Thursday, August 24, 2017

Lost/ Sharon Bolton / 391 pgs

This is the third in Bolton's Lacey Flint series and I'm glad I read it so closely on the heels of book two because that helped me remember what had happened to the characters. Lacey has been through a lot of trauma in the first two books and it's really wearing on her. While I appreciated this realism (I hate it when characters continue on their sunny way after suffering through tragedy after tragedy), I was becoming quite concerned for Lacey's mental well being in this book. I'm happy to say that things ended on a small positive note.

So, the story. Young boys around the age of 9-10 are disappearing from South London. They turn up dead but not violently abused and there seems to be no relation among the victims. Detective Constable Lacey is supposed to be off on leave but she becomes embroiled in the mystery when her 10-year-old neighbor Barney takes it upon himself to investigate the disappearances. I liked Barney's character--he's an OCD kid who is very bright and mature for his age--and the way Lacey reluctantly let him draw her into his life.

The mystery here was intriguing. I didn't figure out who the culprit was but I have to say I found the motivation of that culprit very weak. Nevertheless, the interactions between Lacey and her coworkers is always very well drawn, as is the atmosphere around London.

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