#NetGalley Book Review: Vanishing Girls by Lisa Regan

This is a tough and engaging thriller.
Vanishing Girls: A totally heart-stopping crime thriller (Detective Josie Quinn Book 1)
by Lisa Regan

File Size: 1883 KB
Print Length: 337 pages
Publisher: Bookouture (January 17, 2018)
ASIN: B076KMQ7M3
Genre: Crime Thriller, Detective Thriller
My Rating: 4.0 of 5.0

When Isabelle Coleman, a blonde, beautiful young girl goes missing, eeautifulveryone from the small town of Denton joins the search. They can find no trace of the town’s darling, but Detective Josie Quinn finds another girl they didn’t even know was missing.
Mute and unresponsive, it’s clear this mysterious girl has been damaged beyond repair. All Josie can get from her is the name of a third girl and a flash of a neon tongue piercing that matches Isabelle’s.
The race is on to find Isabelle alive, and Josie fears there may be other girls in terrible danger. When the trail leads her to a cold case labelled a hoax by authorities, Josie begins to wonder is there anyone left she can trust?
Someone in this close-knit town is committing unspeakable crimes. Can Josie catch the killer before another victim loses their life?
Utterly gripping crime for readers who adored Angela Marsons, Helen Fields and Robert Dugoni. You will be sleeping with the lights on once you discover the first in this unputdownable new crime thriller series.

Review:
Detective Josie Quinn is a tough, dedicated officer, committed to solving crime. She tends to act impulsively at times and has recently been suspended for an assault. Josie is frustrated that her husband, her childhood sweetheart, has betrayed her and has been slow to sign the divorce papers she is waiting for. Josie is doubly frustrated as a beautiful teenage girl has gone missing and her chief won’t let her participate in the investigation.

Josie keeps sneaking into the investigation and hunting out clues behind the scenes. When another young woman is discovered alive, Josie is skeptical that the man accused and killed during the arrest, was the true kidnapper. The young girl is basically catatonic and unable to help in the investigation. But Josie discovers the existence of an older case with a similar abduction. She enlists the help of her fiancé and a pesky news journalist to work on the case and gather the older police file only to learn that the file is missing much of the report. Can Josie get enough information to help the case before she gets fired by her boss? The investigation takes a dangerous twist when the information that Josie gathers apparently threatens some people resulting in Josie and those close to her becoming targets to keep quiet.

Sadly, from the beginning, I couldn’t warm to Josie’s rough character. She was on suspension for excessive reaction and still chose not to follow the rules as she continued to push to be on the abduction case. The investigation and the criminal conspiracy are very interesting, suspenseful, and, at times, horrifying. I recommend this to readers who enjoy dark crime and tough detective stories.

Source: NetGalley 2020. This qualifies for 2020NetGalley and 2020Alphabet goals.