, as well as young woman called Maria G.

But how does all this connect to the murder of Rosa Conti? Worth doesn't think it does and promptly removes Bernie from the murder investigation so she can concentrate on that of the missing girl. But Bernie thinks Worth has an ulterior motive from keeping her away from the murder investigation. The question is...why?

On top of all this, Worth has drafted in DS Dougie Anderson once again, much to Bernie's dismay. She had a near miss where Anderson was concerned when his ex-wife called from Edinburgh to warn her and any female colleagues about her "manipulative and controlling" ex-husband. Since then, Bernie had given him a wide berth. But now they were forced to work together once again.

As the investigation progresses, several possibilities come to light but the cases appear to be far more complex than they had first anticipated. And then when it becomes clear that the two cases are linked, Bernie takes her suspicions higher as she fights to protect both herself and her team.

The mysteries of the murdered girl and Laura's disappearance are woven together brilliantly in this incredibly twisty case in which Bernie and her team find themselves. The investigation is so complex I didn't even have a clue as to who was responsible...until right before the reveals. BROKEN GIRLS is inextricably woven in a tapestry of blackmail, rape, abuse and murder that will give you chills. I even love the addition of the ghost story which added an atmospheric creepiness.

I'm not a fan of superiors who lord it over their officers and continually pull rank on them, as is the case with DCI Worth(less). I prefer a team that are all on the same page and work well together instead of the constant angst that runs throughout. However, Worth's attitude was paramount to the story so I will excuse it this time, but on the whole...not a fan and prefer not to have to endure it.

Like her debut, BROKEN GIRLS is not predictable and leads the reader on a merry chase alongside Bernie in search of answers. But unlike "Last Seen", this book is told wholly in Bernie's third person narrative. Her previous book had little snippets in-between from the villain whereas this one does not. I have to say that that disappointed me a little as I do prefer thrillers to include various perspectives, particularly one from the as yet unidentified villain which adds to the edge-of-your-seat thrills.

I did enjoy BROKEN GIRLS but I would have liked to seen the villain narrative added to taunt us. And less angst amongst the team.

I did, however, like the little cliffhanger tidbit readers were left with (and one I had guessed a little earlier). I wonder where that will take us in the next installment in this exciting series.

Perfect for fans of Angela Marsons, Carol Wyer, Helen Phifer and Carla Kovach.

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

MEET THE AUTHOR:

Joy Kluver has been an avid reader and writer since childhood. More recently she's been escaping the madness of motherhood by turning her hand to crime novels. A book blogger, she's also part of the First Monday Crime team and if you've been to any of their events it's likely you've eaten one of her cookies. She also organises author talks for her local library. Joy lives in SW London with her husband and three children. 'Last Seen' is her debut novel and the first book in the DI Bernadette Noel series.