Gytha Lodge has written what I believe is one of the best books I've read all year. I'm stunned that this is her first novel. It is so amazing I fangirled all over her FB page to let her know I loved it. That's not usually something I do.

The story was simple, on the face of it, but then you add in donkey's years having passed and people's memories get fuzzy even if they weren't drunk or stoned when an event occurred.

I was very interested in the police involvement in this story, especially because one was hiding something. The discovery of Aurora's body certainly stirred up a lot of people and I found myself wanting to read faster so I could find out what happened, yet also not wanting the book to end.

The author layers all these characters and their stories together quite well, leaving me to wonder just what happened until the end where I was quite surprised. I hope Ms. Lodge is writing quickly because I could read another book by her tomorrow!

Thank you to the author, the publishers and Netgalley for allowing me an ARC.

Thirty years after the youngest of a group of teenagers who went camping disappears, her remains are found. The investigation is reopened, with the lead detective, DCI Jonah Sheens harboring his own secret involvement with this group.

The story is told in two different timelines, alternating between the present investigation and the past camping event. It is a solid police procedural and will be enjoyed by those who like that genre. A good start to what is supposed to become a series. I look forward to the next one.

4.5 stars!

Out January 8th!

Looking for a good detective mystery novel? Here you go!

Gytha Lodge's debut novel was a wonderful surprise. I was expecting it to just be okay, but I actually thought it was really good as far as detective novels go. This book was very much character driven and Gytha Lodge did a great job developing her characters.

The story flip flops between 1983 and present day. In 1983 fourteen-year-old Aurora goes missing while camping with 6 friends. 30 years later her body is discovered mere feet from the campsite where she was last seen. And all 6 of her friends instantly become suspects. Who had motive? Who could have wanted Aurora dead? What follows is the investigative work of DCI Jonah Sheens and his team, interviewing suspects and following old leads in the hopes of solving this cold case.

What I loved about this book was the tension. I kept trying to figure out who made the best suspect and who had motive. I constantly changed my mind, becoming suspicious of each character along the way. And honestly, I didn't figure out the ending until it was revealed which is always a win in my book.

The only negative aspect of this book was that the ending was a tad anticlimactic. Once the "killer" was revealed, the ending seemed a little bit abrupt, particularly given how long and drawn out the rest of the story was. I would have liked to have seen the ending play out a little bit differently. But, all in all I still found it satisfying and appreciated the "solution" to the crime.

I would liken this to a Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling) novel with a detective that is central to the story, and lots of character development that dominates the stories of the remaining characters. Would recommend to my detective-driven mystery novel lovers.

-I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Gytha Lodge, and Random House Publishing for the opportunity to review.-

"She lies in Wait" a thriller from beginning to end, I could not stop reading. I wanted to jump to the end of the book to see who had committed the crimes, but reading and following the investigation keep me guessing right to the end. Great book from beginning to end. There are some books that you know half way through the ending, but not this one.

A group of teenagers go camping, bringing the little sister of one of them. Following a wild night, they awake to find the sister is gone, setting off a frantic search that fails to bear fru. Thirty years later, the case is reopened when skeletal remains are discovered. Told from multiple perspectives, the story is revealed layer by layer, and the suspense builds relentlessly.

Thirty years ago, 14-year-old Aurora Jackson went on a camping trip with her older sister Topaz and several of Topaz’s friends. The next morning, Aurora was missing, and there were no strong leads on her location after the police investigation. When a body is found in the same location, DCI Jonah Sheens knows instinctively that it’s Aurora, and he and his team begin obsessively combing over old files and re-interviewing everyone even remotely connected with the case.

Having been at school with Aurora, Topaz, and the others, Jonah is driven to solve the mystery, although his personal involvement may surface during the investigation. Still, he forges ahead, and his team, unaware of his connection is also determined to find out what exactly happened to Aurora and who was responsible for her death.

This debut novel is a compelling read, keeping me involved through Jonah’s drive to learn everything about the others camping with Aurora, from the initial investigation to present day, while balancing his personal feelings about the case with his professional manner.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Love that this is told in alternating timelines. I think it adds to the mystery of it all.

What I loved: This one kept me guessing all the way through. Just when I thought I had it figured out...I realized I didn't.
What I liked: I actually enjoyed just about all of the characters in a realistic way. I felt like it was researched and fairly accurate procedure-wise, though I'm guessing others will disagree. It was accurate enough for me not to tripped up on any of the details.
What I hated: Can't say I hated anything about this one.

I'm always up for a good mystery/suspense/thriller by new authors, and this one did not disappoint. I can't write too much or I will spoil all the fun for others!

This story gripped me from the very beginning. I love a good detective novel and this one was just what I was looking for. Kept me questing and surprised me in the end. Can’t ask for more.

*
I love that even the main characters are flawed. I was second guessing some characters not sure how much I trusted them. Overall good character development.
*
Will be looking for the second in the series when it come out! Hahahahaha that’s

It took me a really long time to get into this one. I think the premise was amazing and that’s what kept me going. This idea that a group of teenagers has gone camping and in the morning, one is missing. It’s so intriguing. And I loved the mysterious set-up of who Aurora had been.

But much beyond the premise, I just wasn’t into it as much as I had hoped to be. The flashback scenes were great–I really got a feel for the campground and what had happened that night. But the present day 30-years after the murder parts of the book just didn’t ring true to me. I wanted more setting, more character development, more everything. It just fell a little flat.

Aurora was a great character as was her sister, Topaz, in the flashbacks. But for me, Topaz was seriously under-developed as a character to the point where I didn’t even take her seriously. I did however like Inspector Jonah Sheens, which gives me a little bit of anticipation for the next book in the series. Lodge developed his character well and even added in some elements in this story that I’m sure will be interesting to see cross over into the next.

This one was a debut, so I still say kudos to Lodge on the effort. I’m sure there will be some who are hooked, it was just a little lackluster for me.

Special thanks to Random House and Netgalley for an advanced e-galley in exchange for my honest review. This one is out January 8, 2019. This review will be published on my blog, Women in Trouble Book Blog on December 11, 2018.

A debut novel worthy of the most prestigious awards! A group of friends with a deadly secret, one of them is a sexual predator and murderer. Two timelines, present day and thirty years ago when a fourteen year old girl disappeared. Gytha Lodge makes this difficult task seem like child's play. A fantastic story told by a superb storyteller.

This novel was a very unforgettable, and I greatly enjoyed it. There were many characters, which in some novels could be irritating as it’s difficult to keep track of who is who. Not in Ms. Lodge’s novel. Each of the many characters were described in such a way that they appeared to be real, living & breathing human beings. The reader understood their lives, the things that were important to them. The writing was top-notch, & Ms. Lodge’s plot direction was superb.
“She Lies in Wait” was a great police procedural, hinging upon a 30 year old disappearance of a teenage girl named Aurora Jackson. The main detective handling the case was DCI Jonah Sheens, along with his team of three investigators. The novel opens with the discovery of her bones by a family of campers. Was it murder or an accident?
It was difficult to put down this novel once I started reading. There were a number of suspects, as the detectives doggedly pursued all leads. The conclusion was quite a surprise. I’ve not read any novels by this author, & plan on reading more of her work.
Thank you, NetGalley and Random House for the opportunity to read and review this terrific novel.

This is the debut of DCI Jonas Sheena series.



The story opens up with a father and son stumbling across the scattered bones near a campsite during their camping trip.



A detective is called onto this case which was discovered to be a cold case of a missing 14 year old girl who vanished in 1983. After the confirmation of the DNA, the case is reopened.



The novel alternates between 1983 and the present. Over 30 years ago is when a group of friends gets together for fun at the campsite. The 14 year old girl, Aurora Jackson is the youngest of the group. She happened to tag along with her older sister, Topaz who is jealous of and resents her. The present consists of a group of friends who have stayed close together for more than 30 years according to one of the detectives who had gone to school them them and remembers of the story of missing Aurora and the DCIs interviewing everyone and the alibi trying to break open the case.



This is the trial of true friendships, perspectives, drugs, drinking, loyalty, friendships, betrayal, and who's the actual killer.



It is a very sad and haunting thriller novel of a murdered intelligent 14 year old girl who had a full life ahead of her whose life cut too soon.

It was interesting but it's something I won't remember easily in the future. The only thing that annoys me is how DCI Sheena acts like a teenager when her ex harrases her over the phone and actually verbally and emotionally abuses her via texts too. The way this supposedly intelligent, quick witted and hard working detective is portrayed as a weak woman like that. I'm having a hard time with that.



3 stars overall.



I received this ARC through Random House Publishing Group through Net Galley. Thank you.

I enjoyed She Lies in Wait and its premise - the body of a missing teenager is found 35 years later right on the grounds of the campsite that her friends had sworn she'd wandered away from. The lead detective is a local who's only a few years older than these kids and had been acquainted with them - he'd also helped investigate this disappearance as one of his first police cases. Now he revisits old memories and impressions as he interviews each of these now-adult witnesses and tries to uncover the truth of what really happened. The characters are well-developed and each plays well against the others - and it is difficult to determine whether each of them is telling the truth or whether their memories are even reliable. In between each present-day chapter we are taken back to the night of the disappearance, which slowly unfolds as it was experienced through the eyes of the victim. The tone hits its mark and the book was quite an engaging read.

This is the first book in what will be a series based on our lead detective, Jonah Sheens. That said, the novel reads as a standalone (the mystery is completely wrapped up by the end of the book). The only indications that this book will be part of a series is that there are subtle hints about this character's background that aren't really developed or explained (random thoughts about an ex-wife we never meet and a lot of reminders that he's local to the area and has a long personal and professional history with the people and places around him). Jonah is an interesting character, but it's the others around him who are the intriguing ones in this novel. I'd be willing to read more books in the series, but I would be more inclined to choose the books based on how intriguing each mystery sounds rather than wanting to connect and read more about this particular character.

2/2.5 stars
The challenge with this novel is that the detectives are solving a thirty-year-old investigation, so if someone did murder 14-year-old Aurora, that person has gotten away with it for thirty years. You want to know the details about the crime, but it’s not exactly time sensitive about solving it.

Detective Jonah Sheens had just joined the police force at 19-years-old when Aurora went missing from a campsite where she was with her older sister, Topaz, and five of Topaz’s friends. DCI Sheens, Detective Juliette Hansen, and other detectives interview all the friends again. Though DCI Sheens had gone to school with the beautiful sisters, they were younger than he was and he didn’t know them well. His vague connection to them isn’t enough to get you seeing things from his perspective, so again, while you’re interested in the details being revealed, you’re not rooting for him in particular because you never get to know anything beyond superficial details about him.

There weren’t any cops or characters I bonded with, and the ending was disappointing. I can’t go into detail about why I didn’t like the ending without giving away important plot points, but it frustratingly too little too late and not just for Aurora’s death.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this novel, which releases January 8, 2019.

A little slow to start with, She Lies in Wait is an enjoyable whodunit. Six friends go camping one night and one disappears. 30 years later, her remains are found next to the campground. What happened to her? One of the friends must be lying… or it could have been an outsider. I honestly had no clue until the very end. The book gets to know the suspects and the police officers in equal measures and nobody is perfect… even the cops are hiding secrets. My one problem was that it was hard to tell the male friends apart, as they all seemed interchangeable. The women and the police officers are all well-defined though, and this is a minor issue in what’s otherwise a stunning debut. My favorite character is suddenly in danger and I was concerned and kept reading well into the night hoping it would all be OK. Like I mentioned, it was hard to tell whodunit or why or even how. When it’s all explained, it makes perfect sense.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/Random House!

Thank you for the ARC. I enjoyed many aspects of this book, particularly it being a thriller, the plot twists, and the variety of individuals that were presented in the story and the interactions between them. I did feel that it dragged a bit and could have been condensed a bit, but overall I enjoyed reading it.

In late July 1983 6 friends go on a camping trip for some fun and relaxation. Jump ahead to present time 30 years later, they find Aurora Jacksons body just feet away from where there campsite had been. So, who killed Aurora Jackson? One of the six friends? This book keeps you guessing till the end of the story with a few other surprises along the way.
The author does a good job of tying all the pieces of the book together.

Laurie S.

The remains of a body are found in the woods by a young girl when her family is on a camping trip. Forensic testing finds that the body is Aurora Jackson, who went missing at the age of 14 thirty years before. Aurora was also camping with six other teenagers (one of them being her older sister Topaz) when she went missing. Jonah Sheens is the lead investigator and has connections to the case -- he went to school with Aurora (although was several years ahead of her in school) and some of the other members of the ill-fated camping trip. Sheens is keeping a big secret of his own, which is eventually revealed later in the book.

The story is then told through flashbacks to 1983, during the camping trip, and the chapters alternate between the flashbacks and the present day.

I found this book very well-written and suspenseful. I thought there were some great, very believable twists. One side plot that wasn't resolved was with the female detective who was apparently being stalked by her ex-boyfriend. I guess I'll need to read the next book in the series to find out more about her.

I found this to be a very compelling read and I will definitely read more books in this series!

This was a great mystery! A 30-year-old cold case suddenly comes to light as the body of then 14-year-old Aurora is discovered. Six teens had gone camping and Aurora had simply disappeared, leaving the friends to wonder what happened to her. Now detective, Jonah Sheen and his team must piece together the evidence and re-interview the friends to determine what really happened. Told in alternating chapters of past and present, the novel has us suspecting each of the friends as well as Aurora's English teacher who was camping nearby. I'm looking forward to a sequel featuring Jonah again!

Aurora Was Gone, But Not Forgotten

This book is a gripping mystery that keeps you guessing. Kids camping, too much to drink, and the younger sister disappears -- nearly every one of the campers is suspect, even the older sister. The author fleshed out the characters very well, although I can't say I liked them.

Except for Aurora, the girl who disappeared.

It's an adult book -- there's sex (some a little kinky), rape, substance abuse, and underage drinking. I suspect that older teens and young adults could still read and enjoy it, though the subject matter may be disturbing. It was a good read.