6 teenagers go camping 5 return. What happened to Aurora on that fateful trip is a mystery that haunts them all until her remains are found 30 years later.

The 5 teenagers, Topaz (her sister), Coraline, Jojo, Connor and Brett are now adults with careers and reputations put at risk as the police team under DCI Jonah Sheens methodically retrace the initial investigation to find the murderer. In true mystery style there's lies, half-truths and a few red herrings creating a credible world.

We are given glimpses of Aurora's final days through all of the characters who knew her. Flashbacks are beautifully woven into the modern investigation and add to the findings of the police but do not give away any clues leaving the reader guessing and wanting to read on to find out the answers.

This is a proper mystery/police investigation with all aspects of procedure we have become familiar with from TV police shows. The added charm is the small town UK police team experience so we have time to get to know them and the writer has created credible, fallible characters for us to like. I would love to see a sequel for DCI Sheen and his team as so much is hinted at about them but is artfully not focused on.

Warning: Teenagers do not recommend this to your parents as they will never let you go camping on your own again!

I was given the novel free by netgalley.com for my fair and honest review.

She Lies in Wait is a well written murder mystery which takes place across a dual timeline – 1983 and the present day. DCI Jonah Sheens is pulling together a crack CID team when the body of a young woman is found in the woods. He instinctively knows who it is, because he remembers when Aurora Jackson went missing, thirty years before.

Her disappearance haunted him and now he must try to solve her murder, and that means he will have to face some of his own demons as he pursues the truth about what happened thirty years ago.

In 1983 seven friends went down to the woods for a camping trip but only six returned. Aurora Jackson had tagged along behind her sister, Topaz as the school friends set out to party in the woods, their libidos raging and their thirst needing quenched.

The reader is treated to a series of flashbacks which tell some of the story of 1983 and the rest we learn from following the CID team as they unpick the clues and attempt to find the killer.

The woodland scenes are nicely atmospheric and not a little creepy and the characters are well drawn and respectably fleshed out.

The CID team contains some very interesting characters from whom I hope we will be hearing a great deal more. Not least of these is DCI Sheens who comes from a travelling family, helping to make him the archetypal outsider.

This debut novel is well-plotted and has a number of twists and mis-directions to keep the reader guessing, though sharp eyed sleuths will spot a decently large clue early on in the book.

Nonetheless, this is a well-paced and intriguing police procedural with a team that warrants further investigation.

Verdict: An accomplished debut from an author I will read again

A body is found in the woods. It's the body of 14-year old Aurora Jackson, who went missing 30 years ago from a camping trip with her friends. DCI Sheens, who is assigned to the case, went to school with her and her friends, and he was a young constable when the first searches for her were underway.

DCI Sheens is nervous when she is found, as he has secrets he doesn't want to be uncovered by the investigation. It seems that at least one of Aurora's friends might have a secret too - that they know exactly what happened to her.

This was a good idea for a story, but I felt that the pace was a little slow and I wasn't very excited at any point in the book. I didn't really connect with any of the characters, and you don't really get to know them well enough to be suspicious of anyone or relate to them. It seems like the author wants everyone to be a suspect until the end so everything is very vague until you find out exactly what happened.

The writing of the book is easy going and I had no complaints on that front, but in a market full of tense thrillers this doesn't quite match up to a lot of others out there. It was an okay read, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, sadly. This was the authors debut novel, and I really hope that she develops her art and style further.

Everyone thought that Aurora Jackson was a smart and beautiful young girl with a bright future ahead of her. So why would someone kill her? That’s what DCI Sheens is trying to figure out when, thirty years after her disappearance, the body of Aurora is found in the same woods where she was last seen alive. In 1983, six teenagers, aged between 15 and 18 went camping together. They were the popular cool kids, everyone was either jealous or scared of them. They were a closed group and Aurora was clearly the outsider during this camping trip, but she was also Topaz’s sister so they tried to make her feel included. However, that night, alcohol, drugs, lust, and jealousy are high, memories are blurry, and the six friends claim to not know what really happened to Aurora.

Through the flashbacks we read what really happened the night Aurora disappeared, while in the present time DCI Johan Sheens and his team interrogate once again the group of friend who, thirty years later, are still close and present a unite front. The author created a cast of characters that are multi-layered and complex. The six friends are difficult to figure out, it’s not clear if and what they are hiding and, at some point, they are all suspects.. I found the character of DCI Jonah Sheens fascinating. He was part of the first investigation thirty years earlier, he had some connection to the six friends, and he is also hiding something. The members of his team are interesting and engaging, they are all different from each other, but work really well together. Aurora remains the real protagonist of the story. She feels realistic and innocent and, through her flashbacks, we see a young girl, between childhood and adulthood, trying to fit in with a group of people who are not really her friends.

With a slow pace, flashbacks, and twists, the author manages to keep the tension always high and, page after page, there is a sense of dread, a sense of something bad about to happen. Tana French meets The Secret History in this immersive, riveting, and suspenseful police procedural and, if this is the first book in a series, I am already looking forward to reading book number 2!

A crime thriller set in and around Southampton, starts with 7 kids going camping together but only 6 survive the night. 14 year old Aurora, is nowhere to be found, until 30 years later when the remains of her body are discovered. The missing persons investigation at the time, had a few mistakes and gaps and the children hid the use of alcohol and drugs so it's now DCI Sheen's job to find out the truth about what happened to Aurora. DCI Sheen has been involved in this case before, as a young PC so remembers a little of the case, it comes to light he may know more than he's letting on. He leads a team of 4 detectives who all have interesting traits to make a series out, all fairly believable and likable.

The story is told from the present, the detectives lead the plot into discovering really what happened by interviewing all the children that were there that night. The six are still in contact and seem to be friends but this obviously stretches tolerances when the truth behind to be unravelled. The chapters are intertwined with Aurora's point of view describing what happened that night from her point of view, letting us have tiny clues each time, also leading us up the garden path!

I found this a nice easy read, fairly pacey, and well thought-out. Although the detectives were likable, the 'suspects' were written with less appeal. As with all of this genre I like to guess who it was at the beginning but didn't change my view this time, although it was wrong a few red herrings got me there! I look forward to reading the next in Gytha Lodge's series.

Gosh, what a rollercoaster
A brilliantly gripping and unputadownable book
You continuously change your mind who did it
Certainly a must read

Thank you netgalley, Gytha Lodge and Michael Joseph for allowing me to read and review this book.

Although slow going at times, this was an intense story with a lot of suspense and surprises. I didn’t predict anything and was definitely shocked. I found all of the characters really interesting, and liked that the chapters varied between past and present. I gave this one 4 stars because at times it did drag on a bit, and I felt like it was taking me forever to get through just one chapter. Some chapters were also quite long, which made me want to read faster because I was losing focus. I believe this is book one in a series, and I can safely say that I will definitely be reading the next books. Full of tense moments, this was an addictive read that had me hooked from the beginning.

A group of young people go on a camping weekend in the forest which ends in tragedy when the youngest member of the party goes missing. Thirty years on her body is found close to the camp site. It's up to the police to find out what happened and what the other campers knew about her death. Rather a slow start to the book but intriguing enough to want to find out what happened. A promising debut novel.

Thirty years after her disappearance 14 yr old Aurora Jackson’s body is discovered in a hideaway that only 6 friends knew about. DCI Jonah sheens is heading up this new murder investigation and it’s a little close to home, a young man in 1983 he knew the victim from school.
The book is set over different time lines, well set out and easy to follow. Well written, interesting characters and a great storyline.
A new crime series featuring Jonah Sheen and I’ll look forward to the next instalment.

I absolutely love a plot where a significant period of time has passed since the murder/event/scenario. It makes for some really unreliable characters and makes you question everyone as to their truthfulness. Especially when you consider that this plot involves 6 characters and one of them must have been responsible, yet all of them are proclaiming their innocence. Well this book just straight away held my interest!

The book is told from many view points, including the six friends who were present in the woods that night and various policemen investigating the crime 30 years later. There are also flashback chapters to Aurora’s version of events over the course of that evening.

Sometimes I find when a book is told from many different characters perspectives it can be easy to get lost in the narration and forget what happened to which character and which character thought what. I didn’t find that with this book however, I actually really enjoyed that we got to see the story through many different eyes as it helped to cast shadow and doubt over all of them. I really enjoyed how the author cast suspicion over multiple characters, even one of the investigating policemen!

I genuinely had no idea who was responsible for Aurora’s death and what the motive would have been until the end when all is revealed. I think considering this is the author’s debut novel she has done a remarkable job at keeping the plot in place despite shifting back and forth from character to character. She also moves the book along at a good pace, I never found myself reading a chapter and then thinking ‘that didn’t add much’. The book was always moving forward towards ultimately finding out what happened to Aurora.

I really enjoyed this book and if this is the level of writing from the author on her first debut novel then I honestly can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.

Last year I was fortunate enough to read Lucy Foley’s The Hunting Party and I was again reminded of that book here: six friends go away together to a relatively remote location and one of them is killed. Everyone is a suspect. Another commonality is that the timeline moves in each from the day of the murder to the present. The tagline from the first book could easily apply here:

“All of them are friends. One of them is a killer.”

I was thoroughly rapt from the first page. It’s a proper page-turner that propels you to the finish. It’s easy to knock this over in a day or two because it’s compulsive reading. I didn’t find the mystery too easy to solve because my suspicions were constantly redirected, exactly as expected for a book like this. I particularly enjoyed the sections of text from the night of the event.

The reason I haven’t given this a full 5 stars is that some of the characters were more sketches rather than fully-developed people. It was hard for me to picture them properly because I felt I didn’t have a grounded understanding of what was making them tick. I do believe that this will be the first in a series so further characterisation of the police team working with DCI Sheens will no doubt be forthcoming in future novels.

An excellent start to what will hopefully be a very successful series.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Penguin UK - Michael Joseph and Gytha Lodge for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A group of young friends decide to go on a camping trip, drink, drugs and sexual tension leads to the youngest of the group going missing., thirty years later her body is found murdered. A great story that you really need to read and follow DCI Jonah Sheens investigation .

You know how you get pet hates with certain genres of book? Well one of mine is police/detective novels, and another is series linked books. She Lies In Wait is both of these, and when I realised my mistake in choosing it I almost relegated it to the DNF pile.

However just at that point it piqued my interest and I persevered. I’m so glad I did. It’s a well paced novel about a crime that happened 30 years ago, and flicks between accounts from the day in question and the modern day investigation. Characters were well written and dislikeable but not in the annoying sense, and I wanted to keep reading to find out the truth. There’s the usual red herrings along the way, before the book reaches a not unseen conclusion but in a satisfying way. .

I would recommend this book to friends, and think it would make a good tv drama adaptation. However I wouldn’t rush to read the next in the series when it comes, but that’s just me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my ARC, and the opportunity to read something I wouldn’t normally choose.

A group of teenagers go camping one summer and Aurora, the youngest member of the group goes missing.
30 years later her body is found, Detective Sheens and his team must find out why and how Aurora died.
She Lies in Wait, is one of those books that although the premise isn’t original still feels original enough.
The police team all have their flaws and relative backstories, which don’t take anything away from the tragic circumstances around Aurora’s death. Definitely worth a read.

Thirty years ago, six teenagers go into the woods together and the next day only five come out. It was a night of drinking and partying- typical teenager behavior. The next day they discover Aurora is missing. Is she still alive? Where could she have gone? Thirty years later a body is found, and the case is being investigated by Jonah Sheens. This book was told in alternating timelines between the present and 30 years earlier when Aurora went missing. I really enjoyed the chapters from Aurora’s perspective and wished there was even more of that. In fact, all the characters seemed more interesting then. The book was well written and entertaining though I did guess who the killer was early on. I didn’t really relate or connect with any of the characters which is always a bummer when that happens.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing for an ARC copy.

DCI Jonah Sheens #1

July 1993' a group of teenagers go camping in the forest. It's a scorching night and Aurora Jackson, the youngest of the group, was delighted to be allowed to tag along. As the night progresses they drink , dance and kiss. Some of them slip into the woods in pairs. But in the morning Aurora has disappeared. An investigation was launched but no trace of the teenager was ever found. Thirty years later, Auroras body was unearthed in a hideaway that only the six friends knew about. Jonah Sheens is put in charge of solving this cold case.

This is the first book in a new police procedural series featuring DCI Jonah Sheens. He was new to the police force but was still involved in the first investigation into Auroras disappearance. We get flashbacks through Auroras eyes of what happened thirty years ago. There is also plenty of curve balls but I still guessed correctly who the killer was. We get some background information on Sheens and his fellow teammates, not all of it is good though.im looking forward to reading the next instalment to this series.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Penguin UK - Michael Joseph and the author Gytha Lodge for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

She Lies in Wait is a very accomplished detective thriller with all the necessary elements of mystery, danger and tension. The characters were particularly well drawn and I found I could believe in them. The author created an interesting team of detectives each of whom had particular issues relating to their personality and personal lives.

Throughout the book, I was kept guessing as to who had been responsible for the historic murder and, when it was all rounded up, I was satisfied that the ending was plausible.

I’d love to read more by this first time author, Gytha Lodge and am wondering if she is planning more based on the team of detectives.

When the remains of a body are found in the woods, DCI Jonah Sheens knows the identity of the victim before forensics are able to formally confirm it. Thirty years earlier he'd also become consumed by the search for fourteen-year-old Aurora Jackson but despite a massive search for the missing teenager, she remained hidden until now. Her last moments were spent with her wild older sister, Topaz and her tight-knit gang of friends who for a time were the coolest group in school; fiercely anti-establishment yet talented, intelligent and wildly popular. In contrast, Aurora was still naive and innocent, they should have protected her but something happened on that fateful trip and she never came home.
The location of her body strongly suggests that at least one of the six must have known how she ended up there but they have spent many years protecting each other's secrets; Sheens and his team face the task of breaking what appears to be their impenetrable bonds to discover the truth. Sheens, however, was a few years above the group at school. He is haunted by his own secrets and memories of that time and is terrified that he will end up being linked to the investigation. He's a fascinating character - driven by a decades-old determination to find out what really happened to Aurora but sharply aware that it might mean the shame he has been carrying for so long is exposed. His new DC, Juliette Hanson is particularly tenacious and she can't help suspecting that her boss knows more than he's letting on.
She Lies in Wait explores the dynamics between two separate groups over the course of the book - the six suspects and the officers assigned to the case. The story mostly set in the present day and follows the investigation into Aurora's death but interspersed throughout are chapters sent in the past which slowly - and with a horribly poignant inevitability - reveal what happened on that fateful night. Sheens' established team consists of Ben Lightman, rigorously meticulous and analytical but apparently emotionless despite his movie star good looks and Domnall O'Malley, the unlikely former military man with a tormented past who prefers to rely on his instinct and fierce intelligence. Juliette is welcomed onto the team but needs to show them and prove to herself what her strengths are. She proved to be one of my favourite characters, as she becomes increasingly suspicious of her boss, there's the constant question as to where her strong sense of right and wrong will lead her and a face from her past makes an unwelcome return to her life too.
We discover that the six friends - Benners, Topaz, Connor, Coralie, Jojo and Brett were changed forever by Aurora's disappearance, foregoing their previous gregariousness to become private and shut off from the attention of others. Their relationships with one other have evolved over the interim period but they have remained close and are drawn together to protect their secrets once again. The engrossing narrative switches between showing us their current responses to the investigation and their actions back in 1983 meaning that I genuinely had no idea which - if any - of the group were responsible for Aurora's death and as the story unfolds I found myself suspecting each of them at one point or another. When the truth is eventually revealed, it's both shocking and yet somehow bleakly inevitable.
She Lies in Wait is a superbly constructed thriller which really got under my skin and ensured I couldn't stop thinking about the book and its irresistible cast of characters even when I wasn't reading it. Dark, gripping and piercing examination of trust, betrayal and loss, it's hard to believe that this accomplished novel is Gytha Lodge's debut. I loved it and look forward to her next book with eager anticipation.

In what is already proving to be a vintage year for debut novels in the crime genre (Harriet Tyce and Alex Michaelides spring to mind), here is another cracking first novel, this time from Gytha Lodge. Although the trope of a group of youngsters carrying the secret of a dastardly deed into adulthood is not uncommon in Crime Fiction, this tale is told in such a refreshing and fluent way that it scarcely matters. The events of thirty years ago are narrated alongside the testimonies of the protagonists a generation later, and it works very well indeed!

There’s something about a cold case in a story that instantly sparks my attention. I love getting to relive the past along with seeing secrets and lies exposed in the present. In She Lies in Wait the discovery of a body sets off a dark and twisty set of events as the reader sees everything play out in the past along with experiencing the investigation in the present. As we see this group of teenagers meeting in the woods and then seeing the truth slowly but surely emerge. If I had to pick a favourite between the two timelines it would have to be the past as I loved seeing everything from Aurora’s perspective. Getting to know Aurora added an extra emotional layer especially knowing how it would all turn out.

You really do get the best of both worlds seeing the investigation play out but also see this group deal with the fallout from the events in the eighties. I have to say that pretty much all of the characters were flawed but this is never a problem for me. It made them all the more interesting and in a way helped to set Aurora apart from everyone else. Put it this way I think I ended up suspecting everyone at one point or another!

I felt as if all the information was there at my fingertips but I just couldn’t quite seem to be able to piece it all together. With plenty of suspects to choose from it made it just that little bit more complicated. DCI Jonah Sheens was also an interesting character and I think this book was great at building his character up along with showing he had secrets too. I think that as the reader we only got a look at the surface when it came to his character so it will be interesting to see where the series goes next.

Overall I found the plot pretty addictive, I just had to know what had actually happened and I couldn’t stop reading until I found out! She Lies in Wait is darkly addictive with plenty of twisty secrets lurking just below the surface!