A review by suebee135
Pretty Little Things by Jilliane Hoffman

4.0

Author Jilliane Hoffman does it again with her newest thriller “Pretty Little Things”.
When 13 year old Lainey Emerson fails to return home from a sleepover, the police are called in. Detectives wonder why Lainey’s mother waited 2 days to call, and why she doesn’t remember the name of the friend Lainey was supposed to be with. FDLE special agent Bobby Dees, however, has seen this kind of neglect too many times before. Parents too busy or self-absorbed to give their children the attention and supervision they need. Many times these children run away; some are “thrown away”. As head of the Crimes Against Children Squad for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Bobby has developed a talent for finding these missing children and bringing them home. This talent has earned him the nickname The Shepherd among his colleagues. It is a nickname that has made him bristle since his own daughter went missing several months ago.
Bobby’s investigation into Lainey’s disappearance leads him to believe that she is the victim of an online predator. When a local television reporter claims that he has proof of several similar disappearances that the police have written off as runaways, Bobby fears that a serial killer could be at work, preying on these vulnerable children.
This is a thriller from first page to last. Making it even more chilling is the realization that the events portrayed in this novel could very well happen for real.