charlotte_cross's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
noveldeelights's review
5.0
I’ve loved this series from the first book and could barely contain my excitement when I got my grabby hands on this new addition. The Lost Child is the third book in the DI Lottie Parker series and really, I don’t know how Patricia Gibney does it, but she has once again raised the bar and delivered her best book yet!
An elderly lady is found dead, her daughter has gone missing and a few days later, a cottage burns to the ground claiming more victims. Lottie Parker and her team are in for a very busy week. When it looks like the investigation is somehow connected to her father, things get pretty personal for Lottie. Will she finally be able to discover the truth about his death?
I have to say that Lottie got on my nerves quite a bit this time around and I often felt like slapping her. But most of the time, as I sat reading, the words coming out of my mouth were along the lines of “holy crap, what the hell is going on?!”. I didn’t have a clue because one thing Patricia Gibney does extremely well, is create an intriguing background story with its roots firmly in the past that seemed to grab me by the throat and not let go. Once again, it’s the most heartbreaking, dark and disturbing story with devastating consequences and it had me utterly hooked!
The Lost Child is insanely gripping and compelling and I stayed up way too late in a desperate attempt to finish it. Absolutely worth the zombie look I’m displaying today. This series keeps going from strength to strength, as does the author’s writing. With an intricate and complex plot and amazing character development, Patricia Gibney has delivered another absolute corker.
If you’re not reading this series, do yourself a favour and start right now! From the beginning, people, or you’ll be missing out on a lot of important background information! In the meantime, I will sit here and impatiently await book number four.
An elderly lady is found dead, her daughter has gone missing and a few days later, a cottage burns to the ground claiming more victims. Lottie Parker and her team are in for a very busy week. When it looks like the investigation is somehow connected to her father, things get pretty personal for Lottie. Will she finally be able to discover the truth about his death?
I have to say that Lottie got on my nerves quite a bit this time around and I often felt like slapping her. But most of the time, as I sat reading, the words coming out of my mouth were along the lines of “holy crap, what the hell is going on?!”. I didn’t have a clue because one thing Patricia Gibney does extremely well, is create an intriguing background story with its roots firmly in the past that seemed to grab me by the throat and not let go. Once again, it’s the most heartbreaking, dark and disturbing story with devastating consequences and it had me utterly hooked!
The Lost Child is insanely gripping and compelling and I stayed up way too late in a desperate attempt to finish it. Absolutely worth the zombie look I’m displaying today. This series keeps going from strength to strength, as does the author’s writing. With an intricate and complex plot and amazing character development, Patricia Gibney has delivered another absolute corker.
If you’re not reading this series, do yourself a favour and start right now! From the beginning, people, or you’ll be missing out on a lot of important background information! In the meantime, I will sit here and impatiently await book number four.
mandylovestoread's review
5.0
Oh my goodness! I could not put this book down once I started it. Murders, drugs, links to the past and a tangled web of deceit.. This book has it all. I have read the first book in this series but somehow I have managed to miss book 2.... something I will rectify ASAP! This book can be read without reading the others but I think the others should be read first. A big thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for a copy of this book to read and review
yvo_about_books's review
4.0
Finished reading: October 24th 2017
"Sometimes knowing is worse than not knowing."
*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and Bookouture in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***
Spoiler
I have been enjoying my time with detective Lottie Parker so far, and this third book The Lost Child has been one of my most anticipated releases last year. Why? Lottie Parker somehow never fails to deliver another suspenseful and thrilling adventure, and both the writing and plot development have always been excellent. The Lost Child is no exception. Book number three is without doubt another great read and provides us with yet another exciting story and more mystery around what really happened to the main character's father. And while I do think I enjoyed it a tiny bit less than the first two books for reasons I can't exactly put my fingers on, I had a great time reading The Lost Child and any fan of the genre will probably feel the same. I'm looking forward to the fourth book, which is scheduled to be published in March!
P.S. Find more of my reviews here.
kenzieleckie_'s review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
maggymags's review
3.0
3.5 Now if Lotti Parker could have just pulled herself together sooner and if we could just remove one of the twists, I would have rated it higher.
ingera's review
1.0
1.5 rounded down.
Ok, I gave it a good go, but I think this is my last book in this series for a while. This was a convoluted mess, and I totally got lost with all the siblings and half-siblings and disappeared siblings and mothers and fathers and random drug dealers and god knows who. As with the previous books, it’s just too many pointless murders (I’m still mad about the killing of Jason in the first book), it’s like the author get paid for every murder in the book and just throw the bodies in. It isn’t enough to kill off a grandmother and her daughter, no, she had to kill the granddaughter as well, then for good measure kill the granddaughters father, and if you thought that was enough, the grandmothers brother was killed as well. And it wasn’t enough to kill just the journalist over his files, of course his wife had to be killed, and once again traumatised children are left without parents. Lottie is still a rather shitty parent herself, and a shitty inspector who’s constantly screaming at and undermining her detectives. As usual she ignores important phone calls or messages, and when she forgets to return them of course something bad happens, and once again her family are dragged in to the drama and she ends up half dead.
Maybe sometimes it’s best not reading series back to back over such a short time (three books in three days), and as I already have bought the next book I can read it in a year or so with more fresh eyes. Because in spite of all my ramblings here, Gibney has something promising in her writing as well.
/end rant
Ok, I gave it a good go, but I think this is my last book in this series for a while. This was a convoluted mess, and I totally got lost with all the siblings and half-siblings and disappeared siblings and mothers and fathers and random drug dealers and god knows who. As with the previous books, it’s just too many pointless murders (I’m still mad about the killing of Jason in the first book), it’s like the author get paid for every murder in the book and just throw the bodies in. It isn’t enough to kill off a grandmother and her daughter, no, she had to kill the granddaughter as well, then for good measure kill the granddaughters father, and if you thought that was enough, the grandmothers brother was killed as well. And it wasn’t enough to kill just the journalist over his files, of course his wife had to be killed, and once again traumatised children are left without parents. Lottie is still a rather shitty parent herself, and a shitty inspector who’s constantly screaming at and undermining her detectives. As usual she ignores important phone calls or messages, and when she forgets to return them of course something bad happens, and once again her family are dragged in to the drama and she ends up half dead.
Maybe sometimes it’s best not reading series back to back over such a short time (three books in three days), and as I already have bought the next book I can read it in a year or so with more fresh eyes. Because in spite of all my ramblings here, Gibney has something promising in her writing as well.
/end rant
ess_naomi's review
4.0
This book started as a bit of a slow burner, the police work overpowered the actual story-line to begin with, however after a few chapters this became much less of an issue. This book really kept me guessing, and had lots of twists and turns. Like a really good TV show, it kept me guessing as to who the assailant could be. I also think the emotional trauma and events of Lottie (the lead detective in the case) really added to the story-line, and ended with a huge bang. I now can't wait to read on, and see where Lottie's story goes next.
waddy21's review
5.0
Another great read from this series. Dark and twisted with a great plot that made me not want to put down. After reading nearly the series of books I have to say this is one of my favourite out of the books.