The Lost Child by Patricia Gibney – Blog Blitz Review.

About the Book

An elderly woman is found murdered in her own home, and Detective Lottie Parker and her partner Detective Boyd are called in to investigate. When they discover that the victim’s daughter is missing as well, they start to fear for the safety of the whole family…
Two days later as a nearby house is set on fire and with the body count rising, Lottie and her team begin to unpick a web of secrets and lies, as the murders seem to link back to a case investigated by Lottie’s father before he took his own life.
With little knowledge of what really happened to her father, Lottie knows this is a case that could give her some answers. But how much does she want to know? And how far is Lottie prepared to dig to uncover the truth?

My Review

With thanks to the publisher for the copy received.

Wow. It is hard to put into words how I feel about this novel. It is book three in the series and I went into it without knowing anything about any of the characters, any back story or what this new book was about. Whilst this did cause a bit of confusion initially I just decided not to think about what I had missed out on and concentrated on what I was reading. If anybody is worried, you don’t need to be. There are no spoilers, just a bit of personal information and I can easily go back and read the earlier novels without knowing too much detail. I plan on doing this at the earliest possibility.
It’s fast paced Irish fiction. Unusually, for me, I liked every member of the team. Even Lynch, who seemed to bear a grudge for some event in the past. Lottie, is an older detective than the ones that I have ‘met’ before. She is a mother of three, grandmother of one, and a daughter to a woman who she clashes with. There is no mother/ daughter bond at all. Lottie feels anxious a lot of the time, and takes more alcohol and prescribed drugs than she should do. Boyd, aware of all her faults is devoted, even though I did feel at times that she would push him to far.
The case is a devastating one for all, I could feel the pain and despair when they were not quick enough and people suffered. Some of the events are gruesome and I was quite relieved that there wasn’t too much detail. I never had a clue about who was responsible for the crimes. It worked, I was just duped into thinking about who it could be. It’s clever, at times amusing, and full of compassion. I loved it and downloaded book one immediately after finishing it.