Book Review: The Stolen Girls by Patricia Gibney: DI Lottie Parker Book 2.

It is DI Lottie Parker's first day back at work after after a traumatic ordeal and things are not going well. Already late to work, she finds a young woman and her child on her doorstep. The stranger does not have much English and hands Lottie a letter before disappearing as quickly as she appeared. Not long after her work day begins, the station is awash with activity as the body of a pregnant girl is found by a road maintenance worker. Before long, another body is discovered, and a local teenager has been reported missing. DI Parker and her team find themselves struggling to identify the girls and just how they are connected...

Patricia Gibney has a knack of opening her novels with a bang. Her prologues are tense and gruesome, dragging the reader in by the scruff of the neck. This book opens with a harrowing scene from war-torn Kosovo, 1999. A young boy watches in horror as his mother and sister are brutally attacked while he hides in fear. In the main body of the story, Lottie is ignoring the needs of her children and by throwing herself into to the difficult case, she misses some vital signs of serious problems at home. She forgets her son's counselling sessions; leaves her troubled daughter in charge of her two younger siblings and has reverted back to the take-away dinners. Even the obvious distress of her two girls seems to wash over her, as she worries about the unidentified bodies.

 A direct provision centre, for refugees, is causing Lottie some concern and she confronts the manager but with no effect. The plot thickens, but with no names and no leads, it makes Lottie's job even harder. The case seems to have links to human trafficking and there is an added element of the return of a well-known gangster to the midland town of Ragmullen. DS Boyd is once again on-hand to support his boss, but the previous spark between them is now not much more than Lottie talking down to him as he tries to show his support. Add in the politically incorrect and socially immoral DS Kirby and the office is not the most pleasant place to be. 

This is a page-turning thriller, with a very interesting story-line.  While the themes explored are difficult ones, they are based on fact and it is hard not draw comparisons with the treatment of refugees and the ongoing issues surrounding human trafficking today. This may be a fictional story, set in a fictional town, but there are towns like this all over Ireland, Europe and beyond. There are many, many unidentified bodies yet to be claimed and many people making money on the back of undocumented immigrants. Hopefully, by book three,  Lottie will see the error in thinking her children can manage without her and start to listen to their voices as much as her caseload. She is a great character, but in fear of losing her likability.  

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Patricia yearned to be a writer after reading Enid Blyton and Carolyn Keene and even wanted to be Nancy Drew when grew up. She has now grown up (she thinks) but the closest she’s come to Nancy Drew is writing crime!

In 2009, after her husband died, she retired from my job and started writing seriously. Fascinated by people and their quirky characteristics, she always carries a notebook to scribble down observations.

Patricia also loves to paint in watercolour and live in the Irish midlands with her children.

The Stolen Girls is published by Bookouture and is available in PB and ebook format. You can order yours via amazon link below:

I received a copy of this title, via netgalley, for review purposes.

Blog Tour: 'The Missing Ones' by Patricia Gibney. Book Review.

Thanks to Bookouture for inviting me to participate in the blog tour for Patricia Gibney's debut crime thriller, featuring DI Lottie Parker. I have met Patricia at many book events and am delighted to see her book 'out in the wild'...

My Review

January 1976, and three children watch with horror as a small body is buried, without ceremony, under an fruit tree. 

December 2014, and  a woman is discovered, strangled, in a rural cathedral. DI Lottie Parker and DS Mark Boyd are called to the scene and can see no reason why anyone would want to harm a fifty-one year old county council worker. She has no family, few friends and apparently no enemies. A distinctive tattoo is found on the corpse and a similar one is located on the body of a suicide victim, just days later. For DI Parker, the coincidence is just too much, and she digs deeper to find a connection. 

The Prologue of The Missing Ones is about as strong as you can get. Disturbing, yet brief, it is enough to draw the reader into the mystery surrounding a child's death. Fast forward almost forty years and we are introduced to DI Lottie Parker, a forty-something mother of three. Widowed over three years, she is still grieving for her husband and coming to terms with raising her kids alone. She tries to balance her work/home life yet there are rarely family mealtimes and she feels responsible. Her vulnerability gives her character more depth and adds some warmth to the story. There is some great chemistry with Lottie and her partner, DS Boyd, bringing a real human element into the mix. As the case gains traction, there are flashbacks to 1970s Ireland and the darkness of the State/Church run children's homes of which we are all too aware of. Decades of secrets and lies are discovered as Lottie searches for links to her investigation. Meanwhile, a homeless man rambles about the past, the shady dealings of planning permission for the renovation of a former children's home come to light and a teenage boy goes missing. The spider web of cover-ups is expanding and the tension builds rapidly.

Considering the recent events surrounding the discovery of hundreds of bodies in a former mother and baby home in Ireland, this book is eerily relevant. Our small island has buried the truth for far too long and society will no longer stand for it. Patricia Gibney has written a fictional account of how a handful of bad apples can destroy the whole cart. There are twists galore and the story gathers pace at a gentle pace, reaching a frantic climax. The horrors of the past seep into the present and the characters are introduced with meticulous detail. This is a thrilling debut, with a fantastic protagonist. DI Lottie Parker has her flaws; she has OCD tendencies, a disastrous relationship with her mother and a terrible concept of what is a reasonable diet for herself and her family. Basically, she is human. I'm a big fan of crime thriller series and look forward to the next installment from this Irish DI and her sidekick, DS Boyd (of whom I may be developing a crush on). 

The Missing Ones is published by Bookouture and is available in PB and ebook format. You can order your copy from good bookstores and via amazon link below:

"The Beginner's Guide to the Birds and the Bees" by Sophie Hart - Guest review from Celeste McCreesh

Thanks to Celeste McCreesh for this guest review.  I have this on my Kindle ready to go and she kindly offered to help me get through my review pile.........


Let’s talk about sex… would you share your bedroom secrets if it meant saving your marriage?
This book is a refreshingly uplifting romantic comedy about friendship, love and sex. This book sees Sex therapist Annie Hall try to help three couples put the fizz back into their relationships.  The first couple are Nick and his gorgeous wife but he knows Julia is after only one thing – a baby and Nick is trying to make her see there's more to life than just babies but can Annie help Julia to see that?
The second couple are newly engaged Zoe and Simon can’t seem to keep their hands off each other. They’ve decided to take a vow of celibacy until their wedding night, well Simon reluctantly has agreed to this too. Will Annie help them stick to it?
The third couple are Roy and Linda have been married for over thirty years but she’s more interested in the family business than getting intimate with him, but is there more to why Linda's chooses to be like than just what appears on the surface? Can Annie convince Linda to rediscover her passion for Roy after all this time?
It’s a shame Annie's own love life is non-existent. When Jamie who works next door catches her eye, she can’t ignore the spark of chemistry.   While Annie begins to work her magic with the three couples, she soon finds herself falling for Jamie.  But she’s been hurt before – will he be different?  Will she follow the advice that she's been giving her own clients in order to potentially fall in love and learn a few life lessons of her own?  Maybe it’s time for Annie to take some of her own advice......

This was my first book that I've read from Sophie Hart & I enjoyed it, the story flowed well, made me giggle in parts and I also loved all the quotes from famous people at the start of every chapter.  If you’re looking for a light-hearted read then kick your feet up with a large bar of chocolate, turn off your phone, and sink into Sophie’s new novel.

Thank you to bookouture via Margaret Madden for allowing me to read and review this book. This book will available on Kindle and in all good bookstores and will be published on 19th September.

" Love, Lies and Lemon Cake " by Sue Watson

I received an advance reading copy of this novel from the publishers in return for an honest review......

I have read Sue's first novel Fat Girls and Fairy Cakes and hoped, that similar to that book,  I was in for a light, funny and calorific read.  She didn't disappoint me.  This is the story of 42 year old Faye, who has had enough of her boring marriage and, having found a To-Do-List from years previous, she realises that none of her dreams have really come true.  She decides to grab the bull by the horns and do something with her life.  As her daughter has moved off to college, there is nothing to stop her from starting over.  With the help of her employer and friends, she makes some headway towards the 'New Faye' with some hilarious results.  A cougar crush on a young Australian deli-worker, a session of vajazzling and some serious foot-in-mouth comments from the verbally inept Faye are just some of the giggle and cringe moments. 

 The antics are comedic and fun and not to be taken too seriously.  There is a lot of amazing food mentioned throughout and each evening, as I picked up my Kindle, I knew my mouth would be watering.  The mere mention of the dry cured hams and stuffed olives were enough to send me on a scavenger hunt of my fridge! Sue Watson is full of lighthearted imagination and feel good fun and for anyone who just wants a good old giggle, especially now the summer has arrived, this is the perfect read.  Lots of girly fun, re-invention, lust and food.  What more could a girl ask for?  Well done, Sue. It brought many a smile to my face!

Love, Lies and Lemon Cake is published by Bookouture and is available in paperback and e-book version. At time of review, the Kindle version was on special for an amazing £1.09.

Follow Sue on Twitter @SueWatsonWriter and see what people have on their #LivingList ....