Perfect Little Dolls
Karen Long
Published January 18th, 2021 by Bookouture
289 Pages
Thriller
Buy: Amazon | Apple | Kobo | Google
The little boy played with his toy trains in the bedroom, keeping quiet so as not to wake his mother. He stayed silent as he watched his window creaking open and heard the whisper from outside. A minute later, Tommy and the trains were gone.
An unrelenting heatwave sweeps the country and starts a fire which uncovers the charred remains of a young woman. But when DI Eleanor Raven attends the post-mortem it reveals some disturbing details—the girl was dead long before the fire, her body had been lovingly preserved before being dressed up, her hair perfectly arranged, and a lime-green scarf knotted around her neck.
With little evidence surviving the fire, Eleanor and her team have no solid leads. But back on duty after six months’ enforced leave, Eleanor is determined to prove herself fit for service, and she won’t accept that this case could prove impossible.
Following a tenuous link to an old missing-persons case, Eleanor discovers the poor woman’s identity: Giselle Baker was a young dancer at a local bar before she disappeared two years ago, leaving behind a worried roommate and, concealed amongst her things, a curious wooden carving of a snake. Before Eleanor can uncover the significance of the toy though, another woman goes missing, and then, a little boy… It seems that someone is collecting a family for themselves.
As Eleanor battles her own demons, she pushes herself to the limit to find the killer. But her fight to save his last innocent victim may become a battle to save herself…
A totally gripping, fast-paced mystery thriller that will leave your jaw on the floor. The next rollercoaster read for fans of Lisa Regan, Angela Marsons and Robert Dugoni.
Perfect Little Dolls was previously published as The Vault.
My Review
👮♀️👮♀️👮♀️👮♀️
For my fellow thriller readers – What does it say that we’ve become so de-sensitized to murders that a thriller isn’t perceived as good unless the murders are overly gruesome? Are we crazy? I think we’re crazy.
Perfect Little Dolls will fit the bill for gruesome murders. This is one I’ve not seen before and therefore, was highly entertaining! The serial killer is introduced early on and the focus of the story is how DI Raven is able to track the murders back to him. The story is fast-paced and interesting.
Having not read book 1 first, it was still easy to jump right in and learn about the characters. It also has a surprise BDSM scene dropped in that I wasn’t at all expecting (Hello!). The author does some nice drops of information that were relevant for the reader to know about from book 1. It sounds like Book 1 was also amazing.
I have no doubt that this is going to be a great series!
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from the author. All views expressed are only my honest opinion.
Meet the Author:
Karen Long was born in Wolverhampton but has spent the last few years living in California. She worked as an English and Drama teacher for many years, before becoming a full-time writer.
She has written screenplays and articles, but primarily dedicates her time to writing crime fiction and observing wildlife. She loves to travel, which is a great source of inspiration; Toronto became the backdrop to the Eleanor Raven series of thrillers after Karen spent several months there.
A passionate conservationist and lover of the crow family in particular, she has rehabilitated and adopted ravens, crows, magpies and rooks, many of whom became integrated into family life, much to the distress of household members and soft furnishings. She now volunteers regularly at Los Angeles Oiled Bird Care Centre.
Get Social with Karen: Facebook | Twitter
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