LITTLE SISTER

4 stars out of 5

This is the fourth book in what is a new-to-me series, but at no time did I get the feeling that I'd missed out on much except a fleeting wish that I'd been privy to previous interaction among the police coworkers and their significant others. Detective Chief Inspector Jonah Sheens, for instance, is trying to make a go of things with the mother of his infant daughter (mostly out of a sense of responsibility, it appears), but he's also in an emotional turmoil over leaving the more recent love of his life - ah, now there's got to be more to that story!

The current plot, however, took my mind off such concerns just because it's a doozy: As Jonah is in a pub garden with his daughter, a teenage girl pops out of nowhere (well, actually, out of the woods) covered with blood. But it's not hers; the girl, who says her name is Keely, insists that she's fine, but claims her younger sister Nina is missing after they both ran away from a children's home not long ago. 

But when Jonah asks for details - and hopefully Nina's location, since he suspects the blood is hers - Keely refuses to disclose anything except her story, which she will tell only from the beginning. It will, she claims, contain clues that will lead him and his team to Nina as well as three men who, she also claims, are responsible for reprehensible acts against her and her sister that have so far gone unpunished. Problem is, deciphering Keely's intricate, precise verbal presentations (way too much so to be believable coming from a 16-year-old, IMHO) proves challenging; and, if the blood is any indication, time to find Nina alive is running out fast.

Scenes shift from Keely's interrogations to her narrations to investigation reveals from other team members to Jonah's personal life and back again (and again), but each scenario adds more clues as to what's really going on - most of which isn't pretty. There are plenty of twists and turns in each perspective - more than enough to keep readers on their toes and guessing until the end, making for a suspenseful and engaging story. I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review a pre-release copy, and I'm now looking forward to the next installment.

Little Sister by Gytha Lodge (Random House, June 2022); 386 pp.