Publisher: Harper Paperback
Date of publication: March 2015
An old case makes Detective Inspector Louisa Smith some new enemies in this spellbinding second installment of New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Haynes’s Briarstone crime series that combines literary suspense and page-turning thrills.
Ten years ago, 15-year-old Scarlett Rainsford vanished while
on a family holiday in Greece. Was she abducted, or did she run away from her
severely dysfunctional family? Lou Smith worked the case as a police constable,
and failing to find Scarlett has been one of the biggest regrets of her career.
No one is more shocked than Lou to learn that Scarlett has unexpectedly been
found during a Special Branch raid of a brothel in Briarstone.
Lou and her Major Crime team are already stretched working
two troubling cases: nineteen-year-old Ian Palmer was found badly beaten; and
soon after, bar owner Carl McVey was found half-buried in the woods, his Rolex
and money gone. While Lou tries to establish the links between the two cases,
DS Sam Hollands works with Special Branch to question Scarlett. What happened
to her? Where has she been until now? How did she end up back here? And why is
her family—with the exception of her emotionally fragile older sister,
Juliette—less than enthusiastic about her return?
When another brutal assault and homicide are linked to the
McVey murder, Lou’s cases collide, and the clues all point in one terrifying
direction. As the pressure and the danger mount, it becomes clear that the
silent, secretive Scarlett holds they key to everything.
Behind Closed Doors was a great read! I couldn't put it down. It had a much darker feel than the first Lou Smith book, Under a Silent Moon. I did feel like you could read this one as a stand alone book, but there were some elements from the first book that are cleared up or taken further in this one. This time around, Lou is up to her eyeballs in cases. She is also trying to juggle a social life with her boyfriend Jason. When Scarlett Rainsford is found after vanishing 10 years before, Lou has to slowly put the pieces together to solve the case.
I did think this was a little all over the place in the beginning. None of the cases seemed to fit together., But I knew enough to trust the author to tie it all up for me as she did in the first book. The book waffles between the present investigation and 10 years earlier as we see what happened to Scarlett. As I said before, this book is a bit darker as it deals with human trafficking, specifically young girls who are kidnapped and sold to be prostitutes. What happened to Scarlett was not easy to read.
As in the first book, there are police reports and e-mails included. This allows the reader to discover things right along with the characters. I really enjoyed that aspect of the book. I was also surprised at the little twist in the end. Not everything is completely solved, but that made it more realistic because that is often the case in real life crimes.
I look forward to the next book!
I did think this was a little all over the place in the beginning. None of the cases seemed to fit together., But I knew enough to trust the author to tie it all up for me as she did in the first book. The book waffles between the present investigation and 10 years earlier as we see what happened to Scarlett. As I said before, this book is a bit darker as it deals with human trafficking, specifically young girls who are kidnapped and sold to be prostitutes. What happened to Scarlett was not easy to read.
As in the first book, there are police reports and e-mails included. This allows the reader to discover things right along with the characters. I really enjoyed that aspect of the book. I was also surprised at the little twist in the end. Not everything is completely solved, but that made it more realistic because that is often the case in real life crimes.
I look forward to the next book!
About the author:
Elizabeth Haynes is a police intelligence analyst, a
civilian role that involves determining patterns in offending and criminal
behavior. Dark Tide is her second novel; rights to her
first, Into the Darkest Corner, have been sold in twenty-five
territories. Haynes lives in England in a village near Maidstone, Kent, with
her husband and son.
Purchase Links
Tour Dates:
Monday, March 30th: Reading
Reality
Tuesday, March 31st: No
More Grumpy Bookseller
Thursday, April 2nd: Kahakai
Kitchen
Thursday, April 2nd:Literary
Feline
Monday, April 6th: A
Bookworm’s World
Tuesday, April 7th: FictionZeal
Friday, April 10th: Booksie’s
Blog
Monday, April 13th: From the TBR Pile
Wednesday, April 15th: Vox
Libris
Thursday, April 16th: Drey’s Library
Tuesday, April 21st: Book Hooked Blog
Thursday, April 23rd: Mockingbird Hill Cottage
Friday, April 24th: Read-Love-Blog
Thursday, April 30th: The Discerning Reader
I appreciate that this one could be a standalone but that it also works as part of the series. And I'm glad that you can recommend it so highly! Thanks for being a part of the tour.
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