My thoughts
This was another very good thriller/mystery by Jess Lourey.
Steinbeck and Reed together are a force to be reckoned with. I absolutely adore Steinbeck. He sounds almost too perfect. Reed is broken but fixable and such a good detective. She takes her job seriously and does not shrink in the face of adversity.
This story has a lot going on but it's easy to follow. Three girls go into the woods but only two come out. Friends Amber and Rue along with Rue's little sister Lily. Rue comes out but Amber and Rue are missing. Rue does not remember what happened.
Many years go by and Reed takes this cold case The Taken Ones. It's about the missing girls. After a body was discovered buried alive and may be tied to the Taken Ones she wants to solve it. She lived in her own nightmare growing up. In a cult with an abusive leader, Frank.
You follow these two and a few more detectives and cops throughout this story looking for the Bendy Man and the missing children. You also hear about another case along the way. I can't tell you about it but I applaud Van Reed for her gift. She saved lives in this thrilling new book. It also references back to the previous book with these two in it. I can't imagine Van doing what she did.
I hope this continues with another soon. I can't wait for Harry's secret to be revealed and for more of he and Van. They are two of the good ones in a world of a few bad cops. Also a possible love story here.
Thank you #NetGalley, #JessLourey, #Thomas&Mercer for this ARC. This is my honest thoughts about this book.
Five big stars and a high recommendation for this one.
Synopsis
Two girls vanished. A woman buried alive. Between two crimes—decades of secrets yet to be unearthed in a pulse-pounding novel by the Edgar Award–nominated author of Unspeakable Things.
Summer 1980: With no fear of a local superstition, three girls go into a Minnesota wood. Only one comes out. Dead silent. Memory gone. No trace of her friends. The mystery of the Taken Ones captures the nation.
Summer 2022: Cold case detective Van Reed and forensic scientist Harry Steinbeck are assigned a disturbing homicide—a woman buried alive, clutching a heart charm necklace belonging to one of the vanished girls. Van follows her gut. Harry trusts in facts. Their common ground is the need to catch a killer before he kills again. They have something else in common: each has ties to the original case in ways they’re reluctant to share.
As Van and Harry connect the crimes of the past and the present, Van struggles with memories of her own nightmarish childhood—and the fear that uncovering the truth of the Taken Ones will lead her down a path from which she, too, may never return.
Summer 1980: With no fear of a local superstition, three girls go into a Minnesota wood. Only one comes out. Dead silent. Memory gone. No trace of her friends. The mystery of the Taken Ones captures the nation.
Summer 2022: Cold case detective Van Reed and forensic scientist Harry Steinbeck are assigned a disturbing homicide—a woman buried alive, clutching a heart charm necklace belonging to one of the vanished girls. Van follows her gut. Harry trusts in facts. Their common ground is the need to catch a killer before he kills again. They have something else in common: each has ties to the original case in ways they’re reluctant to share.
As Van and Harry connect the crimes of the past and the present, Van struggles with memories of her own nightmarish childhood—and the fear that uncovering the truth of the Taken Ones will lead her down a path from which she, too, may never return.
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