“Lost Hills is Lee Goldberg at his best. Inspired by the real-world grit and glitz of LA County crime, this book takes no prisoners. And neither does Eve Ronin. Take a ride with her and you’ll find yourself with a heroine for the ages. And you’ll be left hoping for more.” —Michael Connelly, #1 New York Times bestselling author“Thrills and chills! Lost Hills is the perfect combination of action … Hills is the perfect combination of action and suspense, not to mention Eve Ronin is one of the best new female characters in ages. You will race through the pages!” —Lisa Gardner, #1 New York Times bestselling author
A video of Deputy Eve Ronin’s off-duty arrest of an abusive movie star goes viral, turning her into a popular hero at a time when the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is plagued by scandal. The sheriff, desperate for more positive press, makes Eve the youngest female homicide detective in the department’s history.
Now Eve, with a lot to learn and resented by her colleagues, has to justify her new badge. Her chance comes when she and her burned-out, soon-to-retire partner are called to the blood-splattered home of a missing single mother and her two kids. The horrific carnage screams multiple murder—but there are no corpses.
Eve has to rely on her instincts and tenacity to find the bodies and capture the vicious killer, all while battling her own insecurities and mounting pressure from the media, her bosses, and the bereaved family. It’s a deadly ordeal that will either prove her skills…or totally destroy her.
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Lost Hills is Lee Goldberg at his best. Inspired by the real-world grit and glitz of LA County crime, this book takes no prisoners. And neither does Eve Ronin. Take a ride with her and you’ll find yourself with a heroine for the ages. And you’ll be left hoping for more.
Thrills and chills! Lost Hills is the perfect combination of action and suspense, not to mention Eve Ronin is one of the best new female characters in ages. You will race through the pages!
Lost Hills is what you get when you polish the police procedural to a shine: a gripping premise, a great twist, fresh spins and knowing winks to the genre conventions, and all the smart, snappy ease of an expert at work.
Fast-paced, fun and a heck of a character in Eve Ronin. She lives up to her last name. It’s LA all the way; I:m NY all the way so it’s always interesting to read about a city I’m not familiar with.
Another winner from Lee! Get copy and enjoy.
Brilliant! Eve Ronin rocks! With a baffling and brutal case, tight plotting, and a fascinating look at police procedure, Lost Hills is a stunning start to a new detective series. A must-read for crime fiction fans.
A winner. Packed with procedure, forensics, vivid descriptions, and the right amount of humor. Fervent fans of Connelly and Crais, this is your next read.
Tense, vivid, and gripping, this book is filled with action, twists and suspense making it a great, fast and compelling read!
If you like a solid, tightly written police procedural, you’ll love this book.
Great detective story … and a great new character. I love Eve. If I was murdered, I want her to be the one assigned to catch my killer!
Funny and thrilling–just what you expect for Lee Goldberg. Loved it.
This quick, enjoyable read allowed me to escape the real world of coronavirus and politics and join the fictional world of Eve Ronin, detective in the LA Country Sheriff’s office.
Thanks to a well-time viral video, Eve Ronin has become the youngest person promoted to the homicide department of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Her new co-workers aren’t treating her with a lot of respect, so she knows she has to prove herself. That chance comes when she and her partner, Duncan Pavone, are called to the scene of a crime in Calabasas. A friend has called to report that Tanya Kenworth never showed up for work. The house where Tanya lives is covered in blood in every room, but there are no bodies. What could have happened to her?
Just as I expected, this book grabbed me from the first page and never let me go. There were plenty of clues and twists to keep me engaged until I reached the suspenseful climax. I did feel that Eve and her co-workers fell into genre clichés, but there are hints of more to them, and I hope we see that explored as the series progresses. This book describes the aftermath of the crime and has more language than the cozies I typically read, but I expected that going in, and it never got too excessive. There are some nice bits of humor to help lighten what is a mostly series story. I’m already looking forward to Eve’s next story.
Say hello to Eve Ronin – crime fiction’s newest, most compelling female cop protagonist. I loved this. It screams suspense, it’s impossible to close the pages, and I thought about it between reading sessions which is always a sign of a great book. Lee Goldberg is a genius and if you miss this book, you’re missing out.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department homicide detective Eve Ronin works in Robbery-Homicide Division out of the Lost Hills Station in Calabasas. She is called to investigate a missing family and instead finds a house covered with blood. Something awful happened in that house, and it was going to be her job to find out what it was.
Goldberg gives a nice shout out to Michael Connelly when Ronin comments on Connelly’s Harry Bosch crime novels. Bosch’s problem, she concludes, is that he did not know how to play politics; she had already proven that she could, and now she had to prove she could do the job.
This case is more complex than anything Ronin has tackled before. Her investigation is planned and well thought-out but certainly unconventional. She takes deliberate and careful steps, building on what has been learned, but somehow a key piece of the puzzle is missing. Just when she thinks things are coming together, here comes another complication.
Goldberg pulls readers into the story with a feel for Hollywood geography and echoes of things that actually happen. The lives of the supporting characters are intertwined with the entertainment industry, and the action has a TV feel. Personalities are unique, well defined, and consistent. Supporting characters are going to auditions, eager for parts, and reminiscing about past roles.
“Lost Hills” is described as book one in the series, so I cannot wait to see what Eva Rodin will be up to next. I received a review copy of “Lost Hills” from Lee Goldberg and Thomas & Mercer Publishing. The characters are complex and the ending unexpected. It is quick to read and filled with suspense, action, and emotions.
In Hollywood-speak, this is “Michael Connelly meets Joseph Wambaugh.” That’s my take on the tale that introduces wet-behind-the-ears homicide detective Eve Ronin, who may be in over-her-head with a brutal triple homicide. Like Connelly, Goldberg creates deeply layered characters, and the police procedures ring 100% true. Like Wambaugh, Goldberg brings sly humor to the proceedings. Tremendous sense of place. Goldberg strikes his claim to the western corner of L.A. County (Calabasas, Topanga), just over the Santa Monica Mountains from Malibu. The start of what promises to be a crackerjack series.
Twenty-four-karat Goldberg — a top-notch procedural that shines like a true gem.
A tense, pacy read from one of America’s greatest crime and thriller writers.
LOST HILLS (Eve Ronin Book 1) by Lee Goldberg is an impeccably crafted police procedural. I thoroughly enjoyed Eve Ronin, the courageous heroine. Her fiery determination kept me turning the pages in breathless suspense. I highly recommend this book.
A Young Detective Learning the Ropes
Since the next book in this series looked interesting, I recently requested and received the pre-publication edition via NetGalley. I looked on Amazon about this first novel. I was interested in it also, so I purchased it. This was a good decision.
The heroine is LA Sheriff Department Detective Eve Ronin. Recently, she was transferred to the Robbery-Homicide due primarily to a viral video. Her new fellow detectives don’t believe that she deserved the upgraded assignment. She was partnered with a Detective Duncan Pavone who is very near retirement.
The novel opens with Eve and Duncan called to a site of a homicide by the LAPD detectives who discovered that the vehicle with the dead body actually was just inside LASD jurisdiction. Eve’s saw pine needles on the truck that only could have occurred under a pine tree well within the LAPD jurisdiction. After leaving LAPD detectives holding that bag, they receive another call about a possible person down a few miles away. At that residence they meet by a woman who states that her friend, Tanya, failed to make a morning call at Paramount Studios. She came here to find out why. Tanya’s car is in the driveway, but no one answers when she knocked at the door. The woman did see blood through the back door. Once Eve and Duncan determined that there are exigent circumstances, they enter the residence. Once inside they discover a blood bath.
The novel unfolds from here. There are plenty of potential suspects and a confusing crime scene. This investigation will be quite challenging. Eve is designated to lead a task force to investigate this crime. This investigation will be definitely make or break for her young career. Once a person of interest is identified, the main storyline turns to a cat and mouse scenario. The main storyline has all the twists, turns, and misdirections that quickly captured and maintained my attention.
As this is the first novel of a series, the B-storyline is rich. The Eve’s desires and motivations are woven into many of the scenes. Eve’s mother desires for Eve’s career is a change in direction. This is LA so, of course, the mother wants Eve to move into the entertainment industry. Background into the Duncan character is rich. These B-storylines are very consistent with the main storyline and enriches the reading enjoyment.
In most police procedurals that I have read, the main character is a seasoned detective. In this novel, it is a novice robbery-homicide detective. This novel has definite C-storyline. Eve makes mistakes and, then, acknowledges those missteps, and learns from them. This novel shows how Eve maturing during the course of this investigation.
There are not any sexual situations in this novel. The objectionable language occurs at a level consistent with the setting. Violence is described after the fact, but it covers savage murder, including of children and an animal, dismemberment, and more. This is definitely an Adult Content novel. Readers be forewarned.
I particularly enjoyed the ease in reading, the constant tension and action throughout the novel, and the use of humor to moderate the tension in the novel. The best examples are Eve’s and Duncan’s nicknames. There is a major twist near the end that suddenly solved the questions I observed in the main storyline up to that point. Some of the action, especially near the end of the novel stretches credulity, but this is a work of fiction and only bothered me just a little.
Based upon my substantial enjoyment in reading this novel, I rate this novel with five stars. I believe that you too will enjoy reading it. I am now ready to read the prepublication copy of the next novel of this series.
I love this author so much – can’t wait for her next book to come out!
You can check out my booktube video review at https://youtu.be/YtVrBoEWT4M
or read my review on my blog at https://lisasiefert.com/book-review-lost-hills-by-lee-goldberg-eve-ronin-book-1/