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.

As I saw this was recommended by Nicci French I jumped on this. Very tense but also has some bittersweet moments. A story of family, friendships and betrayal. I like books tfst are set now and then so enjoyed this immensely. Buy it with Christmas money or vouchers!
5/5 on goodreads

This book, which I received via Netgalley, was initially a slow burner but part way through it really did pick up pace.

The story is told on a dual timeline 30 years apart as a cold case is re-opened on the discovery of the body of a girl who went missing 30 years apart. This telling does not muddy the waters as some that flit back and forth, but neither does it give many clues away.

This felt very much like the first novel of a potential police series with an introduction only to the detectives and I really didn't feel we were fed more than titbits regarding their pasts.

I was unable to predict the ending although this was not really due to twists, turns or red herrings more that I just needed more evidence, much like the detectives did.. When all the evidence was presented the conclusion was totally believable.

If I am right and there is more to come, I look forward to reading other offerings by Gytha Lodge.

She LIes in Wait is an excellent Police Procedural story.Aurora Jackson disappeared 30 years ago from a camping trip with 5 other young friends,remains are found which turn out to be hers.DCI Jonas Sheens who went to school with the group now has to investigate what has happened and who is the murderer.The story grips you from the beginning and is told over two timelines ,the present and the past with Aurora telling her story .I didn't guess who was responsible,all the characters were well written,a very enjoyable read .I look forward to the next book in the series .Many thanks to the Publisher,the Author and NetGalley for my review copy in return for an honest review.

This book is a thriller that leads you down several blind alleys in the pursuit of a murderer.

I really enjoyed this book, it was gritty and unpredictable. A must read.

I love this new police procedural and can’t wait for the second DCI Jonah Sheens. For a full review, head over to tumblr https://joebloggshere.tumblr.com/post/181254558006/she-lies-in-wait-by-gytha-lodge-i-loved-this-new

I really enjoyed She Lies In Wait by Gytha Lodge. In the past, seven teenagers go camping in the woods on a warm summer evening. They get drunk, they swim, and some of them sleep together. So far, so normal. In the early morning, no one can find Aurora Jackson. At fourteen, she was the youngest of the group, taking along with her obnoxious older sister. A massive search takes place, but Aurora is never found.
Cut to the present day, and a body is found in the woods. DCI Sheens and his team are called in to investigate. Sheens went to school with all seven campers, and was involved with the search. It is Aurora. All six of the survivors must be spoken to, and things start to cone apart for them. Only one of them, Jojo, is particularly nice.
The book is meant to be first in a series featuring DCI Sheens and his team. The characterisation of the team needs a bit of work. They are not that coloured-in as people yet, but they have potential. While it is possible to guess the identity of the killer very early on, it doesn't detract from your enjoyment much. Three stars for the writing, and four for the story.

Not my usual genre but this book had me gripped throughout. Will be looking out for more of the same!

I found this to be a chilling read throughout. The plot is intricate, the characters fulsome and the book hard to put down. The pace continues to build and I was kept guessing right till the bitter end. It’s an excellent debut and I hope that we are going to hear more from Jonah Sheens and his team in future.

When a family on a camping holiday make the gruesome discovery of human bones, it soon becomes evident that these are the remains of Aurora, the young girl who went missing 30 years previously whilst camping with her older sister and friends. The case is re-opened and Jonah Sheens is placed in charge of the investigation.
The mystery is not only whether one of the 6 friends knows more than they are telling, but whether one of them is actually responsible for the murder of Aurora. The procedural aspect of the book worked well, and there is an added layer in that Jonah had interacted with the group of friends as a teenager himself, and may have secrets of his own to hide. I think where the book really came into its own though was the flashbacks to the group of friends, the way that Aurora interacted with them all, and then how their relationships and life paths changed as a result of Aurora's disappearance.
This is a great book that I really enjoyed and I look forward to seeing what the author writes about next.

My thanks go to the publishers and net galley for the advanced copy in return for an honest review.

A promising debut novel from Gytha Lodge. Thirty years ago a teenage girl Aurora, went missing during a camping trip with her older sister and five of her friends. Despite an extensive search she was not found until a chance discovery after three decades. A murder enquiry was launched, headed by DCI Jonah Sheens. A local man, he recalled the incident as a young constable and had always wondered what had happened to Aurora. The six remaining campers are all suspects and the story unravels to discover exactly what went on during that fateful night. The six, now mainly successful with very different lives had stayed in touch which did seem rather unlikely. A slow, detailed reveal rather than a fast paced page turner, this story was well written but I felt it was slightly lacking in shock and suspense. More could have been made of the threats and fear instilled to make it into a true thriller but a good start to what I assume will be the first featuring this detective.

She Lies In Wait is a good introduction to a new police procedural series featuring DCI Jonah Sheens. Thirty years after the disappearance of Aurora Jackson, her body is discovered close to where she went missing three decades earlier. Her discovery is about to bring back together the people she was with, at the time she disappeared, in a big way. One of them could be responsible for her murder. Are they, at last, going to find out who killed her?

Just picture it, you’re out walking in the woods, and you kneel down to pull what you think is a root from the undergrowth, and you grasp what is actually a human finger. This is the opening scene that we are faced with when the body of a young girl missing for thirty years is found.

I love reading a crime novel where we are faced with a small group of suspects who all know each other. You’re never sure who you can trust in the group, and you can’t tell who is lying or telling the truth. What will happen to them all when it finally comes out? I think if you enjoy crime novels with a literary edge, then this is definitely the book for you. Don’t expect a pacy read from this book. While Gytha Lodge’s writing is very immersive and is very easy to get into I wouldn’t call it a quick read, but there is a cast of intriguing characters. I found the lead detective DCI Jonah Sheens, particularly interesting who is already connected to this case as he knew Aurora and the group of friends who she hung out with from school. We have Topaz, Aurora’s older sister, who now lives in Scotland, Daniel, now a politician, Connor, Jojo and Coralie; risk-taker and star athlete, Brett. I think many readers may find it easy to point to the person responsible for the crime, but for me, it was the reasons why they did it that had me gripped, and it was what I wanted to find out.

The story here takes time to build as the police re-open the investigation into Aurora Jackson’s disappearance. There is a painstaking task ahead of them as they have to go over old ground, but all these years’ later new pieces of information begin to come to light which could finally shed light on what happened to Aurora in 1983.
I think the flashback scenes were the parts of this novel that I was most intrigued by. Gytha Lodge gradually begins to reveal to us the build-up to Aurora’s disappearance, and we start to see a picture develop of the type of people who her friends actually were and what they are capable of.

I thought the ending of this book was very satisfying, and I think it is an ending that will haunt the reader for a while, I keep thinking back to those final lines. Overall I found this an enjoyable read; it is an immersive page-turner that I’m sure will have fans looking out for more from this author. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an advance review copy of the book to read.

I enjoyed this book. It did seem a very long book and the end took a long time coming. The friends relationships took a great deal of unravelling. However it was a different kind of story, much along the lines of Donna Tart's Secret History many years ago. That book was groundbreaking and everyone loved it. However I am not sure that I would feel the same about this one.

I did find it interesting though but to me it was not a totally absorbing book.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Im afraid this wasn’t the book for me. The premise was intriguing enough - a girl and her father find a dead body in the woods, who is discovered to be Aurora who went missing 30 years ago. The DI on the case was the same age as Aurora and grew up together although they weren’t friends. The book has flashbacks to the past leading up to the climax. I think, personally, for me the problem was that I found the characters too contrived and generic, especially the flashbacks scenes which in my opinion contained too many characters that weren’t fleshed out enough. I just didn’t find the characters emotionally engaging enough to sustain my interest. I’m afraid it’s 2.5/5

This was a slow read for me but worth it. Such a sad tale in so many ways. I would totally recommend it

An excellently constructed whodunnit.
This is an easy but gripping read and one that I was loathe to put down.
The two timelines worked well and information is slowly drip fed in a series of revelations that really work.
Loved the writing style overall and the conclusion left no loose ends.
Will look forward to the next novel by this talented writer.

Enjoyed this book and changed my mind a few times about the killer. It was interesting to get first person narratives from the victim as the night progressed, which ultimately lead to the revelation. It's a fast paced read with well fleshed out characters. Looking forward to more from the author in the future!