Brought to you by OBS reviewer Andra

Synopsis:

Lucy Kendall lived her life in a strange mixture of carefully calculated moves and impulse decisions. Cracking the skull of the man who molested her sister and attacking her was impulse. Spending half her teenage years drinking and acting out were calculated cries for attention from her narcissistic mother followed by impulsive rages at her lack of concern. The decade spent working in Child Protective Services before becoming a private investigator taught her two truths. One, CPS failed miserably in protecting children. Two, Lucy was more than willing to do it for them, meting out her brand of dark justice in spite of her own fear of death. But Lucy’s crusade is compromised when a self-proclaimed sociopath offers to help-and leaves her no choice but to accept it. When eight-year old Kailey Richardson is abducted, it sets off a chain of events linked to Justin Beckett, a suspect in a life-changing case in Lucy’s past. The path she’s chosen since dealing with Beckett has been dark and terrifying-but she has no idea just how deep she will go or where the twisted road will take her. She’s about to find out.

Review:

WOW….I am blown away by Ms. Green’s storytelling.  The writing is so engaging!  I could not put this book down when I first started reading…at 2 am and 25% done with the book I fell asleep.  I could not believe how the author had so quickly immersed me in Lucy’s life.  And the rest of the story was devoured the next day –I just could not put it down.  I am in awe as to the way Ms. Green was able to broach a difficult topic (child molestation, pedophiles and abuse) in such a way that was not TOO distressing to one’s sensitivities to this topic yet hitting home the seriousness of such abuse on the children.  The mystery was certainly ongoing throughout all the twists and turns this story took….until the very end.

It was interesting to go through the journey of Lucy’s life, what made Lucy who she is.  Lucy experienced trauma as an observer to the devastation abuse took on her older sister’s life as well as her own.  It made her Lucy.  She entered Child Protective Services with the belief that she could make a difference.  And while she did to some small degree, she became disillusioned with the system.  This lead to Lucy becoming a private investigator and doling out justice in her own unconventional manner.  But at what cost to her soul?  As the story unfolds, we see that the cost is becoming quite high to Lucy and she questions whether her brand of justice is one that she can continue to live with.

One of her early cases as a social worker involved Justin Beckett, a young boy with issues….which seem to lead him into killing a younger girl.  Thus an association with a social worker is born. Now, years later, Lucy has been following the release of Justin from prison and his re-entry into the neighborhood.  So when Kailey goes missing, Lucy is right there to determine if Justin is the culprit.  Amongst the hurdles Lucy must work through/with  Justin’s brother, Officer Todd, who is lead officer in Kailey’s case.

During one scene, prior to Kailey’s disappearance, Lucy is in a bar tailing Steve Simon, a known pedophile.  Lucy is preparing to brandish her form of justice when she discovers that Steve has taken off.  Lucy is then approached by a man (Chris Hale) who indicates that he knew what she was up to with Steve.  Lucy is taken aback and sits down to discover what Chris thinks he knows.  Turns out, he knows more than Lucy would like him to.  Lucy must now decide how close to keep Chris, for her own preservation.  Their relationship becomes complicated…which is a common theme among all the cast of characters.

I really enjoyed the ride…MANY unexpected relationships, ones I never would have guessed.  The journey to finding Kailey is not without its trials and tribulations (and outright surprises), but the journey is exciting and one I am glad I did not miss.

If you like reading thrillers then I suggest you run to your nearest bookstore and pick up this book! It will keep you on the edge of your seat (in a good way) throughout the journey.  I for one cannot wait for the next book in the series.

*OBS would like to thank the author for supplying a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review*