Set in Bath, this is a gripping read centred on missing teenage girls. It's well plotted with excellent, realistic characterisation, plenty of twists, and a main character, Peter Rawls, whom I absolutely loved. I was utterly engrossed from the beginning, right until that dramatic conclusion, and really hope there is more to come. Definitely worth reading. Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC.

The description of the book tells it all - so no spoiler from me!
Page turning read and loved the characters in the book.

Unpopular opinion alert: did not like this book, had to abandon it at around the 80% mark. I really tried, but DS Rawls self-pitying angst got tiresome very soon. He came across as a self-centred, inconsiderate, irresponsible person, and I found it difficult to have much sympathy for him. I also found the writing staid, a lot of “telling” as opposed to “showing”.

(Review copy from NetGalley)

A debut novel featuring DS Peter Rawls.

I do enjoy a thrilling novel revealing the twists and turns of a thorough police procedure, and ‘The Fifth Girl’ hit the spot.

We are introduced to DS Peter Rawls who has been off work for a while, due to his own mental health problems. I feel that he had lost confidence in himself, which impacted his family life. He had previously worked on a case of missing girls in his home city of Bath, without any satisfactory resolution. He was so nervous about returning to work

Rawls’ interest was renewed again when a fourth girl, had gone missing and he was convinced that a serial killer was back on the scene, with certain gruesome links to past cases. Finally, Rawls felt honour bound to do the right thing, and try to sew up all the loose ends. He worked well with DI Alice Warnes and together they became a formidable team.

Soon the tension increased, and Rawls knew that he had to leave no stone unturned. Wow! What a dramatic conclusion! I loved every minute of this roller-coaster read. Thank you, Georgia Fancett.

Galadriel.

Elite Reviewing Group received a copy of this book to review.

I Like the way that the characters were developed and introduced in this police procedural novel set in Bath in the South West of England.

The central character is Detective Sergeant Peter Rawles, who clearly has an interesting back story. From early in the novel I found myself thinking, is this going to be the first book in a series?

Rails is brought in to an investigation into a series of missing people. The book is on each of the three earlier cases, as a fourth person goes missing.

The weight of expectation and a sense of urgency obviously comes from the book's title.

I won't go into any more detail about the storyline for fear of spoiling the story, suffice to say that there are enough twists and turns in the plot to hold the attention of most readers.

On the basis of this book, I will certainly look out for future novels by Georgia Fancett, whether they feature this group of detectives or not.

I give my thanks to Netgalley and Random House (Arrow) for a copy of this novel in exchange for this review.

WOW... Just WOW! The pace picks up after the fifth girl goes missing.

It was such a gripping read. The first half was a bit sluggish. But it was setting the stage for the action packed second half. Like I said, after the fifth girl, I can barely relax my back nor suck in a breath without actively thinking about it.

What a ride and what a good story. It's a gripping, twisty and fascinating story that I couldn't put down.
There's a strong sense of the place and the descriptions of Bath made discovered a darker side to this gorgeous town.
Rawls is a damages and complex characters that I like. The author did a good job with the character development.
The mystery is solid and kept me guessing.
I can't wait to read another book by this author.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

WOW what a read just loved it, kept me reading till the end with lots of twists and suspense.

DC Rawls returns to work after an incident at work and the stress he was under.
Another teenager goes missing with the same MO as three other missing teens.
Rawls starts to investigates then things get very close to home and very scary for him.

Loved Rawls character and how he develops through the book with his family life, just can`t wait to see more in the future.
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

DS Peter Rawls is on extended leave, traumatised by a case which had gone badly wrong. If he doesn’t get back into the job soon he will be looking at suspension or resignation. With some reluctance, he returns at the request of his boss, DI Tess McGovern, who assigns him to investigate the disappearance of a young girl. He suspects this is related to three earlier cases. With the help of Natalie Parkinson, a young DC, he starts to retrace the previous cases. Meanwhile, at home, his wife is stressed and drinking heavily, and his daughter is a copybook stroppy teenager. So far, so standard troubled cop in a police procedural; although there is something about the way he is written that lends him a sympathy unusual in these sort of stories.
The plot progresses in a fairly predictable, but well-constructed, way until about half way through the book when it suddenly swings into a proper psychological thriller. I can’t say too much about that switch because it would require a major spoiler and I’d hate to deprive you of the surprise. Suffice it to say that the pace picks up and there are some excellent scenes, with strong descriptive detail and powerful action sequences. For a first novel (It was a winning entry for the Daily Mail Penguin Random House competition) this is an impressive start and it looks like there will be at least a sequel if not a series coming from it.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

***ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley.co.uk in return for an honest review ***

Rawls has been on leave after an "incident" at work...and then another girl goes missing.

A brilliant thriller full of twists and turns to throw you off the scent. So well constructed you will keep reading until the end.

A solid four star read. Great premise. Well written. Good characters. Page turner. Plenty of suspense to keep me guessing .The exciting ending leaving me wanting more. Definitely will read the next novel. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review it.

I never repeat the blurb. This is the first book by this author and I certainly hope that she goes on to write more - a lot more. Thoroughly enjoyed the story, although I'd guessed the link to the disappearances before even halfway through. However, it didn't detract too much.

The Fifth Girl is a hard-hitting and award-winning police procedural novel, set in the historical city of Bath in North Eastern Somerset and featuring DS Peter Rawls, in which four girls have been found murdered in similarly gruesome circumstances. Built by the Romans, the city of Bath with its stunning Georgian architecture holds a significant amount of history. However, juxtaposed with its beauty is the sinister understanding that over the past several years teenagers have been going missing, usually never to be seen again, and it has been speculated that a patient but ruthless serial killer has been stalking the locality choosing and picking off victims. It opens with Detective Inspector Alice Warnes and her partner, Detective Rollo, who have been tasked with tracking the killer down. When the two of them are called out to investigate a body discovered in a house, the first thing that hits them on initial entry is the smell of death suspended in the air. The body of a young woman lay on the floor next to the bed, with her hands upturned at her sides. She wore wide hippy pants and a black T-shirt with the anarchy symbol on the front.

Like the others before her, her face had been covered with a plain, white plastic bag. A large black ribbon, tied with an elaborate bow, held the bag in place and a face had been drawn on the front: wide, cartoon eyes with elaborate eyelashes, a squiggle of black felt pen for hair and a large, red mouth, drawn on with lipstick. It was clown-like and grotesque and Alice turned away, unwilling to look for longer than she had to. And just like Melody, Tanya and Harriet, Alice knew before the post mortem results that the cause of death would be suffocation. She would be malnourished and underweight, her skin would be dry and her hair unwashed and, when they interviewed her parents, they would tell her she had been missing for about a month. They would assure Alice that she would never have run away and they would tearfully assert that the email they had received saying goodbye and that she loved them must have been sent under duress. They would say that their beautiful daughter had got up, dressed for school and left with a smile — and then had simply vanished.

Enter DS Rawls who is recalled from medical leave to help the search for the brutal killer as well as the recent victim who may still be alive. Will they be able to locate and save the missing girl before she too is fated to die? This is a twisty, compulsive and utterly enthralling detective thriller with an intriguing cult angle to it and a cast of diverse, quirky characters. It is gritty and features a gay detective (DI Warnes) who is a rather sweary rule-breaker and struggling to cope with her new wife’s spiralling spending habit paired with Rollo, a lazy, Trump-loving bigot and politically incorrect sidekick who likes to provoke and spar with Alice throughout the workday. They are very much chalk and cheese, but that appears to be the secret to their successful partnership thus far. I found it more absorbing and difficult to put down than I imagined, and it's really quite emotional at times with the horror and heartbreak that lines the pages. This is sharply written, with a great sense of humour and terrific pace, and I thought the main protagonist, Alice, was a vivid, fantastic, well-developed character who came to life on the page. Highly recommended.

The Fifth Girl, set in the historical city of Bath, reminds me of a great British Detective drama series.
It is incredibly well written with good character development. It's slow-moving initially with a fast pace dramatic finale.

This was a really well written detective story which could easily be made into a TV drama. Very much enjoyed and hope this author continues a series with the detective.

The Fifth Girl by Georgia Fancett won the Penguin First Novel Competition in 2018, and her crime thriller will be published in September. I’m so excited for the world to meet DS Peter Rawls, a flawed and emotionally wounded detective who is facing the most challenging case of his career.

The Fifth Girl takes place in the quintessentially English city of Bath, and Georgia Fancett conjures a beautiful place, steeped in history. But not all of this history is benign. Over the years teenage girls have been going missing, and it appears that a serial killer could be responsible.

DS Peter Rawls is called in to investigate the most recent disappearance. But Rawls is still trying to recover from an earlier incident that has left him vulnerable, and the solution to this case seems set to elude him. When another girl’s disappearance brings the case terrifyingly close to home, he has to draw on all his skills as a policeman to face the evil lurking in the seemingly tranquil, innocent beauty of Bath.

Georgia Fancett’s assured debut will enthral and excite all those who love reading crime thrillers, as well as those of us who just like a really good mystery.

This is a good traditional British crime drama which will make a great plot for a TV series. I can just imagine how the character of DC Rawels will be portrayed and the type of actress to be his wife.
No need to explain the plot as the blurb does it best without giving anything away. Kept me interested and guessing to the end..... always a sign of a good read!

I would like to thank Netgalley and Random House, Cornerstone for an advance copy of The Fifth Girl, a police procedural set in Bath featuring DS Pete Rawls.

DS Rawls is called back from medical leave to assist in the effort to find a missing teenager. Tanya Hicock is the fourth girl to disappear in the last few years and Rawls seems to be the only one convinced that the cases are linked.

The Fifth Girl is a novel of two halves with a slow start culminating in a blaze of action. The first half is all about scene setting and it’s slow and basically inactive with nothing really happening. It’s interesting for a while but the lack of progress makes it less than compulsive reading. The second half is a whole different story as one event brings the novel to life so it’s reveal after reveal, action scenes and a cliffhanger ending, making for a more compulsive read.

I understand that this is a debut novel. It seems accomplished and polished so it’s hard to believe and I commend the author for her skill. There are teething problems, like the slow start, but nothing that would stop me from reading another.

I found Pete Rawls a bit difficult to empathise with. He has been off work with stress and while it is often alluded to, the reason for it is not revealed until much later in the novel. Does it make him sympathetic? No, because the reader doesn’t know why and, quite frankly, the not knowing got really annoying, not the intriguing I guess the author was aiming for. Later on I found him more sympathetic when he started to show a more human side, rather than simply the man with mental health issues.

I would be interested in reading more from the author, maybe without Pete Rawls because I don’t see where she can take his character, even with the cliffhanger.

The Fifth Girl is a good debut that I can recommend. 3.5*

Will the hero disentergrate before he finds out the truth about the latest missing girl just when it couldn’t get any worse his own daughter may now be the fifth girl or is it just teenage rebellion. A gripping tale of police up against time to find the girl before it’s too late, good read believable story and characters and a twist in the tail

Absolutely LOVED… Kept me guessing right up to the end. Non-stop from page one. This is a must-read giving this four stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️