W.hy would a seemingly perfect mother and wife attempt to kill herself and a car full of children? The sense of frustration felt by the police interviewing all who knew her was very strong, coupled with the burden of investigating this whilst searching for a prolific serial killer. Claire's fragility if overworked could have become tiresome but the love story element was enough to add to the story.

Losing Leah Holloway
A Claire Fletcher and Detective Parks Mystery, Book 2
by Lisa Regan
Thomas & Mercer

General Fiction (Adult) , Mystery & Thrillers
Pub Date 17 Oct 2017

I am reviewing a copy of Loosing Leah Holloway through Thomas Mercer and Netgalley:

Claire sees a car full of children go into a river, and she hurries to the rescue. Leah Holloway the mother and driver refuses to be rescued. Claire and her Ex Detective Connor Parks finds that something is fishy. What could drive this successful woman with two young boys, and a good career to go into the water?

Things are not always as good as they seem and when they investigate her death more, secrets come out, showing that her life was not really as idyllic as it looked from the outside looking in.

Soon it is linked to a Sacramento Soccer Mom Strangle that was left Leah Holloway terrified.

Will they be able to stop the serial killer before he strikes again, or will more women die?

I give Losing Leah Holloway five

I didn't read the first book in this series. (Normal for me)
Claire Fletcher was a prisoner of a sex predator for years. She escaped and she is trying to still get on with her life. She is actually very likeable. You laugh because I say that? I don't like anyone so there is that.


Claire is out fishing with her sister one day and a minivan full of kids crash through the guardrail and enter the water. Claire goes into full on rescue mode and manages to get all the kids out...but the mom doesn't want saved. Her eyes have that terrorized look that Claire knows well.
What caused a mom with a good life/job/husband to snap and want to kill herself and her AND her best friends kids?

Then you have another storyline in which Claire's boyfriend Connor is investigating...a serial killer is killing women at their kid's soccer matches. They are raped, strangled and bitten and left.

Claire and Connor's romance is not overdone for a thriller. I don't like when my thrillers are really of the romancy variety. It's there but it didn't make me want to knock their heads together. AND another good thing is that Claire didn't involve herself in the serial killer case..I HATE when author's let their characters have too much leeway into a police investigation..there is just no way legally that can happen. Stop that crap people. Anyways, this author does a good job with that part.

Another thing Regan did well was the look into a stressed out mom's life. She made me perfectly feel for Leah (the woman that drove into the water)..if you have ever wanted your husband to just help out some with the kids or just to have five minutes peace you know her feelings. Even though I ended up not agreeing with her actions I could completely see where she was coming from.


This was actually pretty good. It kept me reading and turning pages as fast as I could because I completely wanted to know how it was going to end up.
I would love to grab up the first book in this series now to see how Claire's history played out, you do get bits and pieces of it in this book but I'm curious now. PS it was fine to read this as a standalone.

Booksource: Netgalley in exchange for review.

Losing Leah Holloway was as good a mystery read as the first book Finding Clair fletcher and that was wonderful. I look forward to more stories from Lisa Regan.

Fabulous read. I will highly recommend this book to friends & family. It grasped my attention from the start & didn’t let go until it’s conclusion.

*4.5 stars*

I loved this book! I was impressed by Finding Claire Fletcher, so part of me was afraid that this wouldn't live up to its predecessor. But it does!!! (happy dance).

Claire Fletcher is in the process of living her life. She's trying to put the traumatic events of her past behind, and staying out of the limelight. But when a car lands off a bridge right in the front of her, she immediately leaps to action and saves five children. Who she cannot save is Leah Holloway, their mother with a terrible secret -- terrible enough that she wants to end her own life and the childrens' with her.

In unraveling Leah Holloway's story, Claire finds herself working closely with Connor again. Circumstances pushed them apart in the past, but now this case, and that of a serial killer targeting soccer moms, brings them together again.

This is a twisty, turny sort of book with lots of secrets and a very quick pace. I loved learning about Leah Holloway's past, and what brought her to that terrible moment at the bridge. I also loved seeing more of Claire and Connor, and how their lives have changed since the events of the first book.

*Thanks to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for an ARC*

Such a great book.. 5 years after Claire Fletcher returns home her life is still trying to return to normal. When she rescues 5 children from a car that has been driven off a bridge into the water she once again finds herself in the spotlight... and back working with Conner. I really enjoyed this book.. I do hope there will be a 3rd in the series. A big thank you to the author and Thomas and Mercer via Netgalley for a copy of this book to read and review in return for an honest review.

This book sucked me in from the beginning. The underwater scene when Leah drives her drives her car with five kids in it into the water is so visceral and powerful. I felt like I there witnessing it all. This book has stayed with me after I read it. A lot of the time, I read a book and never think of it again, but this story is impact full. The characters and what they did to keep face while all along they were selfish and victims of their past was gut wrenching to read. I really enjoyed the unfolding of this mystery and the view into the true nature of some of the people who surely truly exist in our world. It is scary to 'realize how damaged and self serving some of us are.

Thank you to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for an ARC of the second book in the Claire Fletcher series.

Book two in the series picks up five years after Claire Fletcher has regained her life back after her abduction. While fishing, a SUV goes off the bridge nearby. Claire jumps into action, only to find 5 kids and a woman in the car. She is able to save the five kids, but the woman refuses to be saved-- drowning.

From there, Connor Parks investigates the death of Leah Holloway and why she would feel the need to kill her three kids and her best friend's twins. At the same time, the department is trying to solve the Soccer Mom Strangler who has just killed a fifth woman.

As the book goes on, we see as these cases collide together in interesting ways. Well written and quite the page turner, Losing Leah Holloway is a wonderful followup to Finding Claire Fletcher. I look forward to more books in this series and plan on reading the author's previous books!

I was thoroughly into this book from page 1! I love how the story unfolded but also liked how Claire's history was intermixed so for those who had not read the previous book (myself included) it didn't feel like we had no idea what was going on to make the characters as they are. I felt for Leah in this story and understand her struggles to maintain that perfect family façade but unfortunately things didn't end well for her. It was a great read!

A serial killer on the loose.. A woman driving off a bridge with 5 young children in the car killing herself. The two investigations into the seemingly separate things that lead to a shocking collision of the two.

This book picks up 5 years after the first one. Clair Fletcher may have survived her 10 year ordeal of being the captive of pedophile, and is in most ways living a normal life with the exception of relationships, but to do this she still closes off her emotions. She and her sister have been living together and are fishing when right above them a van comes careening off the bridge and they are shocked to see there are 5 small children in the back. Clair does everything in her power to save everyone but the driver doesn't want to be saved. This brings back unwanted emotions from her past.

Connor Parks is now part of the task force looking for the serial killer targeting mothers. He is still hurting a bit over Clair calling things off between them two years ago. With the attention the suicide is garnering Conner is assigned to find out what would make a mother of three try to kill her own kids plus the twins of her best friend. This puts Conner back in close contact with Clair where the two (mainly Clair) work on the issues keeping them apart. I appreciated how the author dealt with their relationship and with Clair's history and didn't try to just rush their relationship just for the sake of the book.

The investigation into Leah Holloway's life kept you captivated to the pages. It takes over the main focus of the book but the author had a rhyme to her reason and it was shocking. Loving this series so far and hope there are more books to come.

LOSING LEAH HOLLOWAY picks up fives years after FINDING CLAIRE FLETCHER. With the closing chapter of book one, we'd only just adjusted to the idea that Claire and Connor might find love after her harrowing experience and the connection that spurred the Detective into chasing down a mystery woman he didn't know. So naturally I was super annoyed to see in the synopsis that, sometime during those five years, they'd broken up.

"<i>There's a secret. To surviving. To living after.</i>"
"<b>Care to share?</b>"
"<i>Ordinary moments are the miracles in life.</i>"

But don't worry, I got over it, because Regan has a really smart and totally understandable reason for why these two didn't work out. That being said, despite not really loving Connor in book one and despite not wanting the impact and pacing of this unrelated mystery to be bogged down by their personal issues, I was happy that their romance wasn't the driving force in this follow up installment but still managed to be resolved. Because I really liked the mystery.

<i>She could save children from a vehicle crashed in the river, yet she couldn't sleep with him. She could risk her life but not her heart.</i>

Watching the investigators piece together why a seemingly perfect, conscientious, driven and wonderful, mother of three would drive herself off a bridge with a car full of kids (a few not even her own), was really well done. There was so much to discover, so much to be revealed; and a lot we really don't find out until the very end. Regan kept me on the edge of my seat wondering how everything would tie together and that's what you want from this kind of dark mystery read.

<i>Normally, Stryker had more bravado than a Vegas act. Come to think of it, he hadn't said <b>fuck you</b> to Connor once all day. What was the world coming to?</i>

However, there's still something about the author's writing that feels very simplistic to me, something that I find hard to describe, except to say it feels like it's a grade or two younger than say, a Gardiner mystery or even a Grafton. But while I didn't really have the same problems with perceived immaturity in Connor as I did in book one, some of the interactions he had with his partner just.. I don't know. I hate to use the word juvenile (again) but it was almost as if Regan was attempting to strike a lighthearted tone to balance the dark and instead it just kind of sticks out like a sore thumb. And yet Connor's joking with male colleagues didn't have the same problem.. only those with other females. It's weird.

<i>Fear was a second skin for Claire. After ten years in captivity, she had learned to live with it. Connor watched her confront it time and again with courage that was breathtaking to observe, to even be in the presence of.</i>

Sadly, another mark against the book's favour, was rehashing a lot of Claire's experience from the first in the series. I can understand a little bit, especially in the beginning because the initial publication of FINDING CLAIRE FLETCHER was <b>also</b> five years ago, however.. I didn't really need a constant reminder of her abduction, rapes and time in captivity. I know her time to heal hadn't yet surpassed her time as a victim, however.. the more one is exposed to repetition, the more numb one gets to the impact of it. I wanted to feel for her, not be annoyed by her, y'know? Also, wtf, why was Noel even in this book? Why that connection to Stryker? Really didn't like that element.

"<i>If I have to hear the word <b>fine</b> one more time, somebody is getting punched. 'We were fine.' 'They were fine.' 'She was fine.' People who are fine don't take out a bunch of motorists and then try to kill themselves and five kids.</i>"
"<b>Maybe fine is the new crazy.</b>"

There were a lot of surprises along the way and this book, with Leah as the main character especially, really drives home the idea that sometimes we really don't know much about those around us. This mystery might have dealt with a serial killer who assaults and strangles his victims, which needless to say is horrifying, but it's equally shocking to realize how you can see your neighbours, your coworkers, the fellow mum's at the PTA meetings, and not realize how much they have to hide. Spooky food for thought.

3.75 stars

Thank you netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

This book follows Connor and Claire a few years after they were brought together after Claire's rescue from the psycho kidnapper. They are no longer a couple but their feelings run deep! There's a serial killer on the loose, targeting soccer mums, with a vicious calling card. Leah Holloway drives off a road into a river with a car full of children but why did she do it?

This was even better than the first book. The characters were well established and I was hooked! Please can I have a book 3! One of my elusive five star recommendations for sure.

I received an ARC from NetGalley to read and review. The below is my honest, unbiased opinion. Thank you, Lisa Regan, the publisher, and NetGalley, for allowing me to review.

Losing Leah Holloway is the second book in Lisa Regan's Claire Fletcher series. The first, Finding Claire Fletcher, should be read before this one to better enjoy the world. Sadly, I didn't realize this was the second book in the series, so I hadn't read the first book prior to reading this one. However, I didn't find myself lost. I credit that to Regan's superb writing. Even so, I wouldn't recommend anyone follow my path. Read book one and enjoy!

In Losing Leah Holloway, readers see Claire Fletcher struggling to survive life after escaping from her abductor five years ago. While out, Claire sees a mother drive herself and her children into a river. Claire attempts to rescue them, but the mother, a successful woman with a beautiful family, prefers to drown. Claire and her ex, Detective Connor Parks, investigate the accident, discovering something dreadful behind the woman's picturesque life: a link between the terrified mother and a serial strangler targeting Sacramento soccer moms.

This was my first Lisa Regan novel, and I absolutely loved it. Regan has such a captivating writing style that makes it impossible to put down her book. The novel was thrilling in all the right ways, and I found myself cheering on the unlikely duo to solve the case before the serial killer struck again. The twists Regan through in were impressive, making it rather difficult to see the ending coming. This truly was an edge-of-your-seat read!

This second book in the Claire Fletcher and Detective Parks mystery series is a roller coaster ride from start to finish. Five years ago Claire Fletcher escaped her abductor and is working hard to put the past behind her and to live a normal life. Her quiet life abruptly changes when she and her sister, Brianna, are fishing and see a car careen through a concrete overpass and dive into the river. The car begins to sink, Claire throws her fishing rod down and races into the water to help. When Claire sees children in the car, she attempts to open the door and break the windows. The driver is slumped in her seat and is unresponsive when Claire bangs on the window. When she comes to, she refuses to unlock the door so Claire can get the children out of the car. What would cause a mother to drive recklessly and risk the lives of her children?

Wow! This book from the moment Leah Holloway flew off the bridge into the lake was a fast paced suspenseful read! Connor and Claire are such a great couple loved reading about them again. I have nothing bad to say about this book . Lots of suspense, bit of romance and two great main characters. If you plan on reading make sure once you start this book you will have time because you will be up on all night reading.not want to put it down! You have to find out why Leah kills herself and tries to kill her children. A very captivated read!! Highly recommend if you love suspense!

Losing Leah Halloway is the second book in the crime series that begins with Finding Claire Fletcher. I enjoyed both books and would recommend readers pick up Finding Claire Fletcher before reading this book. Gripping, well-paced writing with nice plot twists keep me reading. I'm hooked!

I would like to thank Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for an advance copy of Losing Leah Holloway, the second novel in the Claire Fletcher and Detective Connor Parks series based in Sacramento.

Claire who was abducted and held for captive for 10 years is still, after 5 years, trying to get her life back together and to this end she enjoys fishing. She is out on the river with her sister when a car hurls down the cliff into the river. Claire manages to save the 5 children in the car but the driver commits suicide rather than be rescued. In the meantime Connor Parks, Claire's ex-boyfriend is part of the Soccer Mum Killer task force who are trying to capture a serial rapist/murderer.

This is the first novel I have read by Ms Regan so I have missed Claire's backstory but it doesn't matter as it is adequately explained in this novel. Otherwise it is a bit of a mixed bag. The re-kindled relationship between Claire and Connor is dreary, boring and not particularly believable. On the other hand the unraveling of Leah Holloway's life is fascinating. In the first half of the novel she is seen through the eyes of her husband and friends as a paragon of good living, even tempered, capable and moral with her children at the centre of her life although the police get a hint of something different. The second half is different as her secrets are slowly revealed through good investigation and her own thoughts and reasoning in flashback chapters. The structure of the novel is excellent with its slow burn approach and final twist.

Leah's death is a tragedy, brought about by her own poor judgement and decision making and her desire to appear perfect. I'm not saying it could happen to anyone but Ms Regan paints Leah in a sympathetic light, making it easy to understand why.

Apart from the unconvincing romance Losing Leah Holloway is a good read with plenty of twists and turns.

I read this book in one night because I couldn't stop and put it down. There are two plots intertwined in this novel. One is about a young woman who drives herself and her children over a bridge and into a river on purpose and the other is Detective Conner Parks trying to solve the "soccer mom serial killer" mystery. The books slowly weaves through the two plot lines urging you to keep reading to see how these two plot lines will come together. There are also the character of Conner and Claire from a previous book, Claire was kidnapped and held captive for many years by her stepdad and Claire is the person who saves the children from the sinking car.

Wow!! This book is fast paced, with some twists you never see coming! i enjoyed the ending when the bitter snobs get a little dose of their own medicine, and the good guys get a little fun in the sun! Loved it!