This book is second in a series. I did read the first book and quite enjoyed it. 4.5 stars for the first book. The second book was a bit slower going for me. It was a good mystery once it got there but it seemed to be more about character struggles. I would recommend if you enjoyed the first in the series.

Great follow up to Missing, Presumed and a continuation of a great new series. Manon Bradshaw continues to be flawed yet likable, and the case kept me guessing until the very end.

A solid sequel to Missing, Presumed that can be read without having read the first book, although the backstory will help endear the reader.

RATING: 3 STARS
(I received an ARC from the NETGALLEY)
(Review Not on Blog)

Manon is back, but sadly, this book is not as good as the first novel. We don't get much of Manon, and she seems a bit lacklustre in personality. I don't know there was something unfinished about this book. I really had high expectations for this book.

When Manon's adopted son Fly is accused of murdering her sister's ex, she must risk her career and her life to get him off. Steiner writes compelling prose, creating a suspenseful mystery while also challenging the standard ideas of policing.

I love Susie Steiner's Missing, Presumed, so I had a feeling (or hope) that this was going to be another favorite of mine. I wasn't disappointed. This was an excellent read!

I was excited to read this sequel to Missing Presumed, whose characters really grabbed me with their uniqueness and their groundedness. I enjoyed this book also, just not quite as much. The mystery was still a good one, but I felt that the main character had lost a little of her'edge', and some of what made her appealing to me in the first place. However, it was a good read, and I'd definitely recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an electronic galley for me to read and review.

What can I say; I loved it. I had never read Susie Steiner (had never heard of her, in fact), but WOW. After I read this I immediately downloaded the first book so I could get the whole backstory.

The novel is well-paced, the murder sufficiently puzzling, and there's a nice bit of social commentary that is very of-the-moment (even if you don't live in Britain, I think it's fair to say). Steiner has created a character in Manon who is simultaneously lovely and kind of infuriating, the sort of person who's no dummy but is rather good at getting in her own way and succumbing to her temper when faced with idiocy. She's a big-hearted mess with a crummy childhood in her wake and a lousy love life. I enjoyed her immensely.

in the novel, she has moved her adopted teenage son, Fly, to a more suburban setting to protect him from being just another black kid seen as a thug by the local police. She's sharing a house with her recently-un-estranged sister and her child, whose dad is not in the picture (for reasons that become clearer in the fullness of time). The interplay here is not unlike the sisterly dance you'd see on the British TV cop drama "Happy Valley," though Manon is far less in control than Catherine, the protagonist of that program.

The father of Manon's sister's baby is found stabbed nearby, and unfortunately it's not too long before Fly becomes a suspect, negating Manon's best intentions of protecting Fly from the dangers of being a black teenager in London. There's a TON of personal stuff going on in the midst of all this, but if you like a detective story that includes all the messy detritus of real life and relationships, you'll enjoy it. I tend to like mysteries that read more like proper novels than like a cut-&-dried police case, and this book delivers in spades.

My only (small) complaint is that the solution to the whodunnit is mildly far-fetched, but it suits the not-garden-variety quality of the story overall. If I'm being honest, Tana French's denouements probably stretch the limits of believability as well.

I'm excited for the next book in this series. Hooray for Manon!

Persons Unknown started out slow for me. I read the first in the series and knew Manon and Fly and how they can to be a family, but I guess I forgot how unlikeable Manon can be. I do like her, but she will rub just about everyone the wrong way at some point or other, including the reader. And now she’s pregnant, which I’m not sure was the best decision with just recently adopting Fly, but there you have it.
This time around the mystery hits very close to home for Manon. Manon and Fly are sharing a home with Manon’s sister Ellie and her toddler son, Solly, when Solly’s father turns up murdered. Once Fly is accused and sent to juvenile, the story picks up pace. Of course, Fly’s innocent, we know that, but it’s a complicated case, one Manon is not allowed to directly work on. With Davy’s help, she does manage to get the right information to the right people. The dead man was not a nice guy and worked for a financial firm that was not a nice place, so there are several possibilities of who killed him and why. The mystery is well-plotted and I while I wasn’t surprised at the ending, I was a bit disappointed.
While the mystery was clearly foremost in the novel, Steiner does an excellent job with characters. Sometimes characters in mysteries can get run over by the plot, but here most of them are well-developed. They each have their own motives and secrets. The “good guys” sometimes make bad choices and the “bad guys” can sometimes be helpful. People are shades of grey. The characters, including Manon, Davy, convenience store owner Birdies, and prostitute Angel, make this one stand out from a lot of the mysteries out there.
Persons Unknown can be read as a stand-alone, but I think it was helpful to have read Missing, Presumed first since it gives background on Manon and Fly’s relationship and on Manon’s (lack of a) personal life.

4 stars.
I previously read book 1 in this series, Missing, Presumed and liked it enough to request this book in the series from the publisher, Random House, through NetGalley. I thank them for sending me this eBook. The author starts the story with a murder of, Jon-Oliver Ross, a high profile banker/ deal maker. DS Manon Bradshaw's adopted son, Fly, is found on CCTV camera recording near the scene of the murder. He is arrested on circumstantial evidence. Manon believes that he is innocent and sets to prove it, even though she is pregnant and on leave. Manon finds out that the victim is the father of her sister Ellie's baby, Solly.
How she unravels the threads of who actually murdered Jon-Oliver makes for a good mystery with some interesting commentary on modern life in England--policing, the health system and corruption with the rich trying to game the system.

PERSONS UNKNOWN (DS Manon, #2) by Susie Steiner’s is her second crime police procedural novel. I really enjoyed the first novel in this series, Missing, Presumed, (DS Manon, #1), as I was very impressed with the level of literary writing. The novel has also elements of psychological suspense, and is very much character-driven to flush out all the main characters, and allow them to come to life with all their dark humor and wit.

A new crime novel featuring the unforgettable Detective Manon Bradshaw—a man is stabbed in a park near her home and the case threatens those Manon loves the most.

In this book, Detective Manon Bradshaw is five months pregnant and has moved out of London back to Cambridgeshire, with her sister, Ellie, and their kids, including Fly, Manon’s adopted black 12- year old, that she adopted in the previous book. Manon has given up on love and is trying to obtain a more balanced work-life. But she has paid a price as now she just handles col-case files, but this allows her the time to devote to her family-the new baby, and her adopted 12-year-old son Fly Dent. Fly was always getting into the wrong crowd, and needed love and guidance in his life.

Then a wealthy victim, a banker from London is found stabbed close to police HQ. But he was also Manon’s sister Ellie’s ex, and the father of her toddler son. The investigation leads to Fly being accused of the murder of Jon-Oliver, the father of Ellie’s 3-year old son.

Manon finds herself fighting to protect her family and discover the truth.

This novel is steady-paced, slow at the beginning then speeding up midway, with information and clues revealed on a need-to-know basis.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group and Susie Steiner for an ARC of this novel.

I like Susie Steiner as a writer, but this book didn't grab my attention like her previous Manon Bradshaw book. To me, it was a lot darker. The reasons are difficult to explain without spoilers. One fairly simple reason is I'm not a mother, and much of the book focuses on Manon and her choice to bear a child via IVF. Another is the descriptions of the strains of a rather chaotic family life combined with pregnancy. In short, not my cup of tea. However, I did enjoy seeing the changes in Davy as a person and a police officer. Other changes in Manon's colleagues added unexpected details to the plot. It was good to see Manon's professional abilities emerge in time to help solve the various mysteries on which the novel was based. Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for pre-publication access!

What I really like about Manon Bradshaw is how imperfect she is - she struggles with dating, her adopted son, pregnancy, work, her sister.... The murder in this book hit her close to home and the tension was palpable. I look forward to the next installment in the series.

This was my first book by Susie Steiner. I didn't read the first one in the series, but fortunately Persons Unknown can be easily read as a standalone, so it wasn't necessary to have previous knowledge about the characters.

As for the bad parts, the first quarter of the book was slow and not very interesting. Also, I didn't like or connect with the main character, Manon. Throughout the book, I found her completely incoherent. She asked for a transfer, but she doesn't really want it. She JUST adopted a 12-year-old boy, but a minute later she wants to get pregnant because she wants to have a child "of her own" without even talking about it with her kid. She was infuriating.

However, other than that, I quite liked the book. Even though it does start slow, after a while the story picks up and it's pure entertainment. Money, privilege, prostitution, murder, police work, suspense, they all appear in this story and make it very interesting. While Manon is unlikeable, the other characters are great and are a pleasure to read. I specially fell in love with Fly, the adoptive son. The murder itself was intriguing and it had enough plot twists to keep you interested until the very end. I'd like to continue with this series, so four stars!!

For me, this novel was just okay. I was hoping for something sarcastic with some high stakes drama. However, that wasn't really what was delivered. To those who, like me, haven't read the previous book in this series, it would probably be good to have read it before reading this one; it would give the reader a better connection with the characters in the story. For me, it was hard to connect with the main characters and they ended up not mattering to me, which really sucked. The story was told from various different perspectives, which I really enjoyed because it made me keep guessing on how everything would tie in together. This novel had a really slow start that made it a bit of a chore to stick through, and for the most part, it felt like Manon's personal life took precedence over the murder itself. However, when the story finally took off, it was pretty intriguing. I'm not sure I really liked the way everything ended... it just didn't feel that satisfying to me. Overall, this was an interesting mystery but it felt lackluster to me. There was too much of a focus on the main character's personal life and the solving of the mystery itself didn't have the energy that I would have liked. This may be more enjoyable for fans of Missing, Presumed, the first book in this series.

S Manon is pregnant and struggling with fly and life in general . This case is close to her and it affect her family . It slow start , but by the middle I was shocked in the turn of events, I didn't expect that to happen. I felt sorry for mason and fly .

The vulnerability of the main characters (very humane) , that made the difference from other crime books that I read.

Manson is complicated character, sometimes she was weak and sometimes strong. The end was shocking, I know I use this word a lot but it was shocking.
This series is much fluid than any series I read, the characters go through a lot of life changing situations, I didn't made my mind if I like that or not . But i liked this book.

I liked to hear the inner thoughts of some of the characters, mainly birdie. I liked her irony and self criticism. I even liked her more than some of main characters.

Waiting for the next book , I can see from the end it will have major change in Manon life.

I did not read the first book in this series yet, but I plan to!! Surprisingly, the book started off kind of slow but did pick up the more I read. The story is narrated from several different points of view including the main character, Manon--police investigator who is 5 mos pregnant and also has a 12 yo adopted son, Fly, her colleague Davy Walker, also an investigator, Birdie--shop-keeper in the know and Angel, Birdie's assistant. Very suspenseful and interesting once I got into it, as Fly is arrested for the murder of Manon's sister's ex and father of her niece. Manon is not allowed to work on the case as it involved her son, but she intends to solve the case and hopefully reestablish her family. Great character development and writing. I also found the plot, although complicated, quite intriguing. The ending was a quite a surprise to me, too, which I love in a good mystery novel. Suspenseful, contemporary with a little bit of humor and lots of mystery. Definitely looking forward to reading the first book soon.

Manon Bradshaw is a Detectiive Inspector and a mother of a twelve year old whom she has adopted after a horrific time in London. Now she is out of there and living with her sister Ellie and her toddler Sollie and just enjoying being pregnant, or as much as one can enjoy being pregnant, when suddenly Sollie's father ends up dead not far from their apartment. Unfortunately, Fly was seen at the scene of the crime on the CCTV so Manon is removed from the investigation because she is his mother and Fly is arrested. Manon is emotionally and physically devastated as she has to cope with proving Fly's innocence as well as trying to find out who actually killed Jon-Oliver and why. The plot thickens when the Chinese are involved, a banking institution that he works for has deep pockets and prostitutes are killed also. But Manon Bradshaw is on the case and nothing is going to stop her from getting Fly out of the deep trouble that he is in. She is so angry with her fellow officers that she suspects them of trying to cover up the real crime and the real criminal. She enlists the aid of a criminal defense attorney, Mark Talbot, and the two of them are determined to find the clues that will free Fly before he harms himself in the juvenile detention center that is not good for anyone, much less someone as already damaged as Fly is. The author does a great job of keeping the reader guessing and bringing in clues from other characters throughout the book. The ending is satisfactory, although the "bad guys" may not really get what is actually considered justice. That will be for the reader to decide. The book was a great read with well-developed characters,

3.5 stars. There was a good balance between the police procedural and the lives of the characters and their struggles. I like DS Manon, she is damaged but so real.