I thoroughly enjoy Mr Pritchard's books, can't wait for the next one to be honest, and was entertained from beginning to end. Recommended.

A good paced thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat throughout the entire book. Would recommend this author.

Riveting story about newspaper reporter, Danny in Spain. He's investigating a grisly murder of a young women actiivist. Beginning of story starts during Franco period and carries forward. It's a fast paced detective story I could not put down.

Danny Sanchez is now working as a free-lance journalist. When the body of a young woman is found, he is there. The woman is identified as Teresa del Hoyo and she's been missing for a week. The police mark it up as she previously had a drug problem, although she's been clean for well over a year ... and she's run off before.

What Danny finds is that she has been looking into questionable events dating back to the Spanish Civil War. She had two partners in this ... one is missing ... one is dead.

What did they discover? And who did she tell?

Following her footsteps and carrying on her investigation leads Danny to secrets of 50 years ago .... and someone will kill to keep those secrets from seeing the light of day.

This is an intriguing well written thriller, highly suspenseful, with a story premise that kept me glued to the pages until the very end. The characters are solid.

Many thanks to the author / Sapere Books / Netgalley for the advanced digital copy of this thriller. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

Thank you netgalley for my copy of Stolen Lives.

In truth, I had to familiarise myself with the Ninos robados” (stolen children scandal) having previously not known about it.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was very thought provoking and kept me interested the entire time.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Sapere Books for a review copy of Stolen Lives,

This is the second novel to feature journalist Danny Sanchez. and i will be seeking out the first after enjoying this one.

When the murdered body of missing Teresa is found in a landfill, Danny suspects there is more to the case than meets the eye and more than what many believe is just a case of drugs gone wrong, the more he uncovers more more secrets come to life.

the novel is told mostly from Danny's point of view just slightly dipping in with other narratives when needed, as a whole a very enjoyable crime thriller.

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4 stars

Journalist Danny Sanchez and his photographer are awaiting news at a landfill site. A body has been found. They suspect it is the body of Teresa del Hoyo who has been missing for a week. It turns out to be Teresa. She was twenty-three years old and lived a somewhat questionable life style of drugs and multiple sexual partners. Her family insists that she has been free of drug use for at least a year.

Teresa's elder sister, Carmen, was very concerned about her, but was helpless to curb her behavior. Carmen is very religious and seeks the advice of the clergy. Her contact in the clergy seems to have his own agenda, and I was very suspicious of his motives for digging into Teresa's life.

Danny thinks there is more to the story than just Teresa's lifestyle. When he visits the political office where she worked (the local communist headquarters), he learns that she was working on a potentially explosive story.

This book is based on a true story. It is a very good book. I hadn't known a great deal about the Spanish Civil War prior to reading this novel, so it was pretty new information to me. I was horrified to learn of not only the Church's involvement but also the lengths that people today would go to cover up the dishonesty and outright crimes that were committed. I like Danny. He drinks, smokes and lives an unhealthy lifestyle, but he is a good man. He is not like the “in your face” journalists that we sometimes see in the media.

I want to thank NetGalley and Sapere Books for forwarding to me a copy of this great book for me to read, enjoy and review.

‘Danny didn’t need to ask directions: he could smell the place a mile off. Literally.’

Almería, Spain. The body of a missing woman is found, dumped in landfill. It’s obvious, in the view of the right-wing press: the woman was a drug user, she had prior convictions, she’d previously run away. Her death, therefore, is unimportant, a consequence of her lifestyle choices.
But freelance journalist Danny Sanchez is not convinced. Teresa del Hoyo had been drug-free for a year and, with two others, had been looking into events dating back to the Spanish Civil War. The church also seems interested in what Teresa and her friends were investigating. With Teresa and one of her colleagues dead and the third missing, Danny digs deeper.

Danny’s investigations lead him to uncover a few separate schemes and secrets. These schemes and secrets involve corruption and politics as well as the church. And there are some who will kill in order to protect these secrets.

While this novel is based on real and heartbreaking events, Mr Pritchard introduces a few twists. Danny Sanchez is a likeable protagonist, flawed and with a history of his own. We learn more of his backstory as the novel unfolds, as well as about some of ‘los niños robados por el franquismo’ – the children stolen from their parents during the Franco regime.

I found this novel both sad and intriguing. Sad because of the events referred to, intriguing because of the way in which the story unfolded. This is the second novel in Mr Pritchard’s Danny Sanchez series. I’m already looking forward to the third.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Sapere Books for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

This is the second book featuring Danny Sanchez, an English journalist who is now living in Spain. When a body of a young woman is found dumped in landfill. Danny is soon on the scene. The body of Theresa del Hoya is big news but for all the wrong reasons, this does not sit well with Danny so he starts to dig deeper.
This is a gripping crime thriller that is steeped in history and goes back as far as the Franco period. It is embroiled with local government and the church. Don't get me wrong this is not a history lesson. There is never a dull moment in this book and I love the main character Danny. Fortyish, smokes and drinks too much but he is so likeable. Okay he is a journalist with a soft side and always finds the heart in his investigations. Can't wait to find out what he gets upto next. I would definitely recommend this book. This is growing into a gripping and addictive series.

Stolen Lives by Matthew Prichard – 4 Stars
Publisher: Sapere Books
ISBN: 9781912786787

When I began reading, I realized the author was referring to events in Spain’s past that I knew little about. Therefore, I took time to learn about the Spanish Civil War, its influence on past events, and the effects of those events on the present. After that I was better able to easily enjoy this book and understand the characters.

The historical aspect of the plot was intriguing while the mystery unfolded. For decades the trafficking of infants perpetrated by those who influenced others and who should have been protecting those who trusted them was disturbing and true.

The very believable characters whose lives were so tragically affected by the actions of politics and religion made the plot’s events and mystery realistic.

Stolen Lives was thought provoking, well researched, and entertaining.

Reviewer: Nancy

I would like to thank Netgalley and Sapere Books for a review copy of Stolen Lives, the second novel to feature Anglo Spanish journalist Danny Sanchez, set in Almería.

When the murdered body of Teresa del Hoya who has been missing for a week is found in a landfill Danny suspects there is more to the case than a high risk lifestyle gone wrong and when he starts investigating he uncovers terrible secrets from the past.

I thoroughly enjoyed Stolen Lives which is a well conceived and executed crime thriller with its roots firmly in historical truth. The novel is mostly told from Danny’s third person perspective with the occasional foray into other characters’ actions as and when required. I like that as it puts meat on the bones of Danny’s investigation and gives the reader a wider understanding of what’s at play and the stakes although, as usual, it boils down essentially to greed. Having said that, there is much more to the novel than a simple tale of filthy lucre, it’s more a case of the ends characters will go to to acquire and retain it.

The plot is not so much intricate as wide ranging, taking in scandals of the Franco era, local government corruption and the Church. It is not only heartbreaking but repulsive in its casual cruelty. This makes it sound like a difficult read and emotionally it can be but mostly it’s a great read due to the constant stream of revelations, a touch of humour and Danny’s personality. There is never a dull moment and I found myself turning the pages rapidly to see what was coming next.

Danny Sanchez is a great protagonist who is very likeable. Brought up in the UK by his exiled Spanish grandparents he has returned to Spain to ply his craft. This gives him a foot in both cultures, making him easily identifiable to the reader and giving him an edge in Spain. He is a bit of a forty something Everyman, cynical, drinks a bit too much, smokes (the novel was written before e-cigs) and probably wouldn’t recognise a gym if it slapped him in the face but there is a strong sense of decency and fair play in him that makes him very appealing.

Stolen Lives is a good read which I have no hesitation in recommending.