well written and enjoyable but not as gripping as I had expected although a good read.

I liked that this story had a strong female character. Because of that, it was also awesome that, other than a crush mentioned briefly, there wasn't a love story mixed in. I really appreciated that & hope that R.J. Noonan and other authors will keep up the trend.

As far as the story itself, I found it pretty interesting, but when I reached the end, I realized I had some unanswered questions. At times it felt like there were 2 storylines, but by the end it seemed like it was all 1 with lots of detail. The "storyline" about the cult in the woods didn't fully develop & details seemed to be added just to wrap that part up. I thought that was also interesting and would have loved to have a little more in-depth look at that before weaving the worlds together.

I plan to check out the next book in the series when it comes out.


I would like to thank NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books, and R.J. Noonan for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When a wealthy teenage girl goes missing a rookie female cop is called in to investigate. When the family discovers a car missing and the car later turns up wrecked with a deceased female body inside and it's not the missing teenager the rookie cop has lots of questions she needs to answer. Where is the missing girl and does this have anything to do with missing " lost girls" ? I wish the author had more scenes with the rookie cop since I tended to enjoy those the most but I would still recommend this.

I have to admit that the cover was the first thing that made me want to read Where the Lost Girls Go, that and the great title. So, it was a plus that the blurb made the book seem very interesting.

Rookie cop Laura Mori has finally gotten her first investigation when a young girl crashes her car. However, this is not and open and shut case. It seemed that the body in the car doesn't belong to the owner's daughter Lucy. So, who is the dead girl in the car and where is Lucy?

I really liked Laura Mori. I liked that she is new to the job, her problems with her family and that she has a crush on the neighbor guy for years and that he doesn't seem to notice that. All this made her very likable and human. The case is also interesting, especially when Mori discovers that more girls have gone missing and that Lucy's family and those are are acting a bit weird. And, then there are all those kids out in the woods living there with their leader Prince (yup his name, hard to take someone serious with that nickname) Unfortunately, despite the interesting case did I feel that the story never really got really thrilling. Not boring either, it was just OK. I think the problem was that I never really got surprised over the turns of events in the book. There was no great twist.

Where the Lost Girls Go is a decent book, and I would definitely read more about Laura Mori because I found her to be an interesting character.

I liked this book mostly for Laura Mori- I can easily see this as the first in a series- and for the setting outside Portland. I also liked the interaction between Laura and the other characters; despite her age and inexperience, she's no shrinking violet (including with her parents). This mystery was not as complex for me although it's quite topical. Noonan has a nice way with words, which in addition to the plot, made this a quick page turning read. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Try this if you like procedurals/thrillers with a female in the lead.

Dollycas’s Thoughts

A serial killer in Portland?? That may be the case. When Rookie Officer Laura Mori arrives at an inferno of a car on fire with her partner, she had no idea what was going to develop. What seemed to be a tragic traffic accident turns into a homicide investigation. Since her partner is due to leave for vacation Mori is assigned the case. The girl in the car turns out not to be who they thought but someone linked to a missing persons case involved several “lost girls”. What evolves will have you unable to put this book down.

R.J. Noonan has written a riveting mystery full of suspense. This story is played out in Portland, Oregon but could take place anywhere.

Laura Mori is a Japanese American whose parents think her job is just a phase she is going through. Because of her gentle demeanor they thought she would become a psychologist to help people, but college didn’t quite go as planned. They don’t really understand it, in fact, she is still living with her parents and her mother was upset the night of the accident that she didn’t call home and tell them she was going to be late. Her natural compassion is a double edged sword in her being a cop. She seems to get people, witnesses and suspects, to talk to her easily, but she does take the job home with her. She has a few issues of her own, but when working on the case, she works through her own problems the best she can. She is a complex main character.

The case focuses on the Jameson family. He is a rich author, his wife, number 2, works for charities and helps him organize his complicated life, his daughter, 17 year old Lucy, is a rebellious teenager that has her dad wrapped right around her little finger. The car in the accident belonged to them and the girl killed in the crash was Lucy’s friend. They live on a huge estate with stables and guest houses and they raise alpacas. Of course, they don’t do the work, they have a crew of hired hands.

The author twists and tangles the Jameson family together with their staff and a group of people living in the woods near their estate. There is also a corruption aspect in the police force. Readers follow Laura through her investigation. While trying to prove to everyone she can handle her job she does take some real risks. I wanted to jump into the book a few times to stop her, like when you scream at the characters in horror movies, telling them not to go into the dark scary places, same kind of thing here.

I am not going to say I was totally caught off guard by the way the story ended because I was in the ballpark as to the right suspect. I just needed the how and why to be definitely determined. It was even more twisted than I imagined.

Knowing this book is the start to a series is exciting for me. I found our protagonist to be very engaging and interesting. The other characters that I assume will be returning in future installments were also strong in this story. I am interested to see what the author has in store for all of them.

As this is the first story I have read by this author I now know I need to find out more about her and her other works.

A great debut novel from this author. It is the start of a series, which looks to be really good. I really loved this book. The storyline was great, twisty and full of curves. The ending did surprise me, too. The characters are wonderful and well-developed. The book was well-written and very interesting. In fact, it was hard to put down. I expect the rest of the series to be the same! I recommend it!

Where the Lost Girls Go (A Laura Mori Mystery #1) By R.J. Noonan

The book starts out with a female driver named Blossom who is driving a car who feels sick to her stomach. Did that mystery woman put something in her Pepsi, when she wasn't looking. Blossom is struggling to keep her standard transmission car on the road. She also feels dizzy. Mori and Cranston are driving with caution, Mori having gotten her training from the Oregon Police Academy. Mori thinks Cranston is old-school, he was her field training officer, she understands there are safety advantages to having two cops in one car. As they approach the accident scene they see a roaring ball of fire obliterating the car. The license plates that were on the car are unrecognizable. Fire and rescue had already arrived and had loaded the victim on a stretcher into the back of the ambulance. The driver is burned beyond recognition.

Laura Mori is a Japanese-American investigating her first case. She is a kind and gentle Protagonist. Laura who is twenty-four years old is put together with Randy her neighbor whom she has a crush. Randy works in the Fire and rescue squad. This girl is already dead from the crash. Randy thinks whoever was driving the burnt up Karmann Ghia had money. Laura has to get the vehicle identification number, question witnesses and secure the accident scene until forensics
arrive. After Laura ran the VIN the successful novelist Kent Jameson is whose name came back as the owner of the car. Her lieutenant, Charlie Omak had arrived. Lieutenant, Charlie Omak and Laura drove to Kent Jameson's family compound to notify that somebody driving his Karmann Ghia was DOA.

Kent Jameson thinks it is his daughter Lucy that in the fatality of the car accident because they had an arguement with Lucy and she isn't in her bed. Laura quietly collects a hair brush, toothbrush, nail clippings for DNA testing. Is it Lucy Jameson that died in that fiery crash or is it someone else?. The writing is really lovely. The description of the landscapes sounds beautiful from the writing. I like this book and am grateful to be reading the first one of this series. This was a perfect read for me right now. I love the pacing. It is an excellent mystery. I have just read two intense non-fiction books before this. I loved it. Highly Recommended. Five Stars!!!!
armann Ghia

My thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for an ARC of “Where The Lost Girls Go” by R.J. Noonan, in exchange for an honest review.

Rookie cop Laura Mori just landed her first case and it’s a big one. Following a fiery, fatal, single-car accident that made it impossible to identify the driver, the vehicle is quickly determined to belong to the town’s most famous resident, renowned author Kent Jameson. Pursuing this lead, the author admits to Laura that he got into an argument with Lucy, his 17-year old daughter earlier that evening, and is distraught to think she may have been the driver. Once forensics confirms that it wasn’t, neither the author nor his wife seem remotely concerned for the whereabouts of their missing daughter, nor are they even curious about the identity of the girl who died driving their car…even when they are told that the deceased had drugs in her system and the brake line to the car had deliberately been cut.

As Laura delves deeper into the investigation, she discovers that the Jameson’s erratic and peculiar behavior also extends to their missing daughter, who was not only friends with the deceased, but may not be the first of her friends whose lives met with foul play. Continuing her search for Lucy, Laura also learns that there are a group of runaways living in the forest nearby, and Lucy may be hiding out with them. So, has Lucy been killing her friends when she got bored of them, could the leader of the runaways possibly be involved, or is someone else preying on these young girls?

This book has some twists, but kind of felt like the reader was being pushed to suspect certain characters, in order to then be surprised by the big reveal at the end, which felt forced and didn’t work for me, so I easily figured out the true culprit early on. The author does, however, lay the groundwork quite nicely for the series with a really terrific cast of recurring characters, and I particularly liked the protagonist…a 20-something Japanese woman, trying to do the right thing while also trying to prove herself, in the workplace as well as to her parents, who are embarrassed by her career choice. I believe this to be a nice first effort by the author, which shows great promise, so I will certainly be back for the next installment.

I liked the main character, a young woman from a Japanese family. While her mom and dad would like nothing better than to have her become a professional and live at home until she marries a successful Japanese man, she has defied them by becoming a police officer. Her parents taught her to be meek and polite, two traits that suit her well; however, underneath the surface, she is determined even when she has to overcome her own issues with a panic disorder .

The author did an excellent job of bringing the characters in this book to life. There are lazy cops; an eccentric writer and his wife as well as teenagers who ran away from foster homes and parents. We see many glimpses as their personalities—not all nice.


Noonan started the book with a prologue that left me hanging—wanting answers. Throughout the book, her words sent me in different directions thinking I solved the mystery—only to find out I had not. I like a mystery that isn’t easily solved! As the layers were unpeeled, I came to know who was guilty.

I liked the main character, a young woman from a Japanese family. While her mom and dad would like nothing better than to have her become a professional and live at home until she marries a successful Japanese man, she has defied them by becoming a police officer. Her parents taught her to be meek and polite, two traits that suit her well; however, underneath the surface, she is determined even when she has to overcome her own issues with a panic disorder .

The author did an excellent job of bringing the characters in this book to life. There are lazy cops; an eccentric writer and his wife as well as teenagers who ran away from foster homes and parents. We see many glimpses as their personalities—not all nice.


Noonan started the book with a prologue that left me hanging—wanting answers. Throughout, her words sent me in different directions thinking I solved the mystery—only to find out I had not. I like a mystery that isn’t easily solved! As the layers were unpeeled, I came to know who was guilty.

The book does deal with pedophilia although sex is mentioned as part of the story, the scenes aren’t graphic.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of Where the Lost Girls Go by R.J. Noonan that I was able to read and review.
This was an excellent book that I found very well written and full of action. Noonan's book is an interesting book with a diverse cast of characters. The main character, Laura is a rookie police officer of Japanese decent, who finds herself on a case involving the death of a girl who is believed to be the daughter of a famous author that is killed in a car crash. As the investigation moves on Laura is partnered up with disgraced officer Zion "Z" Frazier who was in trouble from lodging a complaint against the top Brass. As they get deeper into the investigation they learn the author's daughter Lucy is alive and okay but living in the woods with a bunch of runaways some of which are known as the Lost Girls.
Once Lucy gets home Laura finds out that the girl in the car is not the first of her friends that have disappeared. So Laura and Z start to suspect that Lucy has been killing her friends. Is this teenage girl a killer who gets rid of her friends when she gets sick of them or is there something more going on?
Also the police Lieutenant Charlie Omak is working his own case. His sister was a police officer for the force who died under questionable circumstance that he is investigating. With the help of the Mayor he is trying weed out the dirty cops that may have had something to do with her death. This is an ongoing investigation that was setup in this book and teased a lot but I believe it will play a large part in an oncoming book.
This book was very well written and I found it very interesting with all the different types of people in the book. I loved the fact that the lead police officers were both minorities. I think this is the first time I remember reading that in a book with them each being a different minority race. I also loved how I was not sure who the killer was until the very end. I kept second guessing and trowing my theories out. I love it when an author can do that to me and Noonan did that to me multiple times in the book so I am very impressed. I can't wait until the second Laura Mori Mystery comes out just to see what Noonan has up her sleeve next.
Where the Lost Girls Go get five out of five starts.

Rookie cop Laura Mori goes to the scene of a fiery car crash. The vintage sports car belongs to celebrity author Kent Jameson, who fears that the unidentified body is his 17-year-old daughter Lucy, who stormed out of the house that night after an argument.

This case is not a straightforward DUI but a homicide since the car’s brakes was deliberately cut.
Forensics reveal that the body was not Lucy, but a teen runaway named Kyra whose disappearance has been linked with more than half a dozen “lost girls” who disappeared while living on the streets of Portland. So Laura's first investigation gets more complex, but she is eager to show what she can do. Laura is also at odds with the members of her traditional Japanese family, who do not approve of her career choice. How did Kyra connect with the Jamesons and what was she doing driving their car? And who cut the brake lines on the vehicle?

A band of runaways living in the nearby state forest is led by a charismatic survivalist they call the Prince. Is Lucy with them? Is this a murderous cult? Or is someone else responsible for the disappearing girls?

Noonan really "wowed" me with this debut novel! This was a VERY well-written psychological thriller. It was a fast-paced page turner with interesting characters and plot twists that keep you up reading far too late into the night! I could hardly wait to get to the end to see "whodunit", but I also hated to be finished with the book!

I loved the Laura Mori character and her struggle to have her job seen as important and worthy in a culture that is especially hard on women and their career choices. She has a lot on her plate being a rookie cop, working her first case AND trying to gain her parent's approval and acceptance. I think she is written with just the right balance of heart and tenacity.

I am definitely looking forward to more books in this series!

This is the second title I have read from Crooked Lane Books, and I am very impressed with the quality and creativity of their authors.

*I received a complimentary ARC copy of this book from NetGalley & Crooked Lane Books in order to read and give an honest review.