I would like to thank Netgalley and Storm Publishing for an advance copy of Stolen Souls, the first novel to feature DI Nikki Gill of Thames Valley Police.

Nikki hasn’t even started her new job in Oxford when she gets her first case. She in college grounds when she hears a scream. She finds the body of Professor Brian Allerton in his rooms with his wife kneeling beside him. The case gets personal when Nikki finds a link to Dunston Hill care home, where her brother, Tommy, lived before he died in tragic circumstances, but that calculation may be wrong when another professor is murdered.

I enjoyed Stolen Souls, which is an interesting read with a couple of twists. The premise isn’t particularly original, and may be triggering for some readers, but the author puts his own stamp on proceedings and has produced a very readable novel.

The novel is mostly told from Nikki’s point of view, but there are flashbacks to Tommy’s experiences thirty years ago and Nikki’s life twenty years ago. This builds a bigger picture and fleshes out the background to the novel, giving the reader a better idea of the motive and perpetrator than the detectives had. It isn’t pleasant reading and I wonder if it is essential to the storytelling. Mostly, however, the novel is a standard police procedural with interviews and a few forensic clues leading to the eventual breakthrough, although there are some deviations and a blind alley or two to keep it interesting. I didn’t find the novel particularly exciting or compelling until the final few chapters where Nikki mixes it up with the murderer.

I like Nikki Gill, who is a dedicated, competent detective. Needless to say she has a complicated backstory, that I didn’t really bother with as it’s just background noise to make her more interesting and she doesn’t need it. The quality of her work should be enough.

Stolen Souls is a good read that I can recommend.

Oh I really enjoyed this book. A tough subject but well worth the read.
The poor boys abused in the home grow up & take revenge

I’d like to thank Storm Publishing and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Stolen Souls’ written by M L Rose in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

The evening before DI Nikki Gill starts her new job with CID at Thames Valley Police in Kidlington she hears screams coming from a university building and runs in to find Professor Brian Allerton dead with stab wounds and his wife distraught at his side. Nikki starts investigating with help from her new colleague DI Monty Sen, but memories of a traumatic childhood and her brother Tommy who lived in a children’s home before he died are never far from her mind. As she digs deeper a connection is made between the dead man and the children’s home where her brother lived.

‘Stolen Souls’ is a well-written thriller based around the universities of Oxford and the first in the Detective Nikki Gill series. It contains plenty of suspense, tension and twists and turns, that’s had me involved from the beginning. The storyline is well thought-out, the characters credible, and I’ll be interested to read the next in the series and find out more about Nikki and her new team and see how their characters grow.

** I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review **

I will forever be a sucker for the split timelines that eventually converge and all becomes known. This book does a great job of not giving too much away in either timeline until the reader needs to know. However, some of the jumps to the past seem to be in an odd order and feel a little off. They don't necessarily detract from the story but they do seem to bounce around for no reason.

I'm American and as such unfamiliar with the British police system. It would have been nice for a quick explanation of all the abbreviations used. Or if not written in a story, then perhaps a small glossary at the end of the story. There were so many different abbreviations used that I spent a quarter of my time just looking up what each meant. Not the biggest problem but still annoying when you have to quit reading to look up something else.

The two main characters were easy enough to follow. I liked Nikki as a female lead. She's not overly cocky or too tough. Her emotional side shows through occasionally and I always find that makes a stronger female character. She embodies both a woman making it in a male field while not completely being overcome with machoism to survive. Women and men are different and I love when they let their strengths play out. The attraction between Nikki and Monty was touched on and then dropped for most of the book. When it suddenly comes back it feels a little misplaced. Either have a light touch of romance the whole time and work it in, or leave it alone. Attractive members of the opposite sex can interact with no attraction or sexual tension at play.

This is my first time reading anything but this author and I was very drawn into the book and it kept me on my toes. Each time I would think I'd figure it out a new wrench would be tossed in and would make me think I was on the wrong track. Without spoilers, there was one so-called wrench that I thought was a bit over the top and actually added nothing to the story but so be it, still made for great action! This is a decent start to the series and I could definitely see myself picking up more if I come across them in the future.

** True Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

Happy Reading!!

Stolen Souls is a brilliantly written twisty crime thriller, introducing DI Nikki Gill, newly transferred from the Met to Oxford. She is plunged into her first murder case on the evening before she is due to start, when a professor at one of the colleges is brutally murdered.

After another victim is killed in the same terrible way, Nikki and her team work hard to make a connection between the two murders. But as they peel the layers of these two mens' lives away, some unexpected developments occur.

Although narrated in present time, there are occasional flashbacks to Nikki’s childhood, coping with a difficult and sometimes traumatic home environment. There is also a separate thread in this story that tells of two boys - Paul and Tommy - living in a care home on the edge of Oxford, where child abuse is rife.

This is a big read – 60 plus chapters – but in no way does the pace flag at any time. In fact, I was glued to this from the very first page and on occasions found it difficult to put down. At times you wonder how all this ties together, although early on in the story, it’s clear where Tommy fits in. All in all, it’s a read that is full of surprises and unexpected developments.

A great new crime series – I look forward to Nikki’s next case.
Highly recommended.
I would like to thank Netgalley, Storm Publishing and M R Rose for an ARC of Stolen Souls in exchange for an honest review.

I was taken into the story quickly but then for me it started to drag a little.
I had to really keep my mind on the book to keep things straight and to know what was going on and why. The characters were all interesting and they were connected fairly well.
I am looking forward to the next book in the series -Detective Nikki Gill.
Thank you NetGalley, M.L. Rose and Storm Publishing for the copy of Stolen Souls. This is my personal review.

🚨Good plot but execution not the best🤔

I found this murder mystery/police procedural long, slow and a challenge to read despite the engaging plot. I really liked the way the chief detective's own family tragedy is woven into the book and, for me, that part of the novel stood out and brought me emotionally into the story.

But too many architectural details, repeated mentions of traffic conditions and a glaring bunch of cut-off thoughts, some inconsistency in the timeline and general descriptions gave this an unfinished feel. It could have been so much better with a careful edit and more focus on the crime and investigation rather than the confusing Oxford University structure and the area's physical layout.

The story weaves back and forth between the past and present and young Tommy and Paul's tragic story of evil deeds done in the child care home kept me reading. The author did throw in enough red herrings to keep up the mystery of the killer's who, why and how for a long while.

TW: child abuse, physical and sexual, though the sexual abuse is alluded to, not described.

Thanks to Storm Publishing and NetGalley for sharing a complimentary advance copy of the novel; this is my voluntary and honest opinion.

This heart pounding nail bitting police thriller is stunning. I loved this. I was hooked from the beginning and I couldn't put it down til the very end. The unexpected twists and turns were perfect. I loved Nikki an I can't wait to read more with her in them.
I just reviewed Stolen Souls by M.L. Rose. #StolenSouls #NetGalley
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Intriguing right from the start.
Detective Nikki is out of her comfort zone working in a smaller town but the murder of a college professor has her feeling at home very fast in her new job. The detective has her own demons to deal with - and needs to catch the killer who has links to events in her childhood.
An enjoyable book. Beautiful descriptions of Oxford. Looking forward to another Detective Nikki murder mystery.

This is the first book I have read by this author, so I wasn’t sure what to expect – what I got was an explosive opening, one which grabbed me from the very off. Unfortunately, this pace drops somewhat as the book moves slightly further along – I personally found the descriptions of Oxford and the college processes a bit too frequent and longwinded. Thankfully, the pace picks up, and once again I found myself drawn in. There are two seemingly separate storylines told 30 years apart, and as the tale flows the plots combine and the mystery unravels. One of the threads deals with the physical and sexual abuse of children living in a home, I felt these sections were written extremely carefully and with great emotion but nevertheless, a harrowing subject, which may upset some readers.

All in all, this is well written police procedural come whodunit, which I am happy to recommend.

This is a riveting thriller. The story starts out as two separate stories, told 30 year apart. Slowly the plots become woven together and the mystery unravels. DI Nikki is a strong character, she has a lot of courage and determination.
Overall a captivating read. *** Some material that was alluded to in the story may be upsetting to some. **
I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This was a great story and book one in the series. I can’t wait to see what happens next! I highly recommend the read.

Detective Nikki Gill is set to start her new job in a day. During a walk on the grounds of New College Oxford, Nikki discovers a professor has been murdered. She wants to follow through on the case and convinces her superior to let her handle it.

Nikki is an Oxford native whose past holds secrets and betrayal. She hopes to find out what happened to her brother, Tommy, who tragically died while in a children’s home. As Nikki and her team investigate, they discover that the murdered professor has ties to the home her brother was in. Will she finally get answers all these years later?

With the death of another professor, the team scrambles to find a motive and tie the murders together. Will they catch the killer before someone else is targeted?

Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

With the setting of the book being based in Oxford where the author has lived it bought back memories of the Inspector Morse books and TV series that I much enjoyed. This book with its subject of care homes and abusers and greed dealt with these difficult subjects brilliantly and had me gripped from first page to last. There were some very emotional stories told. Thanks to Storm Publishing and NetGalley for the chance to ARC this book.

Nikki Gill takes up a DI post in Oxford, and finds herself embroiled in a case of the murder of a senior academic with no apparent motive. However, another murder starts to show a pattern, linking the deaths and putting other academics into the firing line. The story is told well, and Nikki comes over as a human and professional officer.

The coincidences in the story stretch credulity a little too far, and at points I felt myself a little confused about what she was finding. The book kept my attention, but I wouldn't say it was a favourite read. Some may find the subject matter quite difficult too.

Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for allowing me access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Stolen Souls is a promising start to a new series that is set in Oxford. It is fast paced with some twists and turns which I always enjoy. I liked the main character Detective Nikki Gill and would definitely like to read more about her. At the start of the book, which is set in the past, you know that there is abuse happening in a home for boys. The story then moves forward and begins to unfold.

I did enjoy the structure of the plot. However, I felt the characters needed a bit more refining as well as their interactions. To me they appeared too stereotypical (Nikki's own past traumas, her femaleness as opposed to her male counterparts in the police force...). I do believe though that the author's work is promising and would read her next book in the series
I received a complimentary digital copy of this book from NetGalley and I am leaving voluntarily an honest review.

Stolen Souls is my first ML Rose book, but judging by what I've read it won't be the last. The novel is extremely well put together, the story taut and breathless at times, it's not a pleasant read because of the subject matter, child abuse.

As I say, it's my first ML Rose book and I was very impressed by not only the style of writing but the story. It flowed very well, eliciting emotion at the right places, revulsion at others. The main protagonist Nikki Gill, a detective inspector who is moving from London to Oxford is on the surface competent, yet there is a past that isn't fully told in this story. I guess it'll eke out over the following books, which on the basis of this must come. It affects the way she deals with others. It's a highly personal case that Nikki finds herself being dragged into. At first sight a suicide, yet Nikki soon realises that its murder. Little does she know that it'll end up dragging memories from her childhood.

This was a really good read, devoured over a couple of nights, it left me wanting more of Nikki Gill. A harrowing subject that can at times be difficult to read. I loved the devotion of the two boys to each other. Pauls support for Tommy was very touching.

Wow! I will say this book kept me on the edge of my seat. I had the ah ha moment of it all clicking into place right as I read next sentence that I was right! Very clever! I had it all set in my mind who the killer was and boy was I wrong. This was a very suspenseful fast paced book where the course of events only happened over the course of a handful of days. DI Nikki is one sharp cookie. I hope the next book in series shows her and Monty having a closer relationship. This was a great book a little hard to keep all of the names straight who was who but they all played a key role into the investigation. I’m thankful for the advanced copy and looking forward to the next in the series.

As other reviewers have said, this book needs a really good edit before publication. I enjoyed it though, although I got a little lost at times. The most touching thing in the book was the relationship between the two boys, which was very well written and emotionally harrowing. Even though this is fiction, the truth is that crimes against children were not investigated properly in the past. I look forward to the next in the series as I’m invested in the police characters and love the Oxford setting.

Many thanks to both Storm Publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an early copy of Stolen Souls, by M.L. Rose. Expected publication September 1, 2023.

Trigger Warning: The book dives right into the action, with a description of two little boys in a care home, where the littlest one is about to be dragged away by one of the monsters running the home. (Although the sexual assault descriptions were never graphic, they still tore my heart out.)

Now we meet Nikki Gill in the present, just starting her new job at Oxford's Kidlington Criminal Investigations unit, which is in the town where she grew up. Then it moves around in time between the Dunston Hill Care Home, Nikki's own childhood, and the case she is trying to solve, where a college professor has been murdered.

As other reviewers have stated, this book needs a lot of editing before it goes to print. However, I feel the series absolutely has promise. I liked Stolen Souls but didn't love it.