Find the Girl (DC Morgan Brookes #5) by Helen Phifer
Genre: Crime thriller, Crime fiction, Police procedural, Mystery, Suspense
Read: 16th January 2022
Audible
Sample
Published: 19th January 2022
★★★★★ 5 stars
DESCRIPTION:
The tent door flutters in the warm breeze, opening towards the silent woods beyond. A silk eye mask lies on top of the empty sleeping bag, blood-red spots ruining the cream fabric…
When a woman disappears from Forest Pines campsite, Detective Morgan Brookes scrambles a search party. Sara Fletcher has never missed a lunch date with her best friend and when Morgan finds a large rip in Sara’s tent, she knows that something terrible must have happened. About to lose hope after hours combing through the acres of dense forest, the excited bark of a tracker dog leads Morgan to female remains, partially covered by leaves and dirt – but the bones don’t belong to Sara.
Morgan trawls through missing persons files until she finds three cold cases with chilling similarities – three other victims dating back twenty years who were taken from campsites while they slept, by a killer the police called the Travelling Man. The post-mortems indicate he kept them alive for 72 hours, meaning every second is crucial to find Sara alive.
Morgan’s team is terrified that this twisted murderer has returned. But Morgan also can’t ignore the fact that a merciless killer from her own past has recently escaped from prison… Could they be chasing the wrong man? If she’s correct, how deep will she have to dig to save Sara and other innocent women like her before time runs out for them all?
A completely unputdownable, heart-in-your-mouth crime thriller. Fans of Angela Marsons, Lisa Regan and Rachel Abbott will be glued to the page!
MY REVIEW:
I am excited to be taking part in the #BooksOnTour #BlogTour for Helen Phifer's exciting crime thriller FIND THE GIRL.
I have been a fan of the Morgan Brookes series since the second book and a fan of Helen Phifer for just a tad longer, with her Dr Beth Adams series. It is immediately engaging and fast paced from the start to finish with a rollercoaster ride of twists...some of which you would never expect! FIND THE GIRL is the fifth in this exciting series and it takes an interesting turn in two aspects...but you will have to read it to find out how.
A young woman goes missing from Forest Pines campsite in the Lake District and her best friend Sofie is quick to raise the alarm when Sara doesn't meet her as arranged. At first it is thought that she had gone for an early morning walk in the forest but when the police are called they find her tent ripped, blood on her pillow and drag marks leading to the forest. DC Morgan Brookes knows at once that something is not right. Calling in for a search team the search dog finds something no one was expecting...skeletonised remains buried deep in the heart of the forest. But the trail for Sara has gone cold.
When a forensic anthropologist called in to recover the remains, he ascertains they are between fifteen and twenty years old. But the case for finding Sara is still young and so the team begin to investigate any and all possibilities, most of which lead to dead ends. But Morgan has a gut instinct. When she receives a call from a retired DI down in Kent who claims to have had a similar case on his books, as well as a couple of others he suspected were linked, Morgan knows the skeletal remains and Sara's disappearance have to be linked. And what of the fatal bashing of an 82 year old woman some miles away? Could that too be linked?
But what kind of killer goes cold for almost two decades before he kills again? One that's been in prison maybe? And that's when Morgan gets a chill run down her spine. It can't be...can it?
Not for the first time, Morgan's past comes back to haunt her as she and her partner DS Ben Matthews race to find this cold-blooded killer before it's too late.
There isn't much more I can say without revealing spoilers because this book is riddled with them! Prepare to be shocked...because this case is like no other and Morgan will find herself in a race against time like never before...with a most unlikely ally. I will say that I thought Morgan had a death wish thinking that she is immortal after all the scrapes she has been in previously and survived. And I think Ben agreed.
FIND THE GIRL is thoroughly addictive as well as terrifying from start to finish and it kept me up until the wee hours of the morning. The suspect pool is small, even non-existent, until Morgan's instinct kicks in. I suspected one and then the other and then another was revealed before I was surprised my first suspect was right... This installment really is a thrill-ride of all thrill-rides.
The penultimate climax, I have to say, was the best. I even shed a few tears for a most unlikely character. But that ending...WOW! That was the best yet...and I hope this is not the end of this series. But it does leave one wondering where it will go from here. I do hope to read more and I do so love this series.
A great cast of characters - both likeable and unsavoury - and the relationship between Morgan and Ben. Their attraction has simmered over the course of the series...and I like their camaraderie.
Chilling and gripping to the end, FIND THE GIRL is probably the best yet of the series. Although I have enjoyed them all, this one will certainly stick out in my memory for a while yet.
Recommended for fans who love crime thrillers that are fast paced and chilling. Bring on Book 6!
I would like to thank #HelenPhifer, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #FindTheGirl in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Helen lives in a small town in Cumbria. Surrounded by miles of coastline and only a short drive from the beautiful Lake District.
She has always loved writing and reading since the days she learnt how to in infant school. She loves reading books that make the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end and make her afraid to go to the toilet, alone in the middle of the night. She is eternally grateful to Stephen King, Dean Koontz, James Herbert and Graham Masterton for scaring her senseless in her teenage years.
Unable to find enough of the scary stories she loves to read, she decided to write her own.
No comments:
Post a Comment