This was a gripping thriller. It was full of excitement and suspense! With crazy twists and turns!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

Little Ava goes missing during a birthday party, and nobody can figure out where she went - she was wearing a bright, lemon-yellow dress - she couldn't have gone that far, could she? But two years later, when another little girl's body turns up, and it is discovered that the child in question also attended the same birthday party ... suspicions start to rise.

Natalie is haunted by a prior failure, and is determined to not let this one slide by her again as a DI.

This book was engaging and interesting, if not totally unpredictable. I'd recommend it to fans of the classic domestic thriller, with a twist.

A well written and intriguing first installment in what I hope is a new series. Fast paced plot with enough twists to keep the reader guessing

I'm so glad I took the opportunity to request this one as it hit almost every single thing I want/need in a domestic thriller. The story was compelling, the characters were well developed, it did a good job diverting your thoughts on who might have done it, and it constantly had me second guessing myself.

I truly enjoyed the premise of the novel even though it's something that has no doubt been done dozens of times over. The difference with this one is that the author didn't hold your hand throughout and gradually try and guide you to who had actually committed these crimes. She left subtle clues that weren't very easy to pick up and it ultimately left the story a complete mystery until the last 10% when it climaxed into actually catching the killer.

I thought all of the characters were well done in a very small way. I didn't feel like any of them necessarily held any greater amount of backstory then any of the others and that they all had a very well done "team" dynamic which flowed very nicely. I'm used to reading thrillers where the lead detectives are mainly focused on and not the whole unit so I felt very refreshed with this team.

I have only recently discovered author Carol Wyer after seeing an interview with her online. I read her book Little Girl Lost and was instantly gripped and when I saw she had the start of a new series coming out the first of which is entitled The Birthday I was intrigued to see if this one would be as good as Little Girl Lost.
Harriet Downing’s birthday party went horribly wrong when one of the children went missing never to be seen again. Fast forward two years and the body of the little girl Ava has been found. DI Natalie Ward is on the case and is determined to get to find the killer but things have just got a whole lot worse….. the body of another child who attended the party has just been found. Natalie and her team pull out all the stops to try and catch the killer before any more children are harmed but this killer is expertly covering their tracks.
Wow I loved this book even more than Little Girl Lost. If you have read my review of Little Girl Lost you will remember I found it gripping but found that the storyline slowed in the middle part of the book and slightly lost me for a while, well The Birthday is gripping from the very first page right through to the last page. I was completely in the dark right up until the last couple of chapters and I didn’t have even the slightest suspicion until around 75% through and even then I was on the wrong track!
DI Natalie Ward has her own demons from a previous case which we know from little drips of information we are fed from Natalie which helps us understand why it is even more paramount that she solves this case and quickly. We get to know parts of her team members personal life too so we manage to build relationships with the characters which I am sure will develop further in the next book.
I would definitely recommend this book if you are looking for something to hold your attention with a storyline that will have you sitting trying to piece all the clues together.

I received an advanced copy of this book through Netgalley. This book had me from the very beginning. I love that it kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I would highly recommend this book to my fellow readers. Thank you for the chance to review this book!!!!

Absolutely loved the first series of books and although I wasn't entirely satisfied with their conclusion I'm glad the author didn't ruin a good thing and turn it into a 20+ book series. I was a bit dubious about reading this book thinking it'd be similar to that series but couldn't have been more wrong. Natalie is very different character and I will absolutely be reading the follow up book.

One of the best I’ve read in awhile because it moves quickly with substance. The characters are raw emotion oftimes and the ending is a real suprise

My first book by this author and it was pretty good. There was decent character build up to set the stage for a new series. The relationships and dialogue were realistic.

Natalie is an interesting character, not incredibly likable. Though as the story progresses she somewhat redeems herself. She has transferred to another station after her last case ended in a tragic outcome due to mismanagement.

There were some twists and turns to add a little intrigue. There were also a few places that the story could have been trimmed up but nothing too bad. The ending was good in that it resolved this case so you aren’t forced to continue reading for answers if you’re not a fan of the new series.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and Bookouture for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Having thoroughly enjoyed Carol Wyer's previous series I was keen to see how Detective Natalie Ward would shape up, and I was not disappointed! An interesting character, Natalie is strongly affected by her failure to solve a previous case, and when a child's bones appear she is determined not to fail again. Her family situation is interesting and her work colleagues also have interesting situations which promise to develop nicely. This is a fascinating case which has surprising outcomes. A really good read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I am a huge fan of the author's other series - Robyn Carter series.

This book was a good start to the series. I liked the main character and it was interesting seeing how she deals with both her professional and personal life. The investigation went well and although I had an idea of who the perpetrator was, it was interesting to see how everything played out.

It was a good read and a good start to the series..

I am a big fan of Carol Wyer’s work, I was excited to see her newest book on Netgalley but I was a bit disappointed it wasn’t part of the Robyn Carter series...until I started reading!
It was a great story, I was hooked from the first page.
I enjoyed getting to know Natalie and her team, i can’t wait to learn more about them.
Another great series by Carol Wyer, check her out....you’ll be glad you did!

I would like to thank Netgalley and Bookouture for an advance copy of The Birthday, the first novel to feature DI Natalie Ward of the Staffordshire police.

When the body of 5 year old Ava Sawyer, who disappeared 2 years earlier from a birthday party at the garden centre where her body is discovered, is found DI Natalie Ward and her team are tasked with the investigation. Their job becomes more urgent when Audrey Briggs, Ava's classmate and fellow party attendee disappears and is found murdered. With no obvious suspects or motive the team are feeling the pressure.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Birthday which is a taut procedural with several twists and turns. Despite the discovery of two bodies early in the novel it is quite a slow read with team basically chasing their tails as they try to identify and eliminate suspects. The action and tension do, however, ramp up in the final quarter of the novel as they hunt their perpetrator. I like the slow build up as it gives the reader a good feel for the practicalities of hunting a stranger killer. There is frustration, despondency, exhaustion and puzzlement but there is always a sense of hope and determination that they will solve it, although it frequently looks like they might fail. It is very well done and I found myself infused with their spirit as I read on. It is well done. I also like the balance of detective nous and forensics. There is little in the way of forensics at the murder scenes but the team take the gleanings as they are discovered and incorporate them into their investigation. It seems a realistic take on modern policing.

The novel is mostly told from Natalie's point of view with a few chapters devoted to an unnamed child's obsession with a classmate. As these chapters are in italics it's safe to assume they are the killer's history. I'm not interested in this kind of attempt to provide a framework for murderous behaviour so I found it a distraction and less than convincing.

I like DI Natalie Ward who seems like a kind of everywoman. She is smart, dedicated and haunted by the failure of a previous case where they failed to save a teenager. She is also a mother with two teenage children and an unlikeable husband. She is the main breadwinner and has to work to support her family but it doesn't stop her husband from criticising her at every turn. It's an interesting role reversal from the norm and even more interesting that she feels the guilt of it as her husband turns the screw.

The Birthday is a good read which I have no hesitation in recommending.

Thank you to Net Galley and Bookouture for an advance read of this title. It kept me reading, and kept me guessing until the end, so I enjoyed that part a great deal. One thing I wasn't comfortable with is that there were a "few" (I'm purposely being coy about the number so I don't give anything away) murders of children. I know it was part of the plot, but I felt like that part was a little cliche. The characters felt a bit "unfinished," so my guess would be this will be part of a series. That said, this book kept me reading into the night, and the plot was interesting.

Twenty primary school children go to a birthday party at a garden/animal centre. One disappears without trace. Two years later, when the site is being excavated, a body is found. Within days, the problems escalate...

DI Natalie Ward and her team, frustrated by the lack of leads, get the feeling that several of the adults are keeping secrets

A fast-paced story. Hopefully this is the start of a series

Two years ago, a five-year-old girl went missing at a birthday party, and her body was recently discovered. Now another little girl is missing… and she was also a guest at the ill-fated celebration. It’s up to Detective Natalie Ward and her team to track down the killer, but with few leads to go on, it won’t be an easy task.

I love the DI Robyn Carter series, and looked forward to ‘meeting’ Detective Natalie Ward. My expectations were high, and I was concerned that I would compare the two characters and (perhaps) find myself wishing this novel was about the former—but I needn’t have worried. Wyer easily surpassed all my expectations, creating a dynamic lead character that is every bit as enthralling as the beloved DI Carter.

Natalie Ward’s first case strikes at the heart of every parent’s worst fear—the loss of a child. It wasn’t a stretch of the imagination at all to envision the terror felt by the parents of the missing children, nor was it hard to understand Natalie’s determination to leave no stone unturned in the pursuit of the culprit.

Natalie’s personal life with her husband and children, as well as the personal lives of her team members, were as interesting for me to read about as the investigation itself. Lots of juicy nuggets of information were sprinkled throughout the book about several characters, and I can’t wait to learn more about them in future installments of the series!

I had a lot of fun trying to guess the identity of the killer, and one of my guesses was correct… but it was one guess out of MANY, so it doesn’t count as solving the crime before the Big Reveal happened. Finally knowing ‘whodunnit’ wasn’t enough to dissipate the threat of impending doom, however, and I could barely breathe as they rushed to find and arrest the killer.

Final Thoughts

Wyer’s latest offering sets the stage for what is sure to be another skillfully crafted series. The Birthday is intense, chilling, and the very definition of unputdownable. This is a must-read for fans of crime thrillers.

I received an advance reading copy of this book courtesy of Bookouture via Netgalley.

Thanks to NG for the ARC! This book was a pretty good start to a new series about Police Investigator Natalie Ward. 5 year old Ava Sawyer disappears from a birthday party where nobody saw her leave or saw her ever again. Two years later, her body is found and as Det. Ward beings to investigate, another body of a girl who attended the same birthday party is found dead nearby. Clues begin to connect the two girl's deaths as the police work to re-investigate Ava's disappearance as well as start investigating the new victim. The story builds slowly and another girl is found murdered as the police slowly close in on a short list of suspects. Suspenseful writing and interesting characters kept me reading to the end which wasn't a huge surprise but not completely obvious either. I will definitely look for the next book in this series!

The Birthday

Wow, what a read ! Fast paced and gripping. This is the first book I’ve read by this author, I’m very happy to have found her and now look forward to reading the Robyn Carter series. Highly recommended !

I have to say this cover pulled me right in and of course the fact that it is a Carol Wyer book AND the start of a new detective series!!!

I enjoyed DI Natalie Ward's character. A mother of 1 5 year old boy, which I can relate to and a detective with a chilling case to solve involving the murder of little girls. It all starts with little Ava Sawyer who disappears from a birthday party. Every parent's nightmare.. After discovering Ava's body, two more girls go missing and their bodies are discovered in yellow party dresses. How does this relate to the birthday party and why? When the fourth girl goes missing, the daughter of an ex detective, DI Natalie Ward is determined to catch this child killer before he can kill again.

I would like to see more depth to Natalie's character in the future books and am interested to see how she and her teammates develop along the way. I will eagerly be waiting to see what this author comes up with next in this series!

A big thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for allowing me an advanced copy of this book!

I love Carol Wyer’s dark side! It’s a cleverly told story, very intriguing.
I can’t say anything about the plot without giving any spoilers.
A good time to start reading Carol Wyer’s books if you haven’t already.
Well-paced and great writing. Extremely tense and a pleasure to read.