Thin Air was like a mash-up of some of my favorite things. The initial premise of a young woman who discovers she may have been a kidnapping victim as a toddler is the same initial premise of one of my favorite books, Caroline B. Cooney's The Face on the Milk Carton. In The Face on the Milk Carton, Cooney did a fantastic job of detailing the conflicting emotions one would likely feel in this situation. For me, Jessica's reaction in Thin Air was very undeveloped. She didn't really seem that shocked to discover that her late father had lied to her about her mother and her background. Perhaps, she was just repressing a lot of emotion as she was still recovering from her father's unexpected death but I would've liked to have seen that explored more.

Thin Air is told from various points of view at alternating timelines some from the mid-90s when Jessica was first abducted and in the present as Jessica works to solve the mystery of her past and Detective Pryce works a mystery in the present. The flashbacks and alternating points of view wove together nicely and reminded me of one of my favorite shows, Cold Case. While Pryce and Jessica cross paths on a personal level, I really thought Pryce's case would've been best told separately in another novel all about him or perhaps he and Jessica will team up in subsequent novels and work together.

When we meet Jessica, she is living a nomadic life doing PI work throughout the United States. She reminded me a little of Lee Child's Jack Reacher except Jess travels with a lot more clothes and toiletries.

This was a sharp little thriller and it will keep you guessing but I hope subsequent installments in this series delve deeper into Jessica's emotional state, her connection with Pryce and I hope we see her "friend" Jack Holliday again.

3.5/5 Stars

This is a fast-moving and well-written thriller that keeps the reader guessing until the end. The characters are believable and interesting, the plot is well-crafted, and the ending left me hoping for more. I was glad to see that this is the first book in a series that will feature Jessica Shaw. She's a feisty, and determined private investigator who worked on a very personal case this time. It will be interesting to see her in future books tackling other cases. I look forward to the series - like this book, I'm sure it will be a winner!

Thin Air
(Jessica Shaw #1)
by Lisa Gray 

Hardcover, 288 pages
Published June 1st 2019 by Thomas & Mercer (first published 2019)




Goodreads synopsis:
She investigates missing persons—now she is one.

Private investigator Jessica Shaw is used to getting anonymous tips. But after receiving a photo of a three-year-old kidnapped from Los Angeles twenty-five years ago, Jessica is stunned to recognize the little girl as herself.

Eager for answers, Jessica heads to LA’s dark underbelly. When she learns that her biological mother was killed the night she was abducted, Jessica’s determined to solve a case the police have forgotten. Meanwhile, veteran LAPD detective Jason Pryce is in the midst of a gruesome investigation into a murdered college student moonlighting as a prostitute. A chance encounter leads to them crossing paths, but Jessica soon realizes that Pryce is hiding something about her father’s checkered history and her mother’s death.

To solve her mother’s murder and her own disappearance, Jessica must dig into the past and find the secrets buried there. But the air gets thinner as she crawls closer to the truth, and it’s getting harder and harder to breathe.


***

4 Stars

This is the first book in a new Jessica Shaw series by Lisa Gray.

Jessica is a private investigator and she finds her own version of a picture on a milk carton and realizes that she was a missing child. Her mother was murdered and her father, who was recently deceased took her away. This is a story of her search for answers.

I thought this was pretty good. The search was a twisty-turny thrill ride that keeps you guessing until the end. But it was the characterization of Jessica herself that really sealed the deal. It is the character that will keep you coming back again and again. She is not normal. She is unique and quirky. She never does what you expect she will. She runs straight into trouble without blinking. She is a classic rebel but she has a cause. You know she will find out the answers she seeks. You can just tell by looking at her.

Suspenseful, gripping, honest and amazing. This is one roller coaster ride you will want to get on.

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title.

On my To Read Pile is Thin Air by Lisa Gray and I look forward to starting it!

What captured my interest is the potential for this book to be a real page-turner with the description of a woman realizing something sinister happened to her as a child. This is the first in a series featuring the character of Jessica Shaw. I am not always drawn to series but this one might be like the Kinsey Milhone series by Sue Grafton which I really liked.

Here’s the scoop:

Private investigator Jessica Shaw is used to getting anonymous tips. But after receiving a photo of a three-year-old kidnapped from Los Angeles twenty-five years ago, Jessica is stunned to recognize the little girl as herself.

Eager for answers, Jessica heads to LA’s dark underbelly. When she learns that her biological mother was killed the night she was abducted, Jessica’s determined to solve a case the police have forgotten. Meanwhile, veteran LAPD detective Jason Pryce is in the midst of a gruesome investigation into a murdered college student moonlighting as a prostitute. A chance encounter leads to them crossing paths, but Jessica soon realizes that Pryce is hiding something about her father’s checkered history and her mother’s death.

To solve her mother’s murder and her own disappearance, Jessica must dig into the past and find the secrets buried there. But the air gets thinner as she crawls closer to the truth, and it’s getting harder and harder to breathe.

This was an Amazon First pick for May and it’s getting incredible reviews. Read it for free if you have Kindle Unlimited or $4.99 if you don’t.

Thanks to Netgalley and Amazon Publishing UK for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Jessica, a woman working as a private investigator finding missing people, sees a photo of a girl who went missing 25 years ago. She thinks it is her, but it must be a mistake and travels to LA to investigate. Meanwhile a cop named Pryce is investigating the murder of a college student.

I wasn’t that into this book at the start. I had issues with the fact that Jessica finds her own cases, without being hired by anyone. How do you pay the bills doing that? I also thought it was odd that when she went to this suburb of LA to investigate everyone was still in the same place they had been 25 years ago, still working at the same bar, still working at the same motel and so on. Too convenient. Once I got over those issues, I ended up enjoying the book. It was a nice break from the domestic suspense I have been reading since it was really more of a detective story. I was totally engaged and wanted to find out what happened 25 years ago and how it fit with the recent murder. The ending was solid and I am looking forward to reading the next one in the series.

Keeping the tension of a mystery up all the way in a novel is not easy, but this i a perfect example. Very well written and with very little slack, the story moves along all the way. Excellent characters and a plot that makes it all happen.

Jessica is a private investigator, who is sent a photograph of a young girl, kidnapped 25 years ago and she recognises the child as herself. What follows is a mystery, with chapters written in different characters. It's an OK read, just, didn't keep me hooked. I found the writing style a tad forced and plodding at times, although, the lead character of Jessica and Pryce (a homicide detective) were interesting.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to preview in exchange for this honest review.

This book will grip you from the start and it has multiple layers to pull away. I read this in one sitting and found myself on the edge of my seat. I am eagerly waiting for the sequel BAD MEMORY to come out on the 10th of October.

Thin Air is not to be missed!!!

This is a well crafted debut that truly lived up to the hype.

The protagonist Private Detective Jessica Shaw is used to get anonymous tips until one day she receives a photo of a little girl missing from years ago, only to realize that this girl is herself.

She soon finds herself embroiled in a dangerous game with long buried secrets about her father and the murder of her biological mother.

This is a very well constructed mystery thriller with a likable and strong female lead.
The pace is engaging and the multiple voices especially those from the past shed further light on the present and help appreciate the character of Jessica even more. There is also plenty of clever twists and turns adding more excitement to an already gripping read.

Thanks Netgalley, Amazon Publishing UK, and author Lisa Gray I voluntarily reviewed this book, and looking forward to Jessica's next adventure.

I really enjoyed this one, so much so that I stayed up till 2am on a school night to finish it! I’ve always enjoyed books about private investigators, probably because I’ve always fancied myself as one.
Lisa Gray tells story different to any I’ve read before, PI Jessica Shaw finds herself her own client and that she has herself been a missing person for 25 years. Jessica then realises that her whole life as she knows it and everyone in it may have been a lie and sets out to investigate the truth. In doing so, it appears she puts herself into dangerous situations with a student being found butchered in a similar manner as her real mother was 25 years prior. What is the connection between the two? Could Jessica be next?
I enjoyed the multiple narrative whereby the reader gets to meet the different main characters of the story. I think this is important to give away just enough but also keep the reader guessing. I unsuccessfully guessed who the killer was and found myself suspecting everyone Jessica came into!

Detective Jason Pryce is investigating the death of a young college student, Amy, who was left viciously beaten and stabbed in a seedy motel. P.I. Jessica Shaw receives a photo of a three-year-old girl, kidnapped from Los Angeles twenty-five years ago. This is one missing persons case she has to take on. Because the photo that Jessica receives is of herself.

That’s the start of Lisa Gray’s Thin Air, a cracking thriller that held my attention from the striking opening prologue through to the nail biting ending. Fast paced, taut and action-packed, Gray has given us a protagonist we can root for; one who isn’t willing to compromise and who will seek out the truth however much it hurts.

Jessica is drifting, literally drifting as she uses her to travel across America looking for work as she tries to keep her mind off the death of her father, Tony. Rootless, she scours the missing person’s pages, looking for work.

Heading to Eagle Rock, Jessica sets out to research her background and get to the truth even as the parallel investigation into Amy’s murder is ongoing. Gray artfully mingles these past and present stories to allow the past to pitch light onto the present and to give us a layered and fascinating story that will keep our attention riveted.

Our intrepid Private Investigator is no shrinking wallflower. She is prepared to do what she has to to get to the truth. But there are those for whom the truth is an unwelcome visitor and who would be happy to leave it buried for ever. To these people, Jessica poses an unwelcome threat and she will need to be on her guard as she finds out who is friend and who foe. With well-drawn characters and an atmospheric sense of place, Thin Air is a cracking read .

Verdict: A fascinating and captivating debut from an assured writer with enough twists and turns to keep me guessing. And a protagonist I know I want to hear more of.

Really enjoyed this book. I wanted to know the main character better and could see myself being friend with her in real life. She has a dark, but realistic quality about her.

The storyline never lost focus and it only took me three sitting to finish the book

Highly recommend.

This plot is captivating as Private investigator Jessica Shaw gets an anonymous tip about a 25 year old kidnap. When she sees the picture of the abducted child she is shocked to see herself Jessica goes to the rough streets of LA to learn that her birth mother was killed the night of the abduction. Jessica is determined to solve this mystery.
It was difficult to see the link with Jessica’s story and Amy’s mother at first. The story is told by many characters and it takes some time to figure out the key events leading to Amy’s murder. I loved how the story progressed and I thought the ending was solid. Overall I would recommend and will look out for more books by this author.

There are so many reviews for this already, I can't add any value with a review other than to recommend it for fans of thrillers.

I really appreciate the complimentary copy for review!!

I was so intrigued by the hook of this story: A private investigator who specializes in missing persons discovers that she, herself, is a missing person. Wow, such potential! Unfortunately, little of that promise was realized.

It was early in chapter 3, when we are seeing through the eyes of Jessica ( a 20-something American who grew up in Blissville, New York -- a part of Queens) that a telling phrase cropped up: Jessica's father Tony had "kept himself to himself." Americans from any region, of course, would say he'd kept to himself, a clue that the writer is from the UK and needed an editor who could weed out the Britishisms. But there were more of them , scattered across the chapters, pretty much nullifying any feeling of authenticity.

I liked the pace. Author Lisa Gray also handles the alternating time lines and points of view with skill. The characters, however, felt shallow (troubled and gritty, perhaps, but without much complexity), and the dialogue seemed dull in spots and gimmicky in others.

It's sad, because there was the kernel of darn good story here, and there was nothing a strong editor couldn't fix.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advance readers copy.

Fiction isn't my favourite genre so I don’t normally gravitate towards books of this nature. However, there was something about the description that piqued my interest with this one and I am so glad I read it. I couldn’t put it down. The author did a fantastic job using adjectives to keep the imagery in my mind alive. The characters were easy to get to know and the plot was daring and exciting. I was excited to realize that this is book #1 of a series, I will definitely be reading more from this author!

“He pushed past her and entered the murder house.”

Thin Air was an unexpected surprise. What started out as a seemingly semi-interesting, just okay plot eventually became a page turner that kept raising my interest with each page. The writing was at times beautifully descriptive, and quick and unforgiving at others.

The book follows Jessica Shaw, a private investigator, who finds a missing person picture of herself, when she was just a little girl. This leads her to LA to find out who kidnapped her, and who killed her mother, the one she never knew had existed. What follows is a novel full of twisty turns and secrets that slowly are revealed as she seeks out the truth.

This is a novel where the characters are all not what they appear. I wasn’t sure how the police detective’s separate murder case was going to connect to Jessica’s murder and kidnapping case, but it did so in an interesting way. About 70% through is when I became really invested and couldn’t wait to see how it would end. And I can tell you, the ending surprised me. And I liked it.

Would definitely recommend this to readers who love detective/PI stories. And even crime shows, like CSI or Hawaii 5-O.

Thank you to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer (publisher) for providing me a copy to review. I enjoyed it!

#ThinAir #Netgalley #thomasandmercer

Detective Jason Pryce is investigating the death of a young college student, found in a motel viciously beaten and stabbed. At the same time, private investigator Jessica Shaw, receives an anonymous tip, a picture of a three-year old girl who has been missing for the past twenty-five years. As Jessica looks at the picture, she realizes that she is the girl in the picture. The young girl, Jessica, was abducted the night that her mother was murdered. To get answers, she leaves for Los Angeles to investigate the cold case. As clues unfold, the way both women were murdered seems to connect the two cases. Is it possible that the same person committed both murders? A puzzling mystery that will put Jessica’s life in danger. I received an advance review copy at no cost and without obligation for an honest review. (by paytonpuppy)

PI Jessica Shaw is used to investigating and uncovering the dark secrets of her clients, but she isn’t prepare to learn, via anonymous tip, that she was abducted from her mother 25 years earlier. She learns that her biological mother was killed the night she was taken and decides there and then to solve the case of her mother’s murder and her own kidnapping. When she makes contact with LAPD detective Jason Pryce, she discovers he knows more about what happened that night than he is willing to share. This is a well written story of a woman’s search for both the truth and her own identity

Not your typical mystery as the investigator finds out the SHE is the missing person. Tying together a variety of loose ends, the author does a thorough job, but somehow, I felt that I’d read this all before.