Given it’s such a great story set-up, I was looking forward to a twisty, chilling ride. I have to say I was disappointed.

For instance, as we got to know the five friends, I kept getting the three boys mixed up. I think this was because they were all a bit shallow and tended to blur together. The girls were easier to tell apart and one of them I really liked and she comes out well in the end – but I can’t say much without giving the ending away.

Unfortunately, the police officer leading the investigation didn’t come out too well for me, either. He knew the group who went missing and has a shady secret of his own which we keep getting heavy hints about. I have to say, that in the end, this heavy hinting started to get a bit tedious.

When we finally discover who the killer was, it seemed to me the information dumped on the reader for the final reveal could have been assigned to any of the five characters – there was so little build up to the reveal that it simply felt like a bit of a slog to get there.

In the middle of the book, my attention wavered.
The writing style was good but I don’t think the plot fulfilled on its promise.

My thanks to NetGalley and to the publisher for a copy of this book. This is my honest review.

This is an excellent read which definitely keeps you guessing with lots of twists. Will read more by this author.
Highly recommended read.

Sorry, but, I found this a tedious read.

It's a bit 'murder by numbers' and although the characters are quite well developed as the story unfolds, I just didn't care enough for any of them.

A body is found in a wood and the story is told both in real time and from the perspective of the murder victim, Aurora. DCI Jonah Sheens was a young constable when the murder took place and there is a tenuous link between him and the victim and her sister and friends.

I'm afraid I found the read very difficult and didn't enjoy the ending, although, I'm sure some will and I hope it finds it's audience, just, not me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to preview.

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

This is an excellent book and well worth reading by anyone who enjoys thrillers. I didn't give it 5 stars as I was hoping for a clever big twist at the end but it didn't happen. You presume it could only be one of the 6 involved (well 3 if you discount females if you think only a man could move a body so far) although there is a red herring or two thrown in. Although thinking back the details of what actually happened are a surprise.
I felt that this book could have been an american story with college kids - some rich and some not - and not set in the New Forest.
Nevertheless very enjoyable

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.

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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