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A review by nannyf
Missing Daughter, Shattered Family by Liz Strange
5.0
This book starts with a horrific homophobic attack on a police officer, David Lloyd. The after effects he suffers from this attack mean he cannot continue in his career, so he instead opens his own Private Investigations agency.
David's case in this book focuses on a missing person, Stella Barrowman. Her mother, Marjory, has become concerned as Stella has been missing for over 2 months, and the police don't seem interested in finding her.
The descriptive work the author does throughout this book is amazing. Her descriptions convey exactly what is needed, to the finest detail, to allow the reader to see the scene in their mind while reading.
David's investigation takes him from a dance studio to a strip club in an attempt to figure out what has happened to Stella.
What begins as a straight forward missing persons case turns into something far more the further he delves into Stella's life. He finds himself, as well as several other people involved in the case, in danger on more than one occasion.
He has to sort out the truth from the lies, and finds more than one member of Stella's own family is deeply involved in what has happened to her.
During the course of his investigation he has to deal with the person he knows was responsible for the attack on him which ended his police career. Can he keep his feelings for this person in check and move on, with both the investigation and his personal relationship, or will seeing him again bring the memories he has fought to suppress back to the surface?
This book has a lot of themes within its pages ranging from homophobia, drugs and drug abuse, to the sex industry and gangs. David has to deal with a lot in his personal relationship and the fact that several incidents cause him to remember his own attack, something he doesn't want to do.
The main storyline, that of the missing person, is a good one. The author manages to keep the readers attention throughout by turning the investigation into a lot more than first thought.
There is a small part right at the end of the story which shows the compassion which David and his family have, it gave me a nice feeling reading that. It's good to know that there are people out there willing to give others a second chance. That, I feel, is the moral in this story. After everything he has been through David can find it in his heart to trust someone he doesn't truly know in a way which could very easily be abused. I hope that the next book in this series, A Fresh Set Of Eyes, continues in the same vein.
David's case in this book focuses on a missing person, Stella Barrowman. Her mother, Marjory, has become concerned as Stella has been missing for over 2 months, and the police don't seem interested in finding her.
The descriptive work the author does throughout this book is amazing. Her descriptions convey exactly what is needed, to the finest detail, to allow the reader to see the scene in their mind while reading.
David's investigation takes him from a dance studio to a strip club in an attempt to figure out what has happened to Stella.
What begins as a straight forward missing persons case turns into something far more the further he delves into Stella's life. He finds himself, as well as several other people involved in the case, in danger on more than one occasion.
He has to sort out the truth from the lies, and finds more than one member of Stella's own family is deeply involved in what has happened to her.
During the course of his investigation he has to deal with the person he knows was responsible for the attack on him which ended his police career. Can he keep his feelings for this person in check and move on, with both the investigation and his personal relationship, or will seeing him again bring the memories he has fought to suppress back to the surface?
This book has a lot of themes within its pages ranging from homophobia, drugs and drug abuse, to the sex industry and gangs. David has to deal with a lot in his personal relationship and the fact that several incidents cause him to remember his own attack, something he doesn't want to do.
The main storyline, that of the missing person, is a good one. The author manages to keep the readers attention throughout by turning the investigation into a lot more than first thought.
There is a small part right at the end of the story which shows the compassion which David and his family have, it gave me a nice feeling reading that. It's good to know that there are people out there willing to give others a second chance. That, I feel, is the moral in this story. After everything he has been through David can find it in his heart to trust someone he doesn't truly know in a way which could very easily be abused. I hope that the next book in this series, A Fresh Set Of Eyes, continues in the same vein.