Little Boy Lost by J. P. Carter
Avon;
1/23/20
eBook review copy; 400 pages
ISBN-13: 9780008313340
DCI Anna Tate #3
Little Boy Lost by J. P. Carter is a very highly recommended police procedural/thriller and the third in the DCI Anna Tate series.
All hell is breaking loose in London. After an accidental police
shooting during an arrest, riots break out across London - arson,
looting, violence, and chaos is rampant. Anna Tate is supposed to be on
two months leave after recently being reunited with her abducted
daughter, Chloe, but she is called back into to work a case. In the
basement of an abandoned pub that is set on fire by the rioters, the
body of a child is found. He is identified as
ten year old Jacob Rossi and is part of a kidnapping investigation
after he went missing on his way home from school. His father is a
well-known celebrity, Mark Rossi. The arsonists likely didn't know Jacob
was being held in the basement and their actions killed him. Anna just
has a limited team to help her find out who kidnapped Jacob and for what purposes.
So Anna can work the case, she asks her
boyfriend, Tom, to go to her house and look after Chloe, especially as
night approaches and all the violence spreading across the city will
escalate. Unknown to Anna, violence strikes her neighborhood right when
Tom arrives to take Chloe to his place. Tom is attacked and Chloe is
suddenly left on her own, trying to find some safe place amidst the
rampant violence and roaming gangs. While Anna is working the case,
Chloe is threatened at every turn, and the violence is spreading.
Little Boy Lost is
an un-put-downable thriller. I was engrossed in both narrative threads -
Anna working the case and Chloe's flight for safety. We are viewing the
rioting from two different viewpoints and it makes it even more
heart-stopping that Anna does not know Chloe is in danger and Chloe has
no way to contact her. I kept reading this one long into the night. For
those who haven't read the previous two DCI Anna Tate books, Little Boy Lost works
as a standalone novel. All the backstory is told and you will quickly
be up to speed. This is my first J.P. Carter book and based on it, I
will pick up another. The characters are all well-developed.
The writing is fantastic. I liked following the narrative as it alternated
between Chloe's desperate danger-filled plight and Anna's steady and
careful investigation being hampered by the same riots. The
juxtaposition of the action with the investigation in the plot keeps the
suspense building in both parts of the narrative. They are equally
compelling story-lines but also very different. On the one hand there is
a police procedural and clues to follow. On the other hand is a
twelve-year-old girl running for her life caught up in a night full of
violence.
Disclosure:
My review copy was courtesy of HarperCollins
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