Review: The Lost Child by Patricia Gibney

The Lost Child (D.I. Lottie Parker, #3)

by Patricia Gibney

Release Date: October 27, 2017

2017 Bookouture

Ebook Edition; 448 Pages

ISBN: 978-1786812377

ASIN:  ‎ B073SHHY6J

Audiobook: B076PPLZFX

Genre: Fiction / Mystery

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

4 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

An elderly woman is found murdered in her own home, and Detective Lottie Parker and her partner Detective Boyd are called in to investigate. When they discover that the victim’s daughter is missing as well, they start to fear for the safety of the whole family…

Two days later as a nearby house is set on fire and with the body count rising, Lottie and her team begin to unpick a web of secrets and lies, as the murders seem to link back to a case investigated by Lottie’s father before he took his own life.

With little knowledge of what really happened to her father, Lottie knows this is a case that could give her some answers. But how much does she want to know? And how far is Lottie prepared to dig to uncover the truth?

 

My Thoughts

The Lost Child is the third entry in the DI Lottie Parker series and this entry was just as intriguing as the previous books if for different reasons. Because this case has personal ties with the mystery of Lottie's father's death, it impacts Lottie on a personal level and causes her to behave erratically at times. While the mystery was quite intriguing, I really liked Lottie's development and her fall into bad habits to keep the emotional memories at bay and to keep herself from falling apart completely.

 

Okay, three books in and we've been watching Lottie spiral downwards the entire time, so I was waiting for this book to see how an investigation or a connection into her father's death would affect her emotionally and the author didn't disappoint.  If you are looking for a perfect DI, this you will not get as Lottie is flawed and somewhat emotionally unstable, dealing with her children who are also going through some difficulties. Personally, I think this reflects life a bit more and how challenging life can be with a job as difficult as the one Lottie has while trying to raise children as a single mom.  Lottie can be frustrating and she doesn't let anyone close to her, but at the same time, you can't help but root for her and want her to either talk to someone she trusts or get professional help before her decisions affect someone on her team.

 

The plot moves along quickly, but it certainly isn't easy to put everything together and get a clear idea of what is happening, especially with the dual timelines.  And honestly, the thread about Lotty's father has been woven throughout the books already, but it rears its ugly head in this one and creates a lot of havoc for everyone involved. I don't really care about how long the chapters are in books, but I do think the shorter chapters in this one kept me a bit more engaged as I kept wanting to read 'just one more'. As an aside, I do like how the author incorporated some of the history into the book with the insane asylum time line; it's definitely haunting and not something that we should forget. 

 

Verdict

The Lost Child was an engrossing entry into the series, and I like how the author is slowly revealing more depth to the characters as the series progresses. There is a lot going on in this book and at times, I almost felt like there was too much going on and the author wouldn't be able to keep a handle on all the straws, but with twists and turns a plenty, everything does come together in the end in an exciting way.  I thought the balance between plot and character development was good and the story was full of tension and high stakes. I do recommend that you start from the first book in order to grasp the nuances of the secondary plot line running through this story; however, you would probably still enjoy it as a standalone.