Wednesday, January 15, 2020

ONE LAST CHILD by Anni Taylor


Title:  ONE LAST CHILD

Series:  Tallman’s Valley Detectives #1

Author:  Anni Taylor

Publisher:  BooksGoSocial

Publish Date:   01.15.2020

Category /Genre:  Mystery & Thrillers, Women’s Fiction

Recommended for:  16+ due to psychological terror

Grammar/editing:  received as an unedited ARC / errors excused

Received from:  BooksGoSocial

Goodreads link: One Last Child

Date completed: 01.13.2020



Description from the publisher:

It was summer in the mountains when five small children vanished from their nursery school picnic. The heat was stifling that day, the tinkle of an ice-cream van in the air.



Three and a half years later, in the dead of winter, the children are returned to their families... one by one.


All except for Ivy - the granddaughter of homicide detective Kate Wakeland. The other four children say Ivy is dead.



Speculation grows that the kidnappings were revenge for an offender that Detective Wakeland put in jail years before.



She engages in a battle of wits between herself, the kidnapper and the cold, vast expanse of mountains in between.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

ONE LAST CHILD is the first book in the Tallman’s Valley Detectives series.  These will need to be read in the order of release.



The storyline reminded me of another Australian novel that I read when I was a teen, PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK by Joan Lindsay.  In it, several teen girls and a teacher go missing while picnicking on Valentine’s Day.  They are never found.



Nineteen three-year-old tots and three teachers from the local preschool have gone to the neighborhood park for a Teddy Bear Picnic.  Five children vanish with only a single button left behind.



The psychological strain is so well written for so many of those involved – the parents, the detectives, and those being questioned – but not to the point of being bogged down.  There are great clues, the ones we need and the ones that lead to dead ends!  I loved chasing them down alongside Kate… and feeling her hope and dismays.



I enjoyed this who-dun-it and I’ll be watching for the next book in this series. 



Note:  While I received this book as a gifted ARC via NetGalley, my opinions are my own and are given freely.



Tallman’s Valley Detectives Series:

1.      One Last Child

Also from Ann Taylor:

·         The Game You Played

·         Poison Orchids

·         The Six

·         Stranger in the Woods























#OneLastChild #NetGalley

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