I just couldn't quite get into this story. I think I had trouble with the 30 year old unsolved mystery, it just didn't grab my attention.

I feel that in thrillers we go through trends. We went through a phase of always having an unreliable female narrator. Then we went through the domestic thriller. Now we are in alternate timelines. And there are times when that is perfect.
But alternate time lines, when done not so well. drag out a story to the point of me no longer caring about the characters or ending.
She Lies in Wait, while having a good premise, really did not do anything for me interest wise. 50% in and I skipped to the end to verify my guess on who the killer was. The characters were unlikable and under developed, so my connection to the was non-existent. Also, I am not even sure why Aurora was there in the first place if her sister hates her so much.

4/5 stars for She Lies in Wait by Gytha Lodge. I enjoyed the switching of time periods chapter to chapter - present day and 30 years ago to the original murder.

Many thanks to the publisher and net galley for the free ebook in exchange for my honest feedback.

I really enjoyed this mystery that slowly unwrapped itself with every chapter! The story goes back and forth from the past to the current time while they are investigating a cold case. The author did a great job of character development with everyone in the group of friends as well as those on the police force. It looks like this is going to be the first in a series, so I would be excited to see more development and continuation of the story lines for some of the police officers! It kept me guessing until the end, and I didn’t want to put it down until I knew who had done it!

Welp, that was a fun thrilling ride! And from a debut author no less, color me impressed!
🍂🍂🍂
Six teenage friends go camping in the forest. They wake up in the morning after a night of hard partying to find one of them is missing. 14 year old Aurora is the tag-along younger sister and no one has seen her since the night before. After fruitless searching, the police are called and an investigation is launched. Aurora is never found and the friends lives move on. Fast forward 30 years and a body is discovered in the woods, later determined to be Aurora. The investigation is reopened and the detectives will work tirelessly to find the killer. Told in dual timelines, the reader follows along with Aurora on that fateful night and also the detectives as they investigate her murder. This flowed nicely and was brilliantly done. I was completely stumped until the final reveal and conclusion, which I found surprising and satisfying. This is a debut by the author and the first in this detective series. I loved it and I’m looking forward to continuing on with Detective Jonah Sheens in future books. For me, She Lies in Wait was ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars. Thank you @randomhouse for this advance reader in exchange for my honest review. She Lies in Wait hits shelves January 8th!

This was an excellent read. Switching back and forth between the characters, it ratchets up the tension until the final unexpected reveal. This is one of the best books I have read recently. I really enjoyed it.

This book was interesting ... in a good way. There were clues and small bits throughout the plot pointing to the killer and yet, I would never have predicted it! This was an easy read, engaging and an absolute mystery / thriller combination.

A long and convoluted tale, with many twists and turns. Didn’t care for many of the characters including the police. But with time, we shall see. Thank you Netgalley for the advance copy.

This book left me wondering almost until the end what went wrong one fateful night thirty years ago. A well played mystery by Gytha Lodge, this first novel in the Jonah Sheens series left me wanting more. More mysteries, more tales to tell. While this book wrapped up one story, it sure left the door open on Jonah.

Aurora Jackson is a beautiful, flighty teenage girl who just wants acceptance from her sister and her sister’s friends. When her sister and a group of friends are heading to the woods for a night of partying and camping, Aurora is included. As the day goes into night, Aurora feels awkward and not really part of the group. Until one of them, Benners, gets Aurora drunk. Too drunk. So that Aurora gets violently ill and crawls off to sleep on her own.

The next morning when a group of teenagers wake very hungover, they realize that Aurora has disappeared. They search and search for her, but no trace is ever found. Until thirty years have passed, and a new investigation into the missing persons case is started back up. What happened to poor Aurora and why is the case reopened thirty years later? It’s a great mystery that kept me turning the pages to find out.

Gytha Lodge delivers a novel written in current and past tense. Each chapter takes us a step further in today’s investigation and what really happened on that night thirty years prior. I loved the format. It kept me wondering and guessing who did what, as each subsequent chapter led me to believe something different. I was surprised at the end, and as I said, I look forward to seeing what’s in store next for Jonah Sheens, the detective who began the investigation thirty years ago, and finished it now.

Oh wow. Put some time away for this book. It has all the ingredients for a terrific psychological thriller.

No spoilers from me. Book is great with lots of lies, deception, tragedy, and twists. Also, loved the unpredictable ending. Can't say enough great about this. Read it today!!

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this fabulous book.

What could have happened to Aurora? Someone knows but isn't telling.

Uncovering bones from a thirty-year-old disappearance/murder case wasn’t something the police thought would happen after their very thorough search and investigation back then.

The remains of fourteen-year-old Aurora Jackson was a shock to the six teens that had been with her as well as the town and her parents. Everyone believed she had been kidnapped or had run away not murdered.

SHE LIES IN WAIT goes back and forth from 1983 to the present telling the story of what happened at the campsite, how the investigation was exhaustive and came up with nothing, and moves to present day with the interviewing of the now-adult teens and the re-opening of the case.

Opening the case meant bringing the six friends together at the station for a meeting. Was that a good idea or had there been collaboration beforehand? Are they all only going to try to save themselves? Will one of the friends say things that had not been said before and reveal something that could get that person arrested?

The investigation turned up some facts that had been overlooked and involved a person that was not one of the six friends.

SHE LIES IN WAIT moves smoothly from one chapter to the next and holds your interest because of all the questions about what really happened and who was lying back then and who was still lying now.

If you enjoy being a detective, you will definitely enjoy SHE LIES IN WAIT.

The story line is good and nicely carried out with some twists and of course secrets being kept. 5/5

This book was given to me as an ARC by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Not a bad read I did find the mystery a bit more predictable then I thought it would be but still all around kept my attention for the most part. Would definitely try this writer again!

The Goodreads description for She Lies in Wait tries to sell this as "for fans of Tana French" and I think that readers who are expecting this book to be comparable to Tana French based on that are going to be left wanting. I can see the comparison (to In the Woods, specifically) based solely on having a detective who has a personal connection to the case being investigated, but that's about it- and with how many police procedurals are available to readers these days, I feel like it's got to be tough to stand out. It's a generally fine story, but even though it's only a touch over 350 pages it felt very long. The back and forth reveals from the past and present are done well, with each giving a little hint to what's about to happen in the other. It's got a very melancholy feel to it, and there are some characters who seem interesting, but overall it just wasn't the most memorable story I've picked up lately.

I really enjoyed this book. I’m just coming off of a two month break from thrillers and this was the perfect book to dive back into the genre. I like that it went back and forth between current day and thirty years ago, but still kept me on my toes the entire time trying to figure out who the killer was. I was not expecting the ending. Highly recommend this book to any thriller fans!

I received an advanced copy in exchange of an honest review.

With a 30 year old mystery at its core, this was a well written police procedural that kept the pages turning. The story starts on the slow side and builds. With a strong cast of characters, this book was not as suspenseful as it could have been, but more of a straight forward mystery. In the end I was surprised that this was a debut novel, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of Jonah Sheens in future novels!

I received an advanced copy of She Lies in Wait via Netgalley, and although it had a ton of potential, I had a hard time finishing the book and there was just too much going on for me to keep track and enjoy the read. I felt like the book was extremely predictable, and after starting out extremely fast paced, it fizzled out and dragged on. There were a few times that I had to go back and reread parts to figure out which character was who, and how they played into the story. I was overall disappointed by this, but extremely thankful I was given the chance to read it in exchange for an honest review! She Lies in Wait is set to be published in January 2019.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for providing this title to me. While the premise sounded intriguing, ultimately it really fell flat for me. There was just nothing here to set it apart from a hundred other police procedural novels with a similar cold case premise. None of the characters spoke to me either, so my interest in reading more in the series is non-existent.

She Lies in Wait was a great story that slowly unfolded the tale of the murder of a young girl, Aurora, whose body was found after 30 years of being missing. A group of friends are being investigated and the author did an amazing job of keeping us guessing of who had committed the murder. During the investigation other crimes are uncovered that are related to what had happened to Aurora. The characters were very well developed and the story moved at a very quick pace. Very difficult to put down!
I look forwards to reading more about the cases DCI Jonah Sheen will solve along with his constables and sergeants.

Thank you NetGalley, Gytha Lodge and Random House for the free e-book in exchange for an honest review.

On a hot summers night, six school friends go camping in the forest and Aurora is excited to be able to tag along with the popular kids. The next morning no one can find Aurora and the police are called to investigate. Thirty years later, they find a body in the area and DCI Sheen knows it just has to be Aurora. All of the friends maintain their innocence in her disappearance, but she is found in a secret place that only those six know about.

I found myself interested in this story right from the beginning and loved the way that the novel was laid out and how there were chapters with Aurora’s point of view from before she went missing. There are a lot of characters in this novel to keep track of and remember what they were doing at the time Aurora went missing. I found after the first little while, it was easy to keep track of each character because they all have a different voice and a different personality that is entirely different from the others. I loved all the drama that happened in both the past and present between these characters because of their differences. There were so many different little twists that happen throughout the entire novel that were so enjoyable and unexpected! I also really enjoyed DCI Sheen and his team and how he was personally involved in this story and tried to keep it quiet from the rest of the team. I would definitely recommend this novel if you enjoy police procedural novels!

Out January 8th!

I recently returned from a cruise vacation and on that vacation, I wanted a good, not-put-down, book to read. Well...this was the book! The book centers on a police department in England (in the somewhat present day) and their search to discover what happened to Aurora in the summer of 1983, who was on a camping trip with her sister and five of her sister's friends when she disappeared in the night.

This book goes back in fourth in time - through flashbacks of Aurora's to that fateful day in 1983, and then back to the police department's attempts to solve the mystery. I don't want to say too much for fear of giving away anything, but I couldn't put this book down, and was getting annoyed at the constant interruptions I was facing while reading it!

One thing I would have liked to see more of in this book is the character development of the police detectives. I felt really invested in them, and like some things were left unresolved in the detectives' lives, even though the mystery of Aurora is eventually solved. I was happy to see on Amazon that this is going to be the first in a series of books about Detective Chief Inspector Jonah Sheens (and hopefully the rest of his team).

Overall I would give this book 4/5 stars and recommend it to fans of mysteries. Please note there are some trigger warnings such as rape and parental abuse in this book.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley under the condition I would write a review of this book. I am under no obligation to write a positive review.