Lost Girls by Angela Marsons (thoughts)

Summary from Goodreads:

"Two girls go missing. Only one will return.  
The couple that offers the highest amount will see their daughter again. The losing couple will not. Make no mistake. One child will die. 

When nine-year-old best friends Charlie and Amy disappear, two families are plunged into a living nightmare. A text message confirms the unthinkable; that the girls are the victims of a terrifying kidnapping. 

And when a second text message pits the two families against each other for the life of their children, the clock starts ticking for D.I. Kim Stone and the squad. 

Seemingly outwitted at every turn, as they uncover a trail of bodies, Stone realises that these ruthless killers might be the most deadly she has ever faced. And that their chances of bringing the girls home alive, are getting smaller by the hour… 

Untangling a dark web of secrets from the families’ past might hold the key to solving this case. But can Kim stay alive long enough to do so? Or will someone’s child pay the ultimate price?"

My Thoughts:

I've been meaning to read this book for months and am so glad that I finally did just that!  I have a tendency to hoard books in my favorite series but never read them as I don't want to run out of books to look forward to (yes, I'm weird like that).  But then I realized that there are seven books in this series and I've fallen way behind so I decided it was time to start catching up.  Reading this book reminded my why I love this series so much.  It was heart-poundingly good and such a thrill ride!  The premise is honestly too horrifying to think about.  Two families are torn apart when their daughters are kidnapped and to get them back they are told to make the highest bid.  I cannot even imagine and wouldn't want to!  It raised the tension level in this book to about a ten though which meant that I didn't want to stop reading.  I loved the fact that in this book we got to see a different type of investigation for Kim to be working rather than a murder investigation.  The thoughts of what these two missing girls must be going through was haunting Kim and even effecting her investigation at times.  As I've said before, she is one of my favorite main characters in a mystery series due to her personality and dark past.  She is just so interesting to read about and you never know what she is going to do next.  That was definitely apparent in this book as she was basically willing to do anything to get those girls back.  I found the last half of the book so incredibly intense that I basically couldn't stop reading.  I was cooking dinner last night with one hand and had my kindle in the other.  Seriously, I had hit the point of no return and just had to see how it was all going to end!

Overall, I enjoyed this book so much and found that it was another great addition to one of my favorite mystery series!  I can't say enough good things about this series or these books.  I've been reading them in order but I really do think that you could read them out of order without it effecting your enjoyment of each book.  If you enjoy tense, thrilling reads then this is a series for you.  Each book has been different but so compulsively readable.  The first two books made my best of lists for the years that I read them and I don't think that this one will be any different.  I'm kicking myself now for waiting so long to read this book.  Luckily, I already have book four loaded on my kindle so I won't be waiting much longer to dive into that one.  I would highly recommend this book and this series!

Bottom Line:  Another top read from one of my favorite series!

Disclosure:  I received a copy of this book thanks to the publisher and NetGalley.