Her Hidden Shadow (DI Gina Harte #14) by Carla Kovach
Genre: Crime fiction, Crime thriller
Read: 17th September 2023
Published: 20th September 2023
★★★★ 4 stars
DESCRIPTION:
Her perfect night out just became her worst nightmare…
Lauren returns home from celebrating her engagement with friends and stumbles as she gets out of the taxi. So what if her best friend Sienna didn’t show up? Lauren had a good night anyway. As she walks towards the small house she shares with her fiancé, Robbie, she’s surprised to see every window in total darkness. And when she calls his name, the house remains silent. Where is Robbie?
Kicking off her red heels, Lauren heads towards her bedroom, feeling more nervous with every step. And when she opens the door, she immediately knows something is very wrong. The sickly metallic smell sobers her up instantly. And there is someone in her bed…
Moving closer, her heart races in her chest. Instead of her fiancé, in the bed lies the lifeless body of a young woman, and although long dark hair covers her face, Lauren can already see who it is… her best friend, Sienna.
As Lauren’s scream breaks the silence, someone stands outside the bedroom, tracking her every move. Did Lauren’s perfect little home just become the most dangerous place she could be?
Perfect for fans of Angela Marsons, Cara Hunter and Clare Mackintosh, Her Hidden Shadow will have you hooked from the very first page.
MY THOUGHTS:
Her perfect night out just became her worst nightmare…
Lauren is on a night out with her friends to celebrate her engagement. She returns home, kicks off her shoes and climbs into bed sidling up to her sleeping fiance. She finds his leg is stone cold and there's a sticky patch by her head. When she turns on the lamp she is shocked to discover not Robbie in bed beside her but her best friend Sienna...and she's dead! Lauren screams and calls 999 in hysterics.
DI Gina Harte is called to the scene in the early hours and is shocked by the appearance of her DS, Jacob Driscoll. He looks like he'd eaten a bad kebab and upon stepping into the crime scene, he had to be excused before being sick. Something was amiss with her DS but she'd speak to him later. For now her focus was on the murder of Sienna and the hysterical Lauren in the back of the ambulance. She'd been out celebrating her engagement with friends. So why wasn't Sienna amongst them if she was her best friend. And if she thought she was climbing into bed with her fiance, where was the said fiance now?
It isn't long before the team discover that Sienna had been stalked by a visiting colleague. They had lived together for a short time but she left when he became too controlling. Their focus were on him and that of Lauren's missing fiance Robbie.
And then in questioning one of Lauren's friends who was also supposed to be with them that night but called off sick, it seemed that there is a link between Sienna's murder and an historical attack on friend Tiffany four years before.
Then just as the team are gathering information to question their lead suspect, new information comes to light that throws everything they thought they knew out the window. And two new members join them from Hereford to oversee the investigation. A Detective Superintendent Sullivan, who had been a thorn in Gina's side when she was a trainee DC, and a DI Collier. Gina was no longer running this investigation and Sullivan was out to bring her down with relish. But can Gina solve the murders before it's too late?
This 14th outing with Gina Harte and her team is just as thrilling as all the previous ones. Though it is a series, it can easily be read as a standalone as you don't really miss anything otherwise, except for maybe character development and their backstories. I admit to forgetting what happened to Jennifer with the hit and run from a previous book and I still can't recall it. But she is a minor character that we don't really see and is only mentioned from time to time.
I did easily work out half of the twist but I must say I was surprised by the other half of it. Hats off to you Ms Kovach for pulling that one off.
The tension is ramped up a notch in this installment but it comes at a cost...and one I hate to see in series and is often why I don't read many series. The in-house politics and discord amongst the ranks is something I loathe. That's why I love this series so much because Gina's team all work well together without that angst. But bringing in two outsiders who want nothing but to set a cat amongst the pigeons and watch the fallout just makes my skin crawl. The inclusion of Sullivan and Collier didn't have to be so horrible but it was, and I felt it ruined what would otherwise have been a 5 star read. The rest of the story itself was second to none and I loved it.
Overall, a compelling read that is edge of your seat and page turning and another outstanding addition to the series. I can't wait to see what's next for Gina and her team.
I would like to thank #CarlaKovach, #Netgalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #HerHiddenShadow in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Since then she has written & produced several stage plays, has four self-published books, has acted in several independent films and is currently in the final stages of production of her feature horror film, Penny for the Guy.
She now writes full time as well as co-owning a film, photography & video production company located in the heart of Redditch town centre.
Social Media links:
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads
No comments:
Post a Comment