The past never lets us go, especially if something awful happens. It's not only Aurora Jackson's family who have suffered but her friends and their families too. They have stuck together, however, supporting each other, and trying to move on. At least they have until her body is found thirty years after she disappeared.

This is a story with a small suspect pool but that doesn't mean the culprit stands out. The flashbacks tell us what happened up to a point and the police investigation does the rest. I had it down to a choice of two at the end and thoroughly enjoyed getting to that point. This isn't a fast paced book, it moves at the speed of a cold case suddenly turned homicide and then gradually increases it's urgency the closer to the end you get.

I felt it was well written and realistically told, with the police officers as well as the suspects being interesting and diverse. They made two good teams and, in the case of the police they all contributed to the investigation without any one of them swamping it.

I was able to read an advanced copy of this novel thanks to Netgalley and the publishers in exchange for an unbiased review and look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

A good, solid police procedural reminiscent of Tana French. This book does have it's thriller moments, but I really enjoyed the slow burn of reopening the investigation of a cold case. It was fascinating to see the evidence and witnesses thirty years on from the crime.

Woven around the main story is the events of the night of the crime told mainly through the victim's POV. I loved this approach, seeing the middle aged characters as their vibrant teenage selves really took this book to another level. Between the solid writing, the interesting style and the good characters I want to read more by Gytha Lodge.

This was a well-written and interesting read about a cold case where six teenagers go camping in the New Forest and one doesn’t return. The prologue, set 30 years after the camping trip, had me hooked and sets a chilling tone. I found Jonah, the detective, an easy character to relate to and enjoyed the scenes with the police officers. There’s extra tension because Jonah is hiding an incident in his past which may have bearing on the case. I enjoyed reading the scenes with the friends too but did get a little confused between Brett and Benners (probably my own fault for not reading attentively enough, but I was keen to get on with the story!) Every time I thought I had guessed the killer, I was proved wrong! There’s a very exciting ending and I look forward to more books by this talented new author.

This one will keep you guessing, with many twists and turns along the way. A well written murder mystery that flips between the present and the time of the crime, 30 years ago. The detective investigating the discovery of the remains was a rookie policeman at the time of the original missing person case, so has personal memories of that incident.

Great debut novel

What a great read and kudos to Gytha Lodge for a well written, well-paced debut novel. There is a glut of crime fiction around, and it is not easy to write a good crime thriller. However, this one delivers on all fronts.

1983, a warm July night and seven friends go camping. 30 years later Aurora Jackson’s body turns up after she disappeared that night. The mystery of her death is the central theme of the book, but the themes of friendship and loyalty are also touched upon.

Jonah Sheens is tasked with investigating the murder but does not disclose that he has a shared past with the suspects. The discovery of the body brings the six friends back to the scene of the crime as Jonah attempts to uncover which of them killed Aurora.

The writer manages to build up the tension as the story weaves the build-up to the night of the murder and the subsequent investigation, as well as the dramatic discovery of the body so many years later which brings all the friends back into the frame as suspects. The drama is heightened by the fact that DCI Sheens neglects to mention that he was once closely linked to one of the suspects.

A great read that keeps the reader guessing.

Reviewed by Gillian

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review

10 January 2019
It took 30 years to solve the crime in this book but I read the story in a few days because it was an intriguing mystery. I really wanted to know what had happened to the group of teen-agers who appear at the beginning of the narrative. The police personnel also have their back stories and all in all the very different characters are this books strength. A good read.

.

I adore a good thriller; this is a fantastic new series with a diligent team of detectives and I'm looking forward to reading much more about them!

Thirty years ago, Aurora Jackson goes missing after being invited along to a party with her sister and her sister's friends. For thirty long years they all hoped that one day she would turn up but with the discovery of a body, it becomes a murder investigation with local cop, DCI Jonah Sheens and his team taking charge.

This is compulsive reading, and one I found myself thinking about when I wasn't actually reading it. Full marks to the author for the way the team deal with the investigation: they work resolutely, sometimes following gut instinct but always - always - following up with solid facts. I began by suspecting no-one and ended with suspecting EVERYONE!

Skilfully crafted and beautifully written, this is the first novel by Gytha Lodge which I have come across. However, it most definitely won't be the last, and I really hope she's already working on the next one in this series as I cannot wait!

My thanks to publisher Michael Joseph - Penguin UK for my copy via NetGalley. This is my honest, original and unbiased review.

Thank you Net galley for sharing this book with me.
‘She lies in wait’ is a tense, fast-paced whodunnit, written well and intriguingly.
Unusually for these kind of modern thrillers, I found it unpredictable and it had me gripped.
Written from the perspective of several people involved in the case, in both past and present tense, I found it’s approach quite unusual yet easy to get to grips with.
I don’t want to include any spoilers in this feedback so suffice is to say that 7 teenagers went camping in the 80’s, only 6 went home.
A simple enough concept, but it’s meandering will keep you guessing until the end.
I would definitely recommend this book to any fiction fan.

Fantastic book that had me gripped from start to finish. I had no idea who the guilty person was as there were so many possibilities throughout with lots of red herrings and twists. A great thriller that I thoroughly enjoyed and recommend.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for an honest and unbiased opinion.

This is a good police procedural, with a decent, well paced plot. It kept me gripped from start to finish. I didn't completely empathise with Jonah, so only 4 stars, not 5. I will definitely look out for more books by this author.

A thirty year old case in to a missing teenage girl was never going to be an easy one to solve, until one day her teenage body is found. From her final resting place to the camp where she was last seen was but a short distance so how come the searches didn't discover her sooner?
We have to trawl through the distant memories of the people she was camping with to try and discover what happened. When you add into the meld that drugs and alcohol were involved then the mists of time become more of a dense fog!
Jonah Sheen the DCI in charge also has some memories both good and bad going back those thirty years. He was a young copper when the 'misper' alarm was sounded.
I really enjoyed the novel, it had intrigue, pace and an unusual story. I wanted to add.....a cliff-hanger ending too but you'd only understand that once having read it.

What an absolute fantastic book. I couldn't put it down. One of the best "who-done-its?" I have read.

With thanks to Netgalley and Penguin for this ARC in exchange for an open and honest review.

She Lies in Wait is the first book starting DCI Jonah Sheens.

Jonah was on annual leave when he was called back to work after a dead body was found. A young girl was hiding from her family in a wood. The girl found some disturbed earth under a beach tree where she found a hollow to hide in. When The girl stepped inside she found a partially decomposed finger. Inside the grave were several packages of drugs.

Jonah immediately guessed it would be the body of 14 year old Aurora Jackson. Thirty years earlier when Jonah was a rookie PC he was involved in the search for Aurora.. Over the years it was a case than Jonah constantly thought about because he knew Aurora.

Aurora went missing on a camping trip with her older sister Topaz and her sister's friends. The other members of the group were athlete Brett, topaz`s BF Coralie, Topaz`s future husband Connor, JoJo and Benners.

Jonah and his team, new recruit DC Juliet Hanson. D s Ben Lightman and ex army DS Domnall O`Malley decide to investigate the case again from the beginning. Topaz suspects it was a school teacher that Aurora had a crush on who was coincidently also camping in the area that weekend.
When Juliet contacts Aurora`s best friend from school, Jonah worried a long held secret will come out.

I enjoyed the story but I thought there were too many characters to remember. Every so often I found I had to keep checking who they were. Although the plot was not full of twists and turns, I was still surprised when the killer was revealed..

The story was told in the present day with the POV of Aurora on the day she died. I liked Jonah and his team and I look forward to finding out about their personal lives in the next book.

I found it hard to warm to DC Hanson but she was certainly intriguing. Naturally suspicious she was open minded enough to suspect Jonah when he was acting suspiciously.

On the whole I thought She Lies in Wait was a promising start to what I think will be a good series.

This was a good book with some good twists to the story. I enjoyed the various characters and the whodunnit element throughout.

Thanks for letting me review this.

This sounded like a book like I would really enjoy, however I just didn’t get into the plot. I wasn’t able to differentiate between the characters and I found the story jumped about too much for me.

This novel begins with the discovery of a body in woods. DCI Jonah Sheens was a young man when a teenage girl, Aurora Jackson, went missing in 1983. As soon as he hears about the body, he is immediately convinced that she has been discovered at last and, indeed, it turns out to be her. Sheens is put in charge of the case and begins to try to piece together what happened all those years ago.

Aurora went camping in the woods with her elder sister, Topaz, and her friends – Jojo, Brett, Connor, Benner and Coralie. Also seen that evening, camping nearby, was one of the teachers from Aurora’s school – Andrew MacKenzie. Jonah was aware of most of those involved, as he went to the same school as Aurora, her sister and her friends. They were the cool kids, although Aurora was somewhat of a loner and embarrassed the beautiful, flirtatious, Topaz. However, Topaz seemed unaware that her sister was blossoming and that not everyone saw her as the gawky, younger girl.

This is not really an original setup. A group of teenagers go into a wood – there are lots of different emotions, jealousies and obsessions going on – throw in some drink and drugs, and, come the morning, a girl is missing. These kind of novels can be either brilliant, or rather mundane and, sadly, I found this hard to connect with. I liked DCI Jonah Sheens and I am sure that he could do well in further books, but most of the other characters were hard to sympathise with and I found myself unable to really care what had happened. It felt rather formulaic, although it was well written. I received a copy of this book from the publishers, via NetGalley, for review.

Rated 3.5

2-2,5 Stars

This book sounded like something right up my alley. Six friends go camping in the woods. Topaz, one of them, has to bring her little sister, Aurora, with her. But she goes missing one night and never reappeared. Thirty years later her body is found. The police are reopening the case. DCI Jonah Sheens is working on it, again. He was a 19year old police officer when Aurora went missing. He knew all of the kids because he went to the same school. He is sure one of them killed the beautiful and bright Aurora.

The book begins with a bang. The remains of the 14year old Aurora are found by accident. We soon learn that she went out camping with her sister and her five closest friends. Something happened during that trip and she went missing. This could have been a suspenseful thriller but the story is told in a very slow pace. Nothing is happening most of the time. It is a lot about police work. This is not unusual for a crime novel. This book is the start of a new series around DCI Jonah Sheens. So the author starts halfheartedly to give some of the team some background. But that is more irritating than helping. So is one officer getting suddenly harsh texts from an ex-boyfriend without any explanation or solution. This obviously has to wait until the next book.

I am not a huge fan of police work driven stories. But I read a few and they worked mostly just fine for me. But here it all drags a bit. There was also something about the writing. I found myself getting easily distracted while I was reading. That means it did not get me fully engrossed in its story. This may have been the reason I did not figure out who was the murderer. So I kept on reading because I wanted to know what happened. It is not a totally bad book but also not a very good one. I don’t think I will read more in this series about DCI Sheens.

It was at first hard to get into but in the end became really enjoyable and I was engrossed in the story.

I was interested when I saw the title on netgalley and read the blurb and it did not disappoint.

Thanks to netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book. Everyone should consider the read when it comes out next year.

First rate thriller, made interesting by having a lead detective connected to the victim. My only criticism is the slightly disjointed writing style that made the book harder to read at times.

Thank you to the publisher, author and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my review.

What happened to Aurora? The line up of suspects and the Police investigation kept me guessing right until the end. An Enjoyable and engrossing story. It has an American feel and allure to it all although definitely an English setting.