Little Child Gone by Stacy Green

 

My thoughts

This is the best series I've read. The best thriller series. I'm so glad there will be more Nikki Hunt books. This author knows how to pull you in and keep you turning the pages. Holding your interest and making you feel like you are there. Stacy Green is one fantastic thriller/mystery writer. 

In this, book #10, Nikki Hunt has a couple of cases going. One a cold case. Two bodies found in a boarded up apartment in a house. The other a boy is missing. Actually there are a couple of boys missing around the same age. 

Ms Smith and her three children move in with Karl Hendrickson. Not in a romantic way but to work. To help him and have a safe place to live. Karl cared deeply for Ms Smith. Like the daughter he always wanted he said. He had a daughter but she was a bit cruel. She didn't care about anyone else and hated Ms Smith and her children. She accused them of sponging off her father and stealing from him. She said they were using him to get money. Karl told his daughter to leave and never return. 

When Christy and Jared's son goes missing Nikki wonders if it's possibly related to two other freshman boys who went missing. One was found washed up on the creek bed but the other was still missing. Taylor was mad at his mom and she figured that was the reason he didn't come home. Until she finds out he never showed for work. And he never contacted anyone. 

There is a whole lot going on in this book but I promise it's easy to follow. You hear all about each family. Both the cold case and the newly missing boy. Nikki and her team work hard to find out who the bodies in the closet are and who took Taylor. Or if Taylor ran away. She investigates all the involved parties and uncovers a few things that these people didn't want her to know about. Or anyone to know about. 

This author always writes books that keep you guessing but rarely will you figure out who did what and why. At least with this one I didn't. The descriptions are so well done and the edge of your seat thrills are perfection. Stacy Green always produces the best thriller books.

Thank you to the publisher for this ARC. 

About

The wind from the storm outside blows through the house, making Nikki’s eyes sting. The secret room is hidden behind a wardrobe in the dusty, abandoned living room. A light flickers to reveal a dark stain on the floor, and two sets of fragile bones…

Standing in the old farmhouse, Special Agent Nikki Hunt holds her breath as the smell of bleach overwhelms her. She can’t take her eyes off the blue baby toys scattered around the floor as her team examine the remains. A housekeeper and her three children disappeared from the property ten years ago. Do the bones belong to two of them? Did the other two survive?

But before Nikki has a chance to investigate further, she receives a panicked call from the local sheriff begging for her help: fourteen-year-old Taylor Hall has gone missing. In the boy’s grand family home, Nikki finds his mother and father utterly distraught, but there are whispers about his mother’s drinking habit. Despite the younger children’s rosy cheeks, and the plates of homemade fudge, is this family hiding secrets?

While digging into Taylor’s life, Nikki spots a crumpled note sticking out of his locker at school. Her finger traces the exact date the housekeeper went missing from the old farmhouse, and a “Bailey”. Is this Taylor? As a child, did he survive what happened all those years ago? Or is someone playing a cruel game with Nikki?

The truth about Taylor’s real family is deadlier than Nikki could imagine, and he will have to dig deeper than ever before to save him. Can she unravel the terrible events of the past and protect more than one innocent life before her time runs out?

Fans of Lisa Regan, Mary Burton and Kendra Elliot will be up all night reading this electrifying thriller from USA Today bestseller Stacy Green.