ENJOYED this book with likable main characters involved in a police procedural investigating a cold case. Great storyline with lots of suspense as to who the murderer is. First time reading this author but will definitely look for more. RECOMMEND totally. Thanks to NetGalley & Joffe Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Police thriller with lots of twists and turns. Complex tale which is not as simple as it first seems. Good characters and fast paced story..

Every year thousands of people walk out of their home and just disappear but not many turn up six years later hugging the back of a fridge as a mummy!! Twists and turns aplenty good read with plenty of sub plots before the killer is found.

Anyone that reads Tana French, Joseph Heywood, or Lisa Scottoline will instantly be hooked on Gretta! What an awesome read!

This is the second book of the DI Siv Drummond series. This story is based on a cold case mystery about a woman who has disappeared, six years ago and founded in an abandoned building about to be demolished. Her body was partially mummified and tie up to the back of an old fridge freezer. The body turned out to be a mother called 'Lyn' who has two children, with a troublesome marriage, reported as a missing person back at the time ruled out as a possible suicide.

upon finding the body, Detective Siv Drummond and the team immediately have been called and assigned to the case to solve the case. Six years ago the case turns into a potential suicide case, which is what the police thought could be the case given her dysfunctional family full of lies and secrets. Or could it be murder? Can they finally solve the case and get justice for Lyn? can Siv discover the story behind the mummified body?

This is my first reading from this author, and it was very interesting reading. The whole story is based on typical criminal investigation and police procedural. I love how the author builds the characters and turn and twist the plot. I could not see the ending and the story will keep you guessing through to the end. When I came to the last plot twist, it was a surprise and was pretty good though.
On the other hand, the pace was slow-moving for me and there were a lot of characters. I found myself turning pages back and forth to remember who was and how they were connected. Also, I felt the side stories of Siv’s colleagues were unnecessary and make the main story complex and gone on sideways.

Overall, this is 3. 5 Star reading for me and I really enjoy the story and the characters Detective Siv and Ali. I'm recommending this book to anyone interested in reading a good detective/Crime solve/Mystery book and looking forward to reading more books from this author.

Thank you to Joffe Books and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this e-book in exchange for an honest review.
I Highly Appreciate it for giving me a chance to read, Never Came Home.

This series is really good. I was drawn into this book, and it was a real pageturner. A gripping cold case story, with flashbacks to the time of the crime. I really enjoyed this. Highly recommended.

If you like detective/police novels, you will love this book. Sensitive subjects need to be written in the right way, taken and understood, and portrayed as you would believe it feels, in real life. Gretta Mulrooney can do this, and she can do it very well.

I haven't read book 1 in this series but I have to go back now and do just that!

This is a detective story which looks into the disappearance of a single mother. After the initial set-up, with perspectives from the daughter of the missing woman (an 18-year-old on her prom night) and her nine year old son, the story jumps ahead about seven years and focuses on the detectives looking into the re-opened case and the woman's family. We see how the dynamics have changed, how the daughter has married the boyfriend her mother didn't approve of, and the son who has become increasingly withdrawn.

There are a lot of characters in this story, some deliberately unlikable or odd and two-dimensional, while there are plenty of well-rounded ones. There are many perspectives as the story is told, often briefly, from their point of view. It is good that the central characters in the police investigation have rounded lives without being too intrusive into the story. My favourite is the weird teenaged son. His thoughts, actions and speech are very plausible.

This is a good detective story with new characters appearing throughout, making the whodunnit aspect intense. Maybe one or two descriptions could be cut, but this is a good read. Recommended.

The problem with the blurb for books is that it tells you where to look for the killer - a twist you'll never guess - tells you just who to ignore. Saying that, this is a good story with several red herrings. Siv and her mutsi - mother- promise to be an interesting backdrop to the series.

Loved it.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher I read a free advance review copy of the book. This review is voluntary, honest and my own opinion.

The second instalment in the Siv Drummond series , twists and turns that leave you scratching your head to try and work out what is happening but a very very engrossing read

Gretta Mulrooney is a new author for me and I want to say I was impressed with her book I liked the characters but the pace of the storyline was too slow for me.
A mummified body is discovered in a derelict building by the builders tasked with clearing out the debris before demolishing the building. It is quickly identified as a missing woman from 6 years ago.
The story then branches out covering the dysfunctional family of the deceased woman, past work colleagues, old neighbours. At the same time DI Siv Drummond has her own family issues and is still struggling to keep her grief in check for her late husband.
I did enjoy the characters but I found the pace of the investigation was too slow and the twist at the end a little hard to believe.
Not my favourite book this year, sorry.

Terrific thriller... the plot is familiar but with new twists and turns that leave you with “wow!” I enjoy the multiple points of view and the fast pace. Never Came Home starts with a hook and reels you in until the last page! Highly Recommend!

Gretta Mulrooney's crime series featuring DI Siv Drummond, a grieving widow who moved from the London Met to return to her quieter home coastal town of Berminster, leading a police team, here taking on a cold case. In 2013, mother Lyn Dimar left home to go to the shop, leaving behind her 9 year old son, Adam, whilst her older daughter, had gone off to her prom night. However, Lyn never returned home and a police inquiry got nowhere in establishing what happened to the missing mother, Now a body, in a mummified state, has been discovered tied to a refrigerator in a derelict building. The police team try to figure out if was suicide or murder, presented with a host of suspects, in this crime story of dysfunctional families, secrets and lies. There were aspects of this twisted tale that I liked, particularly the portrayal of the personal and professional lives of the team, but there were times when the narrative failed to hold my interest.

Lyn Dimas is helping her daughter prepare for her prom night and everyone is so excited. As the evening rolls on, Lyn goes Pops out for a second leaving her son Adam at home. The only thing is Lyn never came home. Flash forward to some builder working on a dilapidated building and there they found a body tied to a refrigerator. I will say that the story moves quite fast at first but then takes a turn to become slower. It is almost an all too familiar story although you get more of a thrill ride because you really do not know what happened. Did she commit suicide as the police think, or could it be something more sinister?

This book starts with the night Lyn Dimas went missing. She had left her nine year old son home alone while popped out.

Fast forward to the present and builders have found the mummified corpse tied to the back of the fridge in an old building. And so begins the beginning of this investigation.

There are a huge range of suspects and you’ll be guessing who did it the whole way through....

This book held my interest throughout and I got through it quickly however this is definitely a plot that feels familiar. Overall it’s a decent crime thriller and I definitely didn’t see the culprit coming!

A woman steps out for a moment to run up to the nearby store only to never return. What happened to her? Was she abducted? Killed? Ran off?

This is another story that makes you question those closest to you and the family you hold dear.

Who is really the head of the family and what gives them the right to impose their own judgements into others?

Another great novel by Gretta Mulrooney. This one had me guessing till the end. Well thought out and well written.

I really enjoyed this book all the way through. It had a really good plot, great main characters and really keeps you hooked on the plot. I would highly recommend this book.

This is the 2nd book in a series but can be read as a standalone. It centers around the murder of a local mom named Lyn who had disappeared 6 years prior. Lyn had a complicated relationship with her kids and her ex and it was rumored that she might have killed herself, but detective Siv and her colleagues determine that she was murdered and spend the book untangling the details in order to solve the case.

I had some trouble getting into this one- it was slow moving for me and there were a lot of characters- I found myself having to take a step back to remember who was who and how they were connected. When the villain was revealed, it was a surprise and was a pretty good twist, though.

Overall, this is a decent police procedural but just moved at a slow clip for me. I didn't have any trouble with the British slang, as some other reviewers have mentioned, but the pace made it difficult for me to engage. I'd give this 2.5 stars. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

It is the night of his sister Lily's prom the house is full of excited girls and smells of make up and perfume. Their mother, Lyn, is desperately trying to be one of the girls while Adam tries to amuse himself. Then the Limo arrives and with a lot of noise and camera clicks the girls are gone and it is just Adam and Lyn. Then Lyn pops out and Adam is left alone for a little while, except it isn't a little while because she Never Came Home.

The story then moves forward several years. Adam is a young man living in the same house with his Dad and Monty. Lily is married with a home of her own and life has moved on but the loss of his mother has affected Adam badly. Then her body is found tied to a fridge in a derelict building. What happened that night when she disappeared? How did she get there? Who wanted her dead?

Detective Siv Drummond is charged with finding the answers to all these questions but here is the rub: the detective in charge of the original investigation is the 'golden boy' in her boss' eyes. Can Siv succeed where he failed given this is a cold case? With the powers that be expecting failure Siv is even more determined to crack this case but she reckoned without all the lies and secrets.

This is a very intriguing story and the reader is pulled in to the story as the lies and events of all those years ago are uncovered and the secrets revealed. However, the ending was one I really did not see coming. Absolutely brilliant.

The characters develop well over the course of the book. I didn't like any of them (except the detective team) but that seemed to add to the story because any of them could have been the killer and that added to the suspense. Loved the way the author developed Adam from a young boy into a boy-man which worked perfectly given all Adam had experienced growing up and made the whole story very realistic.

The personal lives of the team bring a personal side to the story and Mutsi!!! Well what a unique character I await bemused to see what happens next with the mother/daughter relationship.

A very enjoyable read. Thank you to Joffe Books and the author for the advance digital copy. This is my unbiased review.