Wow! This was an absolutely fantastic read that kept me up long into the night. Patricia Gibney's Detective Lottie Parker certainly won my heart and I am sure she is going to worm her way into the hearts of other readers too. Dedicated to the job, ruffling the feathers of the higher ups, a widowed mom trying to do right by her kids, but Lottie's personal life is a bit of a mess! I really loved her character! Her co-workers Boyd, Kirby, and Lynch were quite interesting too and I highly anticipate the rest of the series.

I seriously don't think that Bookouture has let me down yet. They know how to publish amazing thrillers! Much like Little Girl Lost, Blink, and Bad Little Girl, The Missing Ones is a great thriller that will keep you guessing until the very end. If you like puzzles and intertwining storylines, then this is one that should be on your list.

We start out with a bang, not only in the prologue, but also in the first chapter. Children worrying about who will be next in the ground and a murder in a church that is followed by a suicide. Another thing that Bookouture is known for is having strong female character leads. We have Detective Lottie Parker on the case. As she follows all leads, she is brought to a former children's home, St Angela's. Where she has to face parts of her past and discovering that decades old unsolved mysteries are connected to her victims.

I enjoyed all of the elements to this story. The murders, the children's home, the church, the investigation. While it felt like, at times, that it was a lot packed into one book, it all was worth it in the end! If you enjoyed past Bookouture titles, or just want a good thriller then I highly recommend picking up this title! Patricia Gibney did an incredible job weaving a story and making the characters real. I'm excited for book two!

Big thank you to Bookouture for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

The story starts in the past with 3 small faces watching from a window as the hole had been dug, and the little body was in asked in a flour bag. The middle child spoke, I wonder which one of us will be next?

When a woman's body is found in a Cathedral and a few hours later a man is found hanging from a tree at his home, Detective Lottie Parker is called in to investigate. Both bodies have the same tattoo. So how are they connectedness?

This is a gripping, fast paced, well written book. Before I had finished the first paragraph I was hooked. I do recommend this book.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Bookouture and the author Patricia Gibmey for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Another day, another delicious debut to get my teeth into. Although, as I found out early on, it wasn't so much me getting my teeth into this book, rather the book was slowly getting under my skin. I put it down last night at bed time for a rare early night and, after about five minutes snuggled up in bed, the light went back on, the book picked up again and that was me up again reading until I had finished it.
As with all first books in a series, there are characters to introduce and get to know, scenes to set, relationships to establish and that's before you factor in the case that they are trying to solve. A precarious balance indeed but an important one. Unlike a stand alone, a series author needs to establish a connection with the reader so that they will continue on with the series after the first book is finished. They also have to make the main story worth reading. I am pleased to report that this book ticked both these boxes for me. I finished not only satisfied with the case in question but also eager to return to Lottie and crew in the next episode. Job done.
Lottie is a bit of a complex character. Mother of three teenagers, widowed for three years after the passing of her husband, she has thrown herself into her job. He boss is a jerk, always on her case whilst trying to muscle in on her investigations and steer her away from anyone who he "networks" with. She has a chequered past with her partner in crime Boyd, they have history shall we just say, and their constant sniping at each other implies that there is much unresolved between them. She also has a strained relationship with her mother. She mostly plays nice with others but does has her own agenda and that's where the rules get a bit blurred. She is, at times, her own worst enemy. But her heart is in the right place. Between coming to terms with what has happened to her, moving on from it, trying to raise her children alone and her job, she really does seem to be trying to do her best, albeit trying to go it alone. I really felt for her at times. Yes, a wee bit stereotypical for a cop but, despite sounding over the top when spelled out, as a character she works really well. Not sure I really like her at the moment to be honest, but I have a suspicion that she will grow on me as she develops through the series.
The storyline itself is a little harrowing and disturbing at times. But the you can guess where it goes from the blurb, and indeed the opening, so I assume that other readers will know to avoid if this stuff upsets. That said, it is all dealt with in a sensitive way, not for shock tactics.
The case itself was, for me anyway, a little predictable in places. That said, there was still quite a lot I got wrong and I was dealt a few blows as things were revealed. Maybe I was lulled into a false sense of security by some of the easy clues that I missed the hints at others...
As Police Procedurals go, this one follows many of the basic rules and is, at times, a bit formulaic. Although there is a lot more to it than just that as I soon found out. Especially when the case takes a turn towards being a bit close to home for Lottie. All things that contrive to make this book quite difficult to put down, as already illustrated.
All in all a good series opener and I am very much looking forward to book two which I believe the author is currently working on. Hope she writes quick!

My thanks go to the publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

So this is Patricia Gibneys first novel and first outing for her Detective Lottie Parker, and boy do we have the makings of a great series on our hands.

We start off with in the past with three small children huddled at an upstairs window looking down on two men burying s child's body. As they huddle together one of them utters "I wonder which one of us will be next?"

Present day and a woman is murdered in a church and shortly afterwards a man is found hanging from a tree in his garden. Detective Lottie Parker and her team are assigned to the cases and with the discovery of the same crude tattoo on both victims, it becomes clear that both crimes are related. Lotties enquiries lead her St Angelas, a former children's home run by the church, a place for unwanted children or unmarried teenage mothers and their unwanted babies. A place with a terrible hidden past of abuse by the church and of cover up. As she investigates the murders further she soon discovers that they have some link to the past goings on in the now derelict St Angelas and are more closer to home and personal to her than she thought.

A pretty flimsy synopsis of the story by me but going into any farther detail is spoiler territory.
What we do have here is an excellent debut thriller from Patricia Gibney, a well thought out, well written story of church child abuse, cover ups, murders, planning corruption and bent officials. In fact we have probably two of the most damaging episodes in Ireland's recent past. - the church abuse of children and the homes run for unmarried girls and their children and the corruption in planning and building in Ireland, especially in the boom, which ultimately led to the huge financial crash there.
Both huge subjects tied up into one story, in your debut novel, of your native country while introducing your female lead character detective who will feature in a series of novels. A brave move indeed and one that is pulled off almost effortlessly.

The book is incredibly readable. Grabs you in from the start, then takes its time as the story is fleshed out and the characters are revealed warts and all. Lottie is a great central character. Mother of three, a widow, not spending enough time with her kids, fighting a lot with her mother, drinking too much and falling foul of her boss a lot, she's a very likeable if flawed character. Im already looking forward to reading her next outing when it's available.

The subject matter is pretty grim and there are some disturbing passages to read but as the end of the day it's a great read, even if a little tough at times with the subject matter.
My only criticism is the book felt a little heavy boned and could have done with a little more editing to knock maybe 50 pages or so off it. I never found myself getting bored at any stage but it did feel a little longer than it perhaps should have been. A minor gripe from me as it didn't really stop me from hugely enjoying this book.

Patricia Gibney is one to definitely keep an eye out for and I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who reads the genre. I am already looking forward to reading Lotties next outing and am delighted to have found such a talented author at the beginning of her career.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Bookouture and Patricia Gibney for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The story involved the abuse of vulnerable children by trusted clergy in rural Ireland in the Seventies and the extremely harsh treatment meted out to young girls who were unmarried mothers and to boys who were regarded as unmanageable or tearaways.
It was a gripping story, full of twists and so well written. The characters were immediately believable. I felt I knew Detective Lottie Parker already and I look forward to the next books in the series.
It was hard to believe this was a first novel. It reminded me of the books of Jane Casey, and it’s good to see another promising author writing in the genre.

This is excellent first novel from Patricia Gibney. I was engrossed in this book from the very first page due to all the twists and turns in this story. I thought it was well written. The author researched this controversial subject well. I loved the characters, especially Lottie Parker. She broke some of the rules but, she got the work done. I cant wait to see how the characters and the story develops.

The Missing Ones starts with one hell of a bang and you know that you are in for a dark and disturbing read!
When a woman is found murdered in the cathedral and quickly followed by the discovery of the body of a man hanging outside his home, Detective Lottie Parker knows that there is something dark at play but she is not quite sure what the missing link is. The investigation uncovers the common thread of St Angela's a former Children's Home and the race is on to uncover the secrets of St Angela's. There are twists and turns throughout the book and it keeps you guessing right up until the end.
I struggled to connect with Lottie right up until the end of the book, I found myself getting frustrated by her at times and her unwillingness to connect with others including her family and colleagues. At times I just wanted to shake her! However, by the end of the book, I found myself warming to her as more of her background was revealed. I loved Detective Boyd, Lottie's partner in the police force and felt at times he was the stronger character in the storyline.
This is a dark book with its main theme, mostly told through flashbacks, of child abuse and while it is not overly graphic in content, the reader is left in no doubt of the horrors that these kids went through at the hands of those meant to look after them.
Overall I liked this book, I love the genre, the subject matter and the plot lines. My only criticism of the book was the length, I felt it was just a bit too long and there were parts of the book that seemed a bit too padded out for me. However, I would and I will read the next in the Lottie Parker series as I think there is definitely the beginning of a fabulous series in there!

Wow what a debut. I have read many books already this year and so far female crime writers are coming up far better than the make ones. This book grabs you from the beginning and does not let you go until well after the last page!
This is a cracking debut. It is hard to describe without giving the plot away. Needless to say it does twist and turn and there are enough suspects to keep you guessing right up to the end. The lead detective Lottie is a well thought out character and one element is drawn very much from the authors own experience (with a rather moving letter at the end of the book)..
I wrote a whole paragraph here on plot and have deleted it due to the fact that I do not want to give anything away on connections and how the stories link together.....all I will say is this is a really good read.
Do yourself a favour and buy it - you will not be disappointed.

Very similar to Graham Masterton's Katie McGuire's series. A long slow start with all the action happening in the last 20-30%. A good first novel but not outstanding. Will I read book 2? Sure!

Thanks, NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read this book in exchange of my honest unbiased review.
In recent months, I have become more than a little hooked on phycological thrillers, the synopsis of this book sounded like it would be right for me so requested a copy to peruse. Regretfully I was very disappointed, try as I might I just could not get into this book at all, I gave up after a couple of chapters.

How are new authors writing such cracking debut novels? you would think they would need to get a few books under their belts to be able to write as flawlessly as this .I loved Lottie and the settings for the story and had no idea where it was going .The pace was good and so was the story can't ask for much more in my opinion.look forward to reading more by this exciting new writer.Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an ARC in return for an honest review.

The Missing Ones

An enthralling debut thriller and the start to what promises to be a great new series.

DI Lottie Oarker is a widow trying to cope with the loss of her husband, her three children and her job as a Detective Inspector. There is a lot going on in this book, you can't fail to be entertained by this and you won't be disappointed.

I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book, with thanks to Netgalley and the publisher. 4*

* Received this book for free, in exchange of an honest review*

Dark, often gruesome, and highly disturbing plot. Not at all my type of read, I actually cannot stomach reading books with this subject matter. It was written well, just not something I can enjoy reading. However, if there are readers out there, that like deeply dark, often gruesome plots, than this book is surely for them, and will be enjoyed!

When a woman is found murdered in a cathedral and a man is found hanging from a tree, Detective Lottie Parker is called in to lead the investigation. When the same tattoo is discovered on the legs of both victims, is becomes obvious that they are connected, but how? The trail leads Parker to the former children’s home, St. Angela’s, and a cover-up that has existed for decades. When two teenage boys go missing, Parker is under extreme pressure to close the case before the killer strikes again.

By using the line, ‘I wonder which one of us will be next?’, Patricia Gibney has you hooked right from the start of the book as we are introduced to three children witnessing the death and subsequent burial of another child. Although it is obvious from quite early on in the story who some of the children are, the full significance of the event is not revealed until the end and leaves you feeling horrified and traumatised at the same time.

There have been many books written about abuse in children’s homes but what I particularly liked about The Missing Ones is that it deals with the repercussions for all those involved – the abusers and the abused. Patricia Gibney has created a very atmospheric book that paints a very vivid picture of what life was like at St. Angela’s and, at times, your heart bleeds for those who were unfortunate enough to be incarcerated there.

In Detective Lottie Parker, we have a strong female lead who, after losing her husband, is battling her own inner demons. Her relationship with her children is strained as she struggles to find a balance between her work and home life and she is in danger of losing control of her children altogether. I really liked Lottie and felt that she handled situations in a ‘real’ way, making her character very believable.

On the strength of this book, I hope that this is a series that will run and run. I look forward to reading the next stages of Lottie’s life.

The Missing ones

"The Missing Ones' is the first in a series by Patricia Gibney featuring Detective Lottie Parker.

It starts off at some point in the past, with 3 terrified children watching an impromptu burial from a high up window and wondering which of them will be next...

Then we move to present day Ragmullin - a small Irish town where we meet 40-something Detective Lottie Parker, recently widowed with 3 teenage children to care for and a long running spat with her Mum, making things difficult.

When Lottie is called out to a murder scene, we learn that the victim, Susan Sullivan, a seemingly unremarkable 50-something town planner, has been strangled to death in a cathedral. Within hours, her boss, James Brown, is also dead - hanging from a tree in an apparent suicide.

Lottie and her partner Boyd set off to try and figure out if and how these deaths are linked, taking them on a journey that includes some disturbing past happenings at St Angela's former children's home, a potential liaison with a priest, strange tattoos, switching timelines and a good dollop of twisty mystery thrown in for good measure.

Running alongside the main plot theme are reveals of previous situations that help you to get to know and understand the characters involved, and some good setup for future storylines that will surely reveal themselves as the series progresses. There's so much going on in this book that you're never bored and I'm sure the author will have plenty for future instalments!

Lottie is a great character. Strong, intelligent, fiesty, flawed, bloody-minded, and at times so stubborn and reactive that you want to shake her - but I couldn't help but like her. The story is well written, the characterisation is excellent and the plot keeps you hooked. Five stars from me!

Thanks to NetGalley, Bookouture and Patricia Gibney for the advance copy of 'The Missing Ones' in return for an honest review.

Fantastic read. Detective Lottie Parker is called to the cathedral in her home town where the body of a woman has been discovered - she has been strangled as she sat in a pew. Then one of the victim's closest colleagues is found hanging from a tree in his garden - is it suicide or another murder. Lottie is convinced there is more to both deaths than meets the eye and that an old orphanage in the town holds the key. At the same time she is struggling to keep her family together. Loved the Lottie character and look forward to reading more about her and her family and colleagues.

Thanks to Netgalley, Bookouture and Patricia Gibney for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Funny how some books can just grab you from the very beginning. Gibney’s book manages that, from the prologue of three children wondering which one will be next. I loved her description of the town of Ragmullin, a down on its luck town in Ireland. I just felt for Lottie from the get-go. She's dealing with a boss that keeps trying to take over the investigation, widowhood, three teenagers and an interfering mother. And Lottie and Boyd have a good working partnership, with just enough competitive spirit thrown into the mix, not to mention a romantic edge she refuses to recognize. There were so many great passages detailing Lottie’s life but the one I loved was:

“Lottie went to the fridge. No wine. Shit. She didn't drink anymore; at least not as much as she used to, she reminded herself. times like these, she missed alcohol the most. It helped relieve the stress of the day. She didn't even smoke anymore. Well, maybe sometimes, when she had a drink. God, but she was a contradiction. She should've taken a few Xanax from Susan Sullivan’s medicine cabinet. But she would never do that. She didn't think she would anyway.”

The writing here manages to paint a descriptive picture while still being fast paced.

Nothing groundbreaking here, but an enjoyable police procedural. A few things you can see coming but that just kept me reading to see if I was right. And enough twists and turns that you won’t see coming.

Hoping the author follows through with this series and writes more. I'll definitely read them.

My thanks to netgalley and Bookouture for an advance copy of this book.

They were watching out of the window, watching as the adults buried something underneath the apple tree that grew out of their yard. Suddenly, one of the three young children spoke, their innocent voice breaking the silence, speaking what they all three felt, who would be next?

It is now more than thirty years later and the novel begins at Day One of a murder investigation. Susan Sullivan has been found dead at a church by the woman who came to clean it. Susan was supposed to meet someone there but who and what they were meeting over is not given and the detectives assigned to the case are just as lost as I am. It isn’t long before another body is found and this time it is James Brown and he is found hung from an apple tree. Inspector Lottie and her partner Boyd try to find a connection with these two bodies while their Superintendent breathes down their necks. The story starts to get interesting as the pathologist discovers a similarity with the two bodies and I am connecting them to the children staring out the window. Where is this third child and will they be the next victim? As Lottie is working on the case, she realizes they are connected to St. Angela’s, a group home that existed years ago, which is now being redeveloped into a multi-million-dollar project. This information blew the story wide open. Filled with lies, deceits, missing individuals and just a bit of romance, this novel had a full cast of characters who gave Lottie and her department a case they will be talking about for years.

I found that I liked the character of Lottie. She was real. There were times when she was over her head and she knew it, she was balancing her career with being a single parent. She was dealing with her relationship with her mother and a relationship with Boyd, which he wanted and I think she wanted to some extent but she knew she had enough to handle at the moment. I liked that she stuck herself out at times, she pushed the envelope when she knew she shouldn’t, and in the back of her mind she was always thinking of her children. I liked that the novel started out strong and it ended strong. I liked how everything was confusing, how there were different stories taking place throughout the novel and how they were all yet connected. I thought it had a climactic ending. It was almost too perfect how it all came together on those last pages. I enjoyed this novel and I am looking forward to reading more about Lottie in her upcoming novels.

I received a copy of this novel from NetGalley and Bookouture in exchange for an honest review.