I love mystery and thrillers, but this one was just not for me. I found it very hard to figure out who was talking & found that I didn’t care about the characters that much. However, the story was pretty good. It might help me understand it more if I would go back and read the first book. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for allowing me to review this book.

Two missing babies 50 years apart. How are they connected, or are they?
I did not read the first book in this series but this could be read as a stand alone. I enjoyed the story and found the characters very interesting. I feel that anyone who likes mysteries might find this enjoyable. There were twists and turns and the story alternated from the present to more than 50 years earlier.
Many thanks to Bookoutre and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I reluctantly decided to DNF this book. I got 50 pages into it and just didn't find myself caring about the characters, or where the story was going. The chapters were very short, so we didn't get to spend much time with each character. I was having trouble keeping up with which POV I was reading as well.
I love the cover, and I may try to read the book again, but in audio form once it's released, as sometimes it's easier to distinguish who is speaking.

I would like to thank NetGalley and the author for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

In Kelly’s Forge, a tiny abandoned Irish village, a cyclist finds the body of a young woman. The detective in charge of the case, Beck, from the neighboring town, sees a child seat in the woman’s car but no child. Has the child been kidnapped? Or was she killed like her mother? What happened to her?

The detective’s name sounds so strange to me, every time I read it I’m expecting a woman. I like the idea of the story, I like the fact that a little girl disappears, the fact that she is connected to an old case that has not been properly investigated and how they connect. I didn’t notice that this book was the second volume. Otherwise I wouldn’t have read it. Not because I didn’t like it, but simply because I read in chronological order. But I must say that I had no problem reading it even though it is very likely there are references to the first book that I did not fully understand.

I liked the story even though I don’t find it 5-star, but as I said, the case is interesting. And for the first time, I found a policeman from the UK or Ireland carrying a gun! And apparently they are not really used there because Beck’s boss explicitly says that it is not standard to carry the gun… I don’t understand them and why…

I like the style of the author, short and linear chapters. I like the beginning with a chapter in the present and one in the past. I would have liked this format to be in the whole book but I understand that it was impossible.

I don’t know if I’ll read anything more of this author, but only for the simple fact that there are too many authors out there that I want to read and this didn’t give me that “woosh” factor that makes me buy all the books in a series. But I recommend it anyway, it is a very smooth book that reads quickly (don’t look at my start and end dates, I haven’t read every day).

Detective Finnegan #2

3.5 ⭐️ rounded up to 4

The first few chapters alternate between the present time and the past (1950's). The past is told by a young boys point of view. He saw his mother being taken away by the police after her baby had disappeared. The present tells us the story of Detective Finnegan Beckwho struggles with alcohol. He likes to do things his own way. A body of a local woman is found in her car and Beck is shocked to find an empty baby carrier in the back seat. Then a second body is discovered and the crime moves closer to home. There is quite a lot going on in the book. There are many twists and surprises along the way. I did not guess who the killer was, but I was not shocked by it either. Although this book is part of a series, it could be read as a standalone.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Bookouture and the author Michael Scanlon for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It’s set in an eerie and haunting village in Ireland called Cross Beg, a young women is found murdered in her car with an empty baby seat in the back giving the detectives a race against time to find the child and a killer. I enjoyed how at the beginning the chapters move from past to present adding to the creepy and mysterious feel of the book. The missing link for me is what has previously happened to the characters, I think you really need to read Michael Scanlon’s first book Where she lies for the characters to make more sense especially Beck who is a very complicated man with multiple issues.

The Child Before was my second ARC – thanks so much to Michael Scanlon and Bookouture for allowing me early access in exchange for an honest review!

Okay, so honestly speaking, this book was not my favorite thriller, BUT. And it’s a big but. AFTER finishing the book, I realized this is the second in Scanlon’s series featuring the main character, Detective Beck. And just like that, everything clicked for me. See, my biggest issue with the book throughout the story was the lack of real character depth. I struggled to connect with any of the characters, but especially Beck. Beck is an alcoholic, prone to bursts of violence, and seemed to bring a lot of baggage from his past. But the whole time I was reading, I kept thinking, what is his past??? I felt like his story just didn’t get flushed out enough for me to connect with him.

I’m honestly happy to report that this lack of connection was reader-error. Scanlon’s first book, Where She Lies, looks like it goes into all the questions I had throughout The Child Before. Originally, I didn’t think I would read anything else by this author. Now, I really want to read Where She Lies. Because character development issues aside, this story was intriguing. It is definitely more of a detective thriller, rather than psychological, but I do love stories like this where you’re on a journey with the detectives, trying to figure out whodunnit.

The story begins when a young mother is found murdered and her baby is missing. The police work to simultaneously figure out who murdered the woman and where the child might be – hoping the baby is still alive. This is the central mystery throughout the book, with some additional side stories about issues the characters are dealing with in their own lives, as well as a plot arc about another missing child from the same area, several decades prior. To be honest, I felt like some of the additional story lines wrapped up a bit too neatly at the end, but the main story did hook me in around half-way through the book.

So, overall takeaways: read the first one first! Then for sure check out this one. I bet if I’d read them in the right order, this would be more of a 4 star read for me, rather than a 3. But also, if you’re not as much into pure detective stories, this probably wouldn’t be for you either. I did enjoy the fact that the chapters were mostly very short, so I was able to read a couple and then put it down very easily. It never pulled me in to a point where I felt like I had to know what happened next, but it moved at a decent pace throughout. In the end, I’m glad I read it, and I’m excited to read Where She Lies, but it’s mostly an average book for me.

This is the first book that I’ve read by this author. I didn’t know that this was the second book in the series, but i got straight into it and it would be great as a stand alone book.
I love how we got to know the main character, Beck, throughout the book and the way he works with his team to find a murderer.
This book was slightly different to ones I normally read and I had to read back on couple of pages a couple of times but it was still an amazing book. There is lots of twists and turns throughout the book and it is full of surprises. I thought I knew who the killer was halfway through but I was totally wrong.
Other than going back a couple of times to recap what I read, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I look forward to the next instalment. Thank you for the advance copy 👌

This is the first book I read by this author but it is the second book in the Detective Finnegan Beck Series by this author. This can be read as a stand alone novel and you do not have to read the first book in this series to understand this book.

This book is about a police detective, Beck, battling his own demons within while searching for for a killer who murdered a mother and possibly a baby. I loved how Beck was portrayed in this book. He was an alcoholic searching for a killer and would stop at nothing to find out the truth.

I also liked there were so many twists and turns throughout the whole book. You never knew what surprise was go to happen next. This book had me holding my breathe up til the end. I would have never guessed who the killer was. I just love books like this.

Between the plot, characters and all the twists in this book it made it an easy and fast read. I would definitely recommend it and happily give it 5 Hearts❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Inspector Beck is an unforgettable character. He’s an alcoholic, a bullying, bad boy cop with a simmering but controlled violence. He has the poise and itch of a vigilante. He likes to do things his way and gets away with it. Claire makes her mark too in her personal and professional life. In truth, there are a dire collection of oddballs throughout the novel - an intriguing bunch of misfits. You couldn’t dream them up. I had to keep reminding myself that the novel was set in Ireland as it had a distinctly American flavour in parts (certain words and phrases) I thought Billy Hamilton was a tough type and had the swagger of a cowboy in a western. Was he really the town’s stud? Whoa, were they so desperate? My first impression was the descriptive nature of the writing style, which was skilled with enjoyable imagery. In parts, however, it was overpowering and almost made me lose my grip on the plot or vital details (buildings, searches etc.) Nevertheless, the Irish humour was there, and it was a highly entertaining read. Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture.

The first six chapters for The Child Before alternate between the current narrative and the historical narrative. The historical narrative is by a young boy who sees his mother taken away by the local constabulary following the disappearance of her baby, the boy’s sister. Covered in blood the police believe she has killed her. And the identity of the lad when he grows up? What becomes of him?

The current narrative tells the story of Beck, a police officer who has been ‘relocated’ (demoted ) to Cross Beg from Dublin, and struggles with alcohol and his past experiences. Beck’s latest case involves the murder of Samantha Power and the disappearance of her infant daughter, Roisin.

Scanlon weaves a story with some colourful characters - Claire, Beck’s partner who has relationship issues of her own, Inspector O’Reilly who is not fussed with Beck, Vicky Beck’s potential love interest/journalist, and the bevy of characters who might be the main suspects in Samantha’s murder - Marcus Crabby (strange supermarket owner), Billy Hamilton (violent ex boyfriend and Roisin’s father), and Edward Roche, her current partner. There is also Mikey, Samantha’s brother who has spent time in Australia so he MUST have returned calling everyone mate and using slang (wink).

As the murder investigation gains momentum Beck discovers everyone has some secrets of their own and they are woven in to the storyline, sometimes a bit loosely for my liking. Towards the end of the book things all start to come together but some of the characters are still a little two-dimensional to be totally convincing. Beck is likeable however and Claire shows promise as a repeat character as well.

Unlike some books where the reader is left to ask what happened to each character, this book provides an epilogue that ties everything up neatly.

I enjoy most crime novels and thrillers. I liked this one but can’t say I loved it. I will read the prior Beck novel Where She Lies. I’ll be interested to see if it would be helpful to read the books together or or whether they are ok as stand alone.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for the advanced electronic copy of this book. I rate this 3.5 stars.

Cross posting this review to goodreads and will appear on my blog (Instagram) aplace_inthesun prior to publish day.

Having not read any of the author's prevous work, I did struggle a bit with the narrative. It's slow and drawn out and too wordy in places. The story line held promise but ultimately didn't deliver. Sorry, not for me.

Detective Finnegan Beck is back for his second outing, troubled but maybe not quite as much as he was. Still in Cross Beg, but missing Dublin, he is totally immersed in a new investigation which worries not only him but the whole community. Added to this Beck has to deal with problems of his own making, a partner whose private life is unravelling and a volatile set of suspects seemingly intent on destroying themselves.

When the body of a local woman is found in her car Beck is horrified to discover an empty baby carrier in the back seat. Running  alongside this case are memories from the early 1950s which have haunted one of the suspects ever since. When a second body is discovered the crime moves much closer to home and makes solving both crimes much more personal.

Once again there is a huge amount going on in this story and although occasionally I found there was a little too much scene setting it is a very good read and I am hoping for a third outing for this team of detectives.

I was able to read an advanced copy of this book thanks to NetGalley  and the publishers in exchange for an unbiased review and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys an intelligently written crime novel or who read the previous story; neither will be disappointed.

On a cold morning a cyclist finds the brutally-slaughtered body of a woman in her car, on a remote lane leading to the long-abandoned Irish village of Kelly’s Forge.

But when Detective Finnegan Beck arrives from the nearby town of Cross Beg to investigate he notices there’s a baby’s seat in the back of the car. A bottle of baby’s milk lying in the footwell. And no child.

Little Róisín isn’t the first child to go missing from that same remote location though. There was another baby girl, taken more than fifty years before, who was never found. Has too much time passed for there to be a connection, or does something – or someone – link these two crimes?

Beck claims he does not want to stay in Cross Beg. His heart is back in Dublin, with the woman he loves. But, knowing that a child’s life depends on him changes things. He knows he has to find the missing baby girl. Because if he doesn’t, he fears there’s a chance everyone will give up the baby for dead, just like they did before…

Sorry, but for me, the book seemed to drag and was just well...boring. I felt it was a rushed book, notmuch thought and just ended oddly.

I had to force myself to read this book and I must admit I did a lot of skim reading just to get to the end.

Sorry it just wasn't for me but thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

I am rating this book 3 and 1/2.

It was going to be 3* as it was an OK book. But it did kind of redeem itself towards the end.

This seems to be book 2 but I’m told it can be read as a stand-alone. It seemed OK to me, I didn’t feel I’d been missing anything from the first book.

This is basically about a woman who was in her car with a baby seat at the back along with her child. The woman gets attacked and the child is missing.

There’s a hunt on for the baby.

There’s a lot going on in the book, but I didn’t feel any shocks, surprises or any eagerness in my wanting to turn the pages in haste.

It got disjointed to me where there was supposed to be a tie from the past. It felt like the author had to make it fit, not natural progression.

It read more like a mystery come drama to me.

You may love this book, this is purely my thoughts on this.
This seems to be the year of the children, either missing, or mix ups at birth.

This wouldn’t put me off of reading more from the author. Maybe I’ve read too many “missing children” books so far this year.

3.5 out of 5 stars. The Child Before was thrilling and had me gripped from page one. So why not my usual high star rating? I feel like I’ve read this story before, if you read lots of books like this you’ll probably feel the same but if you’re a casual reader then I’d suggest picking this one up!

3.5 stars. This is the second in this series and I had not read the first one. This story can stand alone. A mother is murdered and her baby missing which is the current day mystery. There is also a storyline from 1954 relevant to one of the characters relating to the disappearance of his baby sister. That part did not feel like it fit in well and the resolution felt unsatisfactory to me. Otherwise a fairly typical police procedural with cops and staff with many personal issues somewhat randomly thrown in there. It is a solid book but not overly engaging.

The Child Before by author Michael Scanlon is a fast paced thriller with heart wrenching turns! I base a book a lot on how I feel while reading.. Bored or disappointed was never a feeling reading The Child Before! I went from heartbroken to angry to scared!! What a perfect combination for a thriller!
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an arc copy of The Child Before in exchange for an honest review. I would absolutely recommend this book!

The Child Before by Michael Scanlon is a fast-paced thriller centred on Detective Finnegan Beck. This is the first book that I have read in this series but, I believe, it works quite well as a stand alone work.

When the body of a woman is found in a car near the village of Kelly's Forge, the case becomes twofold after an empty infant seat is discovered in the back of the vehicle. But where is the child? The case of the missing infant is reminiscent of another child who had gone missing decades earlier in the same village. Despite a fifty year gap, is a link between the two cases possible?

Full of twists and dark turns, the author keeps the reader guessing up until the very last page. I would definitely make a return visit to the village of Kelly's Forge to uncover more of the mysteries that are held within.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC.