EVERY WAKING HOUR by Joanna Schaffhausen

 

The fourth book in Joanna Schaffhausen's heartpounding Ellery Hathaway mystery series, Every Waking Hour....

After surviving a serial killer’s abduction as a young teenager, Ellery Hathaway is finally attempting a normal life. She has a new job as a rookie Boston detective and a fledgling relationship with Reed Markham, the FBI agent who rescued her years ago. But when a twelve-year-old girl disappears on Ellery’s watch, the troubling case opens deep wounds that never fully healed.

Chloe Lockhart walked away from a busy street fair and vanished into the crowd. Maybe she was fleeing the suffocating surveillance her parents put on her from the time she was born, or maybe the evil from her parents’ past finally caught up to her. For Chloe, as Ellery learns, is not the first child Teresa Lockhart has lost.

Ellery knows what it’s like to have the past stalk you, to hold your breath around every corner. Sending one kidnapped girl to find another could be Chloe’s only hope or an unmitigated disaster that dooms them both. Ellery must untangle the labyrinth of secrets inside the Lockhart household—secrets that have already murdered one child. Each second that ticks by reminds her of her own lost hours, how close she came to death, and how near it still remains.

My thoughts:

This was the fourth in a series and I did not read the first three. I did throughly enjoy this one though. I don't believe it took away from the story in any way me not reading the first books. 

This is a great book. It has a couple of intense things going on at once. A young girl is kidnapped and her parents are very upset and worried. The mother, Teresa, had already lost a son years earlier in a brutal attack. He was murdered and the crime was never solved. The main character, Ellery, had been kidnapped at the age of fourteen also so took this case personally. She's also the cop on this case. Ellery will do whatever it takes to ensure that Chloe is safe. Even keeping her under constant care. She won't let her go out and do any of the things a normal teen does. She can't. She's afraid of something horrible happening to her like it did to her son all those years ago. You can't blame her for that.

This book takes you on lots of twists and turns. It is well written and the plot is great and easy to follow. I didn't figure out who the bad guy was at all. There is really a whole lot going on and lots of twists and turns. But it's very easy to keep up and know what is happening. I enjoyed this book a lot. The characters are all well developed and very likable. Maybe a couple of them you will want to hit but overall they are all easy to like. Relatable in many ways. 

There is also a kind of love that may or may not be meant to be going on. Long story and I suggest you read this book to find out what that is all about. I did really enjoy this book. It kept my interest all the way through and didn't let me down at all. It surprised in where it should have and kept great pace. It was not bored at any point. I think this is a great series and I do intend to read more by this author.

Thank you #NetGalley, #JoannaSchaffhausen, #StMartin'sPress for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.

4/5 stars and a high recommendation.