A missing student. A gunned-down detective. A woman in fear for her life. All three are connected.Detective Inspector Carl Sant and his team get on the case. But what links the disappearance of a university student, the death of an off-duty police sergeant, and a professor reluctant to help them solve the case?Their only clue is a sequence of numbers, etched on a misty window. Soon, both the past … Soon, both the past and the present are on a collision course with the very heart of Sant’s profession.
Racing against time, D.I. Sant must find out what’s behind the mysterious events – before the bodies start piling up.
Praise:
★★★★★ – “Full of excitement. Love the characters. I really enjoyed the first book of this series.”
★★★★★ – “Reading this is like a rollercoaster ride. Can’t wait to read book two.”
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This was a well-constructed read with great characters. The case of missing student Chloe Lee ties together with a recent mass murder & Inspector Carl Sant is wrapped up in a tangle of clues as he searches for the truth. The police procedural parts of this novel are realistic & give the reader a sense of what it’s like to investigate a serious crime. Very enjoyable yet I felt the last chapter could have shown a little more clarity into the fate of some of the victims.
A missing girl, Chloe, leads to a decades old murder of a policeman and to a present day murder of a detective. The murder of the detective on the bus is shocking as six other people are attacked and killed to cover it up. It could have just been a crime by drug crazed people but the detective left a cryptic message behind.
DCI Sant wants to solve the murder of his officer but the upper ranks have taken over. But with his detectives, he looks into the background of the other passengers and discovers that one woman had known Chloe and that leads to the question, was his deceased detective also looking into the disappearance of Chloe?
The creepiness level goes up as you hear Sheila speak about her fears of being caught and her worries about the information she gave to the dead man on the bus.
Lister and Gilligan, upper members of the force, seem to have their own agenda. And Sant has his people looking into old cases from the 1980s….cases of murder, robberies, dead cops and dead ends. The past incidents are hard to keep track of but matter to these Leeds police officers as Lister and others were in the force at that time. Cover up of something someone saw becomes apparent. Meanwhile Sheila is caught by the men wanting things kept quiet.
My main complaint is the taser torture near the end..the sexually graphic use was so NOT needed and has been used by other authors for shock value…it just turned me off the book for a bit…totally unnecessary as the author did a superb job of scaring me without it. To arrive at the end and find you now have to read the second book was a bit of a disappointment.
Read it if you are prepared to then read the second book, but I can’t promise that one will solve the case of Choe.
Chloe Lost Girl: (Carl Sant Murder Mysteries series)
`Chloe Lost girl´ is book one of two. A gritty detective story set in Leeds, Yorkshire. The descriptions of the many places mentioned within the book were reminiscent for me; I was taken on a trip down memory lane through Dan Laughley´s great descriptions of my former home town.
The story´s main character , Detective Carl Sant and his workmates were all interesting, believable and likeable characters and I felt that the storyline was well delivered. The little clues and snippets of information that Sant slowly gathers together to try and solve the case made for an interesting read. There were several times when I assumed (wrongly) what was about to happen, only to be thrown a curveball as the story veered off in another unexpected tangent.
This was an enjoyable book. I must buy the second part to find out what will happen next!
Chloe: Lost Girl is a dark, gritty mystery. What I really Loved about this book was the seemingly disconnected crimes that built like puzzle pieces. As a reader, I love when a mystery isn’t easily solved by the characters or me. This is definitely the case here. The twists and turns are seemingly endless and that is what makes this a great mystery.
Admittedly, it is a but slow moving. The book starts off with a bang and then slows to a bit of a crawl for a while.
What worked with the slow pace, was the ability to really get to know the characters. Imperfect and real, it made the story really interesting. I’ve always loved well-rounded characters and Dan Laughey really delivers this.
I was dying to read book 2 as soon as I finished book 1, and I think mystery lovers will feel the same. I recommend checking this one out!
*I received a complimentary copy of this book as part of a blog tour with Rachel’s Random Resources. All opinions are my own.*
Enjoyed the book. Read it some time ago so not fresh in my mind anymore.
I enjoyed it but left me up in the air at the end.
I was disappointed. In a series you expect at least one plot to be taken to its conclusion. This didn’t happen here.
Was not expecting this to be part one of a series. No conclusions, only unanswered questions.
This is an installment. If you plan to purchase a series of books to determine ‘what happens’, Laughey has introduced a complicated plot.
Good build up to the next book but told a good story in and of itself. Can’t wait to see what happens next
No conclusion. Book just ends
Wow! This will keep you on the edge of your seat. Anxious to get the next book to find out what happens next.
Did not feel that there was any conclusion. Reminded me of a soap opera – tune in next week.
Good plot twists
If you read this book, you have to read the next one too–this one is less than half the story. Together, they rate 5-stars, but this one alone is totally incomplete.
a good mystery that kept me turning the pages and takes you right into the sequel. Full of wonder who has Chloe and where is she and who is involved and how far reaching is the crime or crimes.
I enjoyed this read but you all who like super complicated plots will be disappointed. I would have appreciated a little more sophisticated vocabulary and more development of the characters but it was good enough to finish. I gave it a four-star rating because after finishing it, I realized that to find out what happens one must read all the series.
I loved the plot line of this entertaining book. I learned several new words, which is always a pleasure when reading. Look forward to reading more from this author.
The book was difficult to follow, but it seemed to be heading somewhere, so I stuck with it. Then it just ended! Did the author run out of paper? You should have warned me it was part of a serial — I thought those went out of fashion 100 years ago! I won’t bother to try to find the next episode. Episode 1 wasn’t worth it. Thanks for reminding me of the author’s name so I don’t mistakenly get another of his.
Lots of British history and politics, lots of violence and disgusting, sick torture and no ending to the story. So be prepared to buy several more “books” to close the story.