Across Colorado, girls are disappearing. Mabel Peters and her partner, Frankie Dowdy, have dedicated their lives to bring them home before they are gone for good.
Thirteen-year-old Isabel Dumel is no longer a child, but not yet an adult. Her mom is dead and her dad is in prison, and she wants nothing more than to put it all behind her. But when she’s kidnapped, her only hope is her mentor and … mentor and good friend, Mabel Peters. The investigation thrusts Mabel into the dark heart of a multi-billion-dollar industry and Isabel quickly confronts her greatest fear—No one is coming to save her.
Mabel finds herself caught in a cat-and-mouse game, risking her own life as she pursues clues along the edge of the southern Rocky Mountains. Uncovering new secrets in Isabel’s life, Mabel soon learns she isn’t the only one on the hunt: someone close to Isabel is onto her and closing in fast.
In Plain Sight is a story of survival—of not giving up, no matter the cost and finding hope in the darkest conditions.
From Laurie Holbrook, the second novel in the thrilling Mabel Peters series.
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In Plain Sight follows the characters from Laurie Holbrook’s first novel, Still Out There. The author does a great job of sprinkling in details from book 1 to spark the reader’s memory of the first book without inundating the story with lots of flashbacks or re-hashing of book 1. This book covers a very sensitive topic – sex trafficking of minors and adults. One of the perspective’s the story is told from is that of a 13 year old sex trafficking victim. Holbrook does a phenomenal job at handling such a sensitive subject with tact and great care so as not to glamorize or sensationalize the subject matter. This book offers a realistic look into the dark world of sex trafficking and helps to bring awareness to what victims must suffer. I was fully invested as a reader in the characters and storyline.
I received an Advanced Reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
First, Laurie makes you care about her characters as if you knew them all along. Then she puts them into dangerous situations that have you biting your nails. But the real power of the book peaks when you get a glimpse of a city that has evil and darkness lurking right under everyone’s nose… in plain sight.
Another win from Laurie Holbrook, In Plain Sight is book 2 of the Mabel Peters series and what a ride it was. Seeing that it focuses on human trafficking it’s definitely got disturbing content, but it was vague enough that I don’t think it would overwhelm you if that’s a trigger.
As always I loved Frankie and Mabel and they are the most kickass hero’s you could want in a book. It’s always nice to see a girl in this role and I’ve loved Mabel ever since I was introduced to her in Still Out There. I didn’t always love Isabel’s viewpoint, but your heart will definitely ache for her. I think that In Plain Sight is ok as a standalone, but I would highly recommend reading Still Out There beforehand so you can have all the backstory to certain characters, especially Mabel.
In Plain Sight was an incredibly quick read and it took me less than 4 hours from start to finish. I was glued to the pages and I didn’t want to put it down for a second. It is so readable, and I think that’s a huge plus especially with the disturbing subject matter. It reminded me a lot of a cross between a Criminal Minds episode and the movie Taken (which actually gets mentioned in the book!).
If you haven’t checked out this series yet then you are missing out! I highly recommend both Still Out There and In Plain Sight, especially if you read them one after the other for the optimal reading experience. Human trafficking is such an important topic; it is definitely in the state of Colorado where this book is set, and I don’t think it is a topic that gets discussed enough. So happy I read this, and I am already looking forward to Holbrook’s next book!
Thank you to the author for providing me with an advance review copy of this book! All opinions and thoughts are my own.