This won't win any literary awards but if you like young adult or teen thrillers, this book will probably keep your attention.
A girl disappears in a haunted old hospital and several people are trying to find her. Meanwhile, the girl is actually stuck in a different time.
Most of the people were likeable, although putting Marilyn Monroe in just seemed silly. There was drama and a few jump scares. It was fun and I'll probably read more by this author
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was gripped by this book throughout and read it in one sitting. Definitely recommended.

I am absolutely invested the weird world of Maria Miller! Our favorite detective continues though her new career path forged by the paranormal case in The Haunting on West 10th Street. In Her Lost Soul, Maria and her partner Frankie take a case in Beacon Hill in one of my favorite spooky settings, a potentially haunted asylum. As Maria begins to unravel the case of a missing 17 year old girl that seems to have disappeared into thin air, again she begins to question everything she once believed to be true,

Helen Phifer is an expert in creating characters that you cannot help but love. These novels are so refreshing and full of nothing but enjoyment with a little side of spooky ghouls. The loss of a character I quickly came to love was heartbreaking but done just the right way. From the last story, I notice a lot less slip-ups of British English which kept my imagination rooted in New York this time (though I wish all of the "whilst"s would go away. I can't say that this is some literary masterpiece that will change the world but boy did I love every second of Her Lost Soul! Thank you NetGalley and Storm Publishing for this eARC!

Holy smokes what did I just read!!!!
Hands down one of the best reads in the last year for me. A perfect combination of mystery and supernatural without being hard to believe.
I had literal chills reading this. So so scary and eerie.
I LOVE these characters. I hope there are more books with this crew. I had to read this in one sitting I could not bare to put it down and not know what was going to happen next. Bone chillingly scary and loaded with suspense! Absolutely phenomenal read.
Must top your reading list.
Brilliant!

Thanks for NetGalley and Storm Publishing for giving this book to me in exchange my opinion.

This book is a gripping psychological thriller that will keep me on the edge of my seats until the very last page.
The plot of this book is well-crafted and keeps me guessing until the very end. The story is full of twists, turns, and unexpected revelations. The pacing is perfect, with just the right amount of suspense and action to keep me engaged. Helen Phifer created a sense of atmosphere and setting. She's so genius. Conclusively, it is a must-read for fans of psychological thrillers. With its well-developed characters, gripping plot, and expertly crafted suspense, it is a compelling book and you must read. I can't wait for her next book.

This is a good ghost story thriller. There were just a few things as to why I only give it 3 stars though, the mention of Marilynn Monroe was just completely random to me. *spoiler* the grandpa dying was sad, I get why but dang. & that they always referred to the 2 elderly ghost hunter ladies as “the girls” threw me off everytime. Over all though, solid book.

This book was fantastic. 👏🏻 It was eerie, riveting and I just couldn’t get enough. It starts with four teenagers who visit an old abandoned asylum except one of the teens vanish. The rest of the story follows Maria’s (who is so likable) investigation trying to find Riley. It gives me Ghost Hunter + Stranger Things vibes. So, if that’s your jam then you’d probably like this one!

Fast and creepy read and I didn’t read the first book in the series yet so I wasn’t expecting backstory, but missed some chances to grow depth and also I felt it was a little too short. Thanks for the arc and cheers. 3.75

Riley Holt disappears when she and 3 of her friends break into an old abandoned psychiatric hospital. Detective Maria Miller investigates the case of the missing teenager. The story goes between past and present and was creepy and chilling. This is the second book in the series and I enjoyed it just as much as the first. Thanks NetGalley and Storm Publishing for this ARC that will be released February 28, 2024!

Wow! This kept me on the edge of my seat. Couldn't stop reading.... Great characters and plot. This is going to be an excellent series! Can't wait to read more. Absolutely excellent!

Astonishing! 5* read!
Maria Miller is thrown deep into another fantastic paranormal battle, with her trusty partner Frankie Conroy!

Four teenagers broke into an abandoned psychiatric hospital and all but one came out! Maria and Frankie must find out what has happened to missing Girl Riley.

Travel between time, from the 60s to the present moment.

This story was fast paced, hearty, funny but downright chilling too! Can't wait for more!

The Scooby gang meets the X-files. Or maybe it's

SUMMARY
For four wannabe ghost hunters, the temptation to explore the abandoned psychiatric hospital is just too great to pass on. But by the end of the night, only three of them will find their way out. The fourth, a seventeen-year-old girl, named Riley Holt seems to have vanished into thin air. NYPD Detectives Maria Miller and Frankie Conroy are part of a newly formed department that investigates the cases that are just a “little out there”. They’re not Sculley and Moulder but close enough. The disappearance of Riley, the local police chief’s daughter is the kind of case that’s right up their alley. Called in by an old friend of Frankie’s, their investigation quickly uncovers the hospital’s troubling history and its connection to a series of brutal killings by the notorious College Kid Killer.
As Detectives Miller and Conroy get pulled deeper into the mystery of Riley’s disappearance, they learn that an entity, something dark and terrifying, is in the hospital and its power has been infecting people who come within its reach. But its power may be even greater than they can imagine as the case gets more complex by the minute.

THOUGHTS
HER LOST SOUL by Helen Phifer starts like a teen scream horror film or a YA novel that feels like a story that’s been told a million times before. Everything about the early chapters feels like a so-so knock-off of much better stories. However, the author takes a few welcome twists and suddenly the novel isn’t quite as familiar or predictable as it appeared.
HER LOST SOUL is told in dueling timelines; the present where Riley is missing and the past when the hospital was a dumping ground both for troubled souls with nowhere to go and for the privileged who needed to be hidden away. The novel features a malevolent force, ghosts, psychics, time travel, and an appearance by Marilyn Monroe which shouldn’t work but somehow does. The main characters are bog-standard detectives, although a handful of secondary characters stand out with their distinctive quirks..
Despite lacking in originality, HER LOST SOUL manages to build an engaging narrative. The mystery may not be particularly mysterious, the dialogue may feel stilted, and the plot occasionally ventures into the realm of the absurd. Yet, for some inexplicable reason, the novel proves to be a quick, enjoyable, and entertaining read.

RECOMMENDATION
3 Stars HER LOST SOUL is the second book in the Detective Maria Miller series, although it is easy to navigate as a stand-alone. Fans of the first book may enjoy this one as well although the characters and paranormal mystery are fairly standard. HER LOST SOUL is enjoyable with just enough variation on the teen ghost story narrative to keep readers interested in getting to the end.

Thank you to #Netgalley and the publisher for access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

The first thing that springs to mind for this book is that, above everything else, it was fun. It's not often that a thriller balances between camp and intrigue, and this book managed to do that quite well. I found the story really fast-paced and engaging, and it is not often as well that supernatural intrigue is done successfully. There's definitely a line here that's hard to walk, and I found the author did this quite well.

I did think that there were a couple pieces in here that could be improved, particularly the Indian burial ground piece and the MM plot - I saw where they were trying to go, but did think they were a little speculative and a little too much in places. That said, it was a diverse cast of characters with interesting stories, and while I've not read the first in the series, I'll actively be seeking it out.

Four teens go into an abandoned hospital and only three come out. There is no trace of the fourth teenager, she has vanished without a trace.
Maria and her partner Frankie are called in to investigate and their findings are almost too much for a person to believe.

Again. This is NOT my normal genre. I saw Helen Phifer was the author and downloaded it.

It was a gripping and tense and chilling novel.
Written with two timelines, it was an interesting look into the past.
I recommend this to those who like a touch of the supernatural.
It is not scary, well, not as scary as I was expecting! I still managed to sleep after reading the book.

Thanks to Netgalley and Storm Publishing for the opportunity to read this book.

Thank you Storm Publishing for giving me access to this book through NetGalley! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Seldom have I read as successful a combination of a detective novel and a paranormal mystery!

This author was new to me, and this was also the second book about Detective Maria Miller. That I had not read the first book was no issue - there were some references to what had happened in the first book, but that was just quaint details in the characters background stories and nothing you needed to know more about in order to fully enjoy this book. That said, I have already bought book 1 and can't wait to read it as I so want to know more. And if there'll ever be a third book, sign me up for that one as well. I might also check out the authors other series, since apparently she's been quite productive and based on this one book at least, clearly worth checking out!

The characters are really well written and authentic. I don't read that many "pure" detective novels, but to me this one did well at describing the basic detective work, even if that was more of a sidenote as the detectives were part of the "strange cases"-group and thus handled cases the other detective usually would not - which in this one gave the author a bit of freedom to be more creative, I think.

The paranormal part of the book were quite enjoyable as well, and the sorta banter between skeptics and those that took the happenings as is was believable. Especially the part where the skeptic was the father, and the thoughts about how when it is someone we really love and care about, when desperation is all we have left, how that is the time one would put ones skepticism aside with ease.

The characters aren't without flaws, adding credibility to them. Even if the matter is paranormal, their actions are logical and realistic. I highly enjoyed the references to pop-culture as well, and that there wasn't just one belief system/religion saving them all. Albeit if I would point out one thing to improve, it would have been to add some more still of that - some more detailed discussion regarding different believes and similarities between them perhaps, and how it's not really up to the details of what you might call your gods and demons etc, but it's more about the intention behind your believes.

All in all though, I highly enjoyed this book! Suspense, mystery, likeable and authentic characters - add in some intriguing paranormal themes and there's no wondering why I am hooked!

This is the 2nd book in a series but you dont need to read the 1st book to know what is going on.

Great Story, Spooky vibes and very good writing. Will continue the series and glad that i received a copy to read and review.

Thanks NetGalley.

This is the second in a series but can definitely be read as a standalone. I have not read the first book and was able to follow this one easily. That being said, I’m eager to seek out the first installment and read that as well. I really enjoyed this book. I especially loved the supernatural elements.

This one was spooky!

I love Helen Phifer books so I was soooo curious about this one ( I really need to get my hands on the first book because I loved this one! ).

Spooky Asylum? CHECK
Tragic past? CHECK
Great characters? DOUBLE CHECK

It was fun, spooky ( I couldn't read it while being alone in bed lol ) and makes you look forward to more stories with Maria and Frankie!

I started this book a while back and I said oh jeez, its a paranormal book! So I stopped and moved on! Thank goodness all my books lately have been just blah! So I picked this book back up and I am so glad I did!! What a book! I loved it! I guess I can't judge a book by its genre lol I'm not really into paranormal reads but thus one was awesome! It had suspense, intrigue, action, mystery, creepy paranormal activity, And a bit of creepy back to the future vibes! The storyline was very interesting and had me glued to my Kindle! I loved hearing about past celebrities! That part was super interesting! I highly recommend reading this book as it was well worth reading! I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one! Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me! Great book!

I was so ready to join partners Maria and Frankie once again, especially since they are legit working the strange and unexplainable cases in their precinct now. Once again pairing riveting detective work and eerie supernatural elements, we get Her Lost Soul, a story that also incorporates the presence of a very familiar face, whim whom liberties were taken in the best ways!

A group of friends illegally gain entrance to an abandoned asylum to investigate the presence of ghosts. Four go in, three come out... Riley Holt never leaves the building and Maria and Frankie wind up investigating. In a strange and unique twist, there is a dual timeline situation going on that worked really well, meaning Riley's soul could be trapped in this asylum forever if they are unable to find a way for her to escape the clutches of pure evil.

I am really enjoying this series and cannot wait for more. I love the underlying tension between the detectives. It makes for an arc that I cannot wait to see play out.