Quick read, got me out of a thriller slump. Felt empathy for the main character and I've lined up the sequel. More, please.

Special Agent Elsa Myers is sitting by her dying fathers hospital bed when she gets the call. Seventeen year old Ruby has disappeared at the end of her shift at the local coffee shop. No one else is available and Elsa cannot refuse a call for help. A load of false leads cause chaos in the first few hours of the missing girl case and disguises the fact that she was taken as opposed to disappearing of her own free will. As time passes the search follows a man who may have been killing for many years. The case begins to get under Elsa’s skin.
I enjoyed this book. It was a good read and I’d recommend it despite finding certain aspects difficult to read. It was a relatively quick and easy read.
Thank you to netgalley for the copy of this book in exchange for my review.

Yes I know! I was shocked when I thought I’d chose this backlist book to read!
Same cover used for The house on needless street by Catriona Ward, which incidentally I’m reading with my book club!

Anyway…..
It couldn’t be so different.

Mediocre read for me. Girl goes missing. Detective involved. Detective selective because she’s “good” with these kind of crimes.

Several POV.

It never gripped me, I certainly felt something was missing. There was no grittiness the reader could get hold off and twist thoughts and ideas in my head.


The writing was well done, plot not so good, pace questionable.

It has taken me a while to catch up with this book but I am glad that I have. It may be largely fiction but it seems to me that there has been some very astute observation of people and what makes them tick. The tour de force is an FBI agent called Elsa who has her own unusual set problems which we discover makes her uniquely suitable for her speciality, finding "lost" children. Couple her with a detective called Lex and they eventually do an admirable job of finding and tracking the perpetrator of a series of rather nasty teen murders via a lot of false starts and some rather slow but obvious (at least to this reader) conclusions.

All in all a book worth putting on your reading list.

An OK read. Unfortunately it seems to be very much like others in the genre and so doesn't excite me. Still, it is well written.

This book is the first in a new series, and felt a bit like the pilot episode of a new show, where all characters and their storylines are crammed into one space, and it doesn't always quite piece together and hit the mark.

Elsa is an FBI agent with a difficult past. Drawn to investigate a series of young women going missing with a young policeman, we begin to piece together Elsa's checkered past. This in itself is interesting, but to me felt somewhat off-kilter; more time was given to the past and not enough to the present, and there wasn't really a point where the two intersected to draw us to the conclusion. It felt a bit lopsided to me, and a little predictable. However, the writing itself flowed well and drew me in, and I enjoyed Elsa and Lex the policeman's growing friendship.

I enjoyed this novel, however, it did not have enough to make it stand out from other crime novels - hoping to read more from this author and would read another in this series.

A good read, and well-written, but there is nothing new or earth-shattering in the book. This was the book that has stayed the longest on my reading list, and the only reason that I resolved to read the oldest book on my reading list - the title didn't grip me, and nor did the descriptive blurb.

FBI Agent Elsa Myers finds missing people.
She knows how it feels to be lost...

Though her father lies dying in a hospital north of New York City, Elsa cannot refuse a call for help. A teenage girl has gone missing from Forest Hills, Queens, and during the critical first hours of the case, a series of false leads hides the fact that she did not go willingly. With each passing hour, as the hunt for Ruby deepens into a search for a man who may have been killing for years, the case starts to get underneath Elsa's skin. Everything she has buried - her fraught relationship with her sister and niece, her self-destructive past, her mother's death - threatens to resurface, with devastating consequences. In order to save the missing girl, she may have to lose herself...and return to the darkness she's been hiding from for years.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

It is fair to say I am a big fan of the thriller genre. The downside to this is that these books can become a bit samey and it's hard to find one that stands out. A new author for and I selected the book based on the blurb. It didn't disappoint and, as the first of a new series (The Searchers), I am keen to carry on with others. The subject matter must make an uneasy for parents and there are plenty of twists to keep you engrossed. Thoroughly appealing lead character in Elsa. An author to watch out for.

Not badly written but instantly forgettable.No character substance and the story has been done to death.

This was an absorbing story not only about the children who are taken and killed but about the life of the FBI agent and how it affected her management of the cases she dealt with.. Really sad in parts as you would expect but with a great conclusion

Just finished 'A Map of the Dark' by Karen Ellis. Great read, Special Agent Elsa Myers, FBI Child Abduction Agent is very good at her job but at what cost, she is haunted by her Mothers death, her Father is dying and she is under pressure to find two missing girls. Would definitely recommend.

My only gripe, which did somewhat spoil the book for me, was the constant unnecessary 'word joining' eg, brownhairedblueeyed missingkid etc.

DNF at 50%.

I really didn't like Elsa as a main character. The book is less of a mystery and more of a character study, and while Elsa is a good character, with a back story and motivation, she's also incredibly dislike-able. It would have been nice to have more of the book dedicated to the case, rather than dedicated to Elsa.

A Map of the Dark is a fantastic, fast paced thriller that will keep you guessing until the last page. Loved the psychological build up through the book and thought the ending was fantastic. Recommended.

A Map of the Dark introduces Elsa Myers, a driven FBI agent dedicated to cases involving missing children, where foul play is suspected. Her record if success, her dedication has earned her recognition. As the tale unfolds, teenage girls are being abducted, Elsa is fighting against a ticking clock, knowing that every minute can be crucial to finding the girls before anything can happen to them. Elsa has to balance the mission against a private life where her father is dying of cancer and her beloved niece is revolting against parental control
Elsa is a loner, working a lot on instinct, keeping colleagues at arms length. Elsa hides dark secrets, carries heavy baggage that is gradually being revealed.
The story explores different natures of love, abuse, trust and escape.
A very competent and exciting debut thriller. Bring on more cases for Elsa Myers.

A Map of the Dark

Unsettling, but likable main character who is damaged but that's what makes Else such an excellent FBI agent working on missing children cases.

We live her life throughout the story and relive her childhood memories as she watches her father grow closer to dying.

We work with her and her new partner, Lex, on the case along the way their partnership becoming a fragile friendship. A well matched pair, she experienced and he on his first missing children's case.

Hope is a missing teenager who is the focus of much of the case. Things develop at a pace keeping the reader engaged and wanting to know if they will find her in time.

The twists and turns are often unpleasant and scary for a parent or aunt/uncle as we all feel the unease that we do not know where our loved ones are and who they will meet both in school and out, who could cause them harm. The amazing and positive community response to the missing girls' family gives you hope that not everyone is evil.

It's set in the USA so the officer's have to rely on sightings and in the UK we can feel thankful that we are known as having the most cameras on our streets and fewer rural areas and hope that this will never happen here.

Setup the 'locate me' on mobile phones, drive your children to work, school and to their friends. Check their social media and everybody who's a friend on Facebook and just hope.

A thrilling new series which I will look forward to reading to see if Lex and Elsies friendship develops. Reminiscent of Marchella in that you are both horrified and gripped, needing to get to the end to find out if your faith in human nature is real or an illusion.

This is not a novel for the faint of heart.

I received a free copy from net galley.com for my fair and honest review.

I am currently developing a section of the school library that will present a diverse and eclectic range of contemporary crime and thriller novels. This genre has been so popular in terms of what is being borrowed, but I feel like the young people are sticking to 'what they know' in terms of titles or writers that they've already heard of or have seen their parents reading. My mission is to include more novels like this one and improve the range and diversity of fiction that they can choose from in order to expand their reading horizons. I absolutely loved this book. It kept me gripped from the very first page and without giving away any spoilers, was a dark, intense and satisfying journey. I think that the young people will love its distinctive voice as well as be gripped by the story and intrigued to follow it to its tense conclusion. I recommend this book to anyone who is looking for intelligent, credible writing with a strong hook that won't let you go. Treat yourself to A Map of the Dark!

A Map of The Dark is a fast paced psychological thriller. A schoolgirl goes missing and a specialist FBI investigator is called in to help local police whilst dealing with past and present trauma in her personal life. A complex, emotional read with an unexpected twist.

Full of mystery and suspense. This book will keep you guessing from start to finish without ever letting on the ending. Fab book.

Similar in the narrative to a plot from Criminal Minds. Great characters, good plot fast-paced. Recommended.