Tell Nobody: Absolutely gripping crime fiction with unputdownable mystery and suspense

Back to Ragmullin in Book Five of the series. I'm glad I read the previous books and kept up with the series. This book has wrung me out emotionally. It's unsettling. The themes are loaded. It's fast-paced, sharp and packed with action all the way through. DI Lottie Parker continues to be sarcastic and tetchy, but she is a dedicated detective. After a fire at her home in the last book, she and her children are squashed in at her mother's house. She seems to subsist without much food, sleep or that elusive "me-time.". The rest of the team are smart and likeable, especially Mark Boyd. There are two cases running parallel. It's an involved plot and requires a lot of unravelling. A dead new-born baby turns up, and the mother has vanished. Then, Mikey Driscoll goes missing and is eventually found dead. DI Lottie and her team face a dilemma. As the bodies of young boys keep appearing and the suspects mount up Lottie and her team are as foxed as me. Events spiral out of control, and Lottie scarcely knows which way to turn. Towards the end, there is a crushing, emotional part, which tore me apart. While I was reading, I couldn't help turning over in my mind the alarming thought that predators are lurking purposely on the lookout for unaccompanied children. If you delve back into the mid-1960's this was how Myra Hindley found the victims for her and Ian Brady to torture and kill. Later, the same with Rose and Fred West. Do we never learn? Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture.

A killer close to home. A town full of secrets… One hot summer evening, eleven-year-old Mikey Driscoll is on the way home from playing with friends. Two days later, his broken body is discovered on a bed of wild flowers by some local teenagers. The case is assigned to Detective Lottie Parker and this time it’s personal. A close friend of her son Sean, Mikey was from the run-down Munbally estate on the other side of town. Sean tells his mother that Mikey was behaving normally before he died but Lottie can’t help but feel that her son is keeping something from her … Then days later, another boy is found dead, surrounded by wild flowers next to a beautiful lake. On the hunt for a twisted individual with a terrifying calling card, Lottie must uncover the web of secrets within Mikey’s circle of friends. Someone is keeping secrets but who are they protecting and can Lottie find out before it’s too late? Lottie is desperate to catch the killer before he strikes again because this time her own child could be in terrible danger… If you love Karin Slaughter, Robert Dugoni and Rachel Abbott, you’ll love the latest heart-stopping thriller from Patricia Gibney. Tell Nobody will keep you guessing until the very last page.

good story, keeps you page turning but there are a few "ah here" moments, particularly if, like me, you are reading the book series in quick succession. like somebody calls to tell her something really important( which would solve the case 100 pages quicker) and, of course, she doesn't answer, or hear them, happens regularly. come on !!