I have absolutely flown through the first three books in the Detective Natalie Ward series, reading all three since June. I only posted my review of The Dare last week but I knew I was lucky enough to have an early copy of The Sleepover sitting on my kindle and I just had to go straight in and see what Natalie got up to next!

The Sleepover sees Natalie called in to investigate when a body is discovered in the aftermath of a house fire. Natalie is left questioning what came first, the dead body or the fire? Her job only gets more difficult when the victim’s mother is also found dead. With two rather unlikeable homeowners more interested in the insurance payout than the dead girl in their entertainment room, and people lying all around them will Natalie and her team be able to get to the truth?

You will by now be bored of me telling you just how well Carol manages to pull a story together, but once again she has worked her magic creating a compelling cast of characters and telling a story that will hook you in and not let you go until you reach the last pages. The action builds as the plot moves on, revealing just a little bit more every chapter, leaving you second guessing yourself, wondering if what appears to be a clue is actually a clue or a red herring, there to trip you up! I very much enjoyed following Natalie on her investigation, and I certainly got frustrated at the same people as she did!

There were some interesting developments for Natalie, particularly towards the end of The Sleepover, which I won’t spoil. However I’m intrigued and looking forward to discovering what they will mean for Natalie both personally and professionally going forwards.

Carol still has me worried about Natalie’s family, in The Dare I was busy worrying about Leigh, and this time it was Josh that had me concerned, over the course of the books he’s come across as a nice sensible teenager and I really hope the events of this book will stop him moving further down a worrying path. I’ll be the first to admit it would add some more drama to Natalie’s personal life, but I can’t help feeling she’s already dealing with enough! Leigh seems to be in a much better place than she was in the last book, but I’m wondering how she’ll deal with some of the things that may be on horizon… Then we have David… I’m still very much in the place where I know logically I should feel bad for him. There were some things he did in this story where I was willing him to make a different decision and he seems to be in danger of spiralling but I’m still struggling to actually like him… I think the next book will prove very interesting for the Ward family!

Lucy seemed to have a slightly more prominent role in The Sleepover and I thought it was great to see her connect with Ellie, and make some important progress for the case. At the same time it was great to see her become a little more confident over the prospect of becoming a mum in a few months! It was also great to see Murray being supportive with Ian, despite the sometimes turbulent relationship that they can have. And Mike… I have no words that wouldn’t be considered spoilers, but I had a bit of a smile on my face by the end…

Final Thoughts
There are not enough positive words in the English language to describe how I feel about this series from Carol, The Sleepover is another wonderful addition to the series! I loved the development at the end (this may make me a bad person but never mind). Carol tweeted only yesterday that she’d finished the first draft of the sixth book and it brings me great joy to know I have at least two more cases to follow Natalie through!

Available Now! The Sensational Continuation in the Addictive Detective Natalie Ward Series!

"They’d needed three engines to douse the blaze and the firefighters were now clearing away equipment. The house had been soaked. Jamie didn’t need to go inside to imagine the chaos or inhale the stench – a mixture of smoke, soot and whatever had been burnt that entered deep into the olfactory system and never really went away. Even at home some nights, when he was watching television , Jamie could shut his eyes and smell it. Depending on the amount of damage, the owners would either have to gut the place and start again or get some heavy-duty cleaning equipment in . His money would be on starting all over again. He hoped the brothers were well insured. However, some things were simply irreplaceable.
Hearing his name being shouted, he looked up to see one of the longest-serving firefighters, Dan Higson, by the front door. He hastened across to him, half -expecting to hear that they’d discovered the appliance responsible for the damage, but as he drew up to the man and studied his solemn expression, a familiar gnawing began in his stomach. Dan shook his head gravely.
‘We’ve found a body,’ he said."

********
The Sleepover by Carol Wyer is book four in the enthralling and addictive Detective Natalie Ward series.

Fourteen year old, Roxy, was supposed to be sleeping over at her best friend Ellie's house but it's soon discovered that she had other plans entirely. Plans no one knew about. Or did they?
It was a decision that cost her her life. As Natalie and her team begin the investigation, the case proves to be complex, swirling with lies that lead to even more unanswered questions. How and why did Roxy end up in the charred remains of a burned down house?

I was drawn in from the very beginning of this case and I couldn't stop reading until I reached the shocking conclusion!
I absolutely love the colorful and genuine characters and I enjoy learning more about their stories as they continue to grow and expand with each book.
Each book just keeps getting better and better! This is my favorite in this series thus far, complete with a doozy of a cliff hanger! I hope book five is right around the corner as I can't wait to see what happens next!
Carol Wyer is one of my all time favorite authors and she never disapoints!
Don't miss out on the DI Natalie Ward series, beginning with book one, The Birthday!

With thanks and appreciation to NetGalley, Bookouture, and Carol Wyer for this advanced digital copy to read and review.

This is book four in the DI Natalie Ward series and the first one I’ve read. I love Carol Wyer’s Robyn Carter series so thought I would check out her other series of crime fighters.

The murder investigation is interesting enough if a bit repetitious with witnesses giving few clues to help the detectives. A fourteen year old girl goes missing and no one, including her family seem to know why she would turn up dead in a posh house far from their neighbourhood. Because I am new to the series, I wasn’t invested enough in Natalie’s personal life to care about that aspect of the novel but did sort things out by the end. Many suspects later and many repeat interviews the story did catch my interest and I did get caught up in the action and enjoyed this read. Wyer rarely disappoints.

Always wise to start a series from the beginning.

ARC received with thanks from publisher via NetGalley for review.

This is a brilliant modern thriller. It's book four in the Detective Natalie Wood series. Well worth reading, fast paced and full of action.

First time reading this author and I absolutely loved the book. It was filled with some really nasty and mean characters and you don't know what is will exactly happen till the very end of the book. I need more.

This was a twisted tale. A 14 year old Roxy was supposedly going for a sleepover at her best friend's home. Her mother Cathie trusted her. The next day, the child was found murdered across town. Detective Natalie Ward and her team started their investigation, when a second murder flummoxed them. The mother was found dead near the same spot as the daughter. Was it a killer targeting this family? And why?

Having read many books by author Carol Wyer, I found myself enjoying her style of writing yet again. Natalie and her team were cohesive and thorough. Some parts in the interrogation were repetitive, it felt that the team felt helpless and bound to catch the same perps..

The characters were strong, Natalie fascinated me. I wish the husband would go away, didn't like him at all. The need to get to the killer forced me to read the story at one go.

Overall, a good read.

Carol Wyer has done it again! Absolutely fantastic! As good as her previous ones and I solid 4.5 stars.
When a body is found in a burnt out house we are soon involved in a huge family tin of worms! Who is lying, who is in danger, who knows...
Natalie is her excellent self as always, but please let her sack off her dead beat husband cos I cannot stand him!
If I had to find a fault, and I am scraping the bottom of the barrel for this - it was a teeny bit long!
Roll on the next one! Xxxxx

Looking at other reviews, mine seems to be a unpopular opinion. I liked the book but I didn´t love it...

The storyline is incredibly complex and since almost everyone is lying, it´s not easy to figure out what is going on and who is responsible, not only for Roxy´s death but also for those that occur later. It is only towards the end that it all comes together, which is great.

However, when the case is solved, it doesn´t seem realistic or authentic to me. What has happened seems very unlikely, maybe the first crime, yes, but not the others. They are too calculated and cleverly planned for it being a spur of the moment/out of desperation kind of thing.

I also don´t love the writing as much as I hoped. I enjoy books where things are described and I can imagine myself being present, but there is barely any descriptive language in this story. I have absolutely no idea what the surroundings or team look like (they may have been described in previous books however). Most sentences are short and simple and the writing therefore doesn´t flow as well. I also didn´t enjoy the "going back in time thing" to show the reader what happened exactly. I think it´s a shortcut. A storyline should unfold and what happened should established without the author relying on a change of perspective where the reader is transported back in time to a situation that then explains reasoning and motive.

I think I will give this author another try however, because I loved the complexity of the story and the different characters in it and the last couple of pages make me want to find out more about Nat and her family (which was probably the point...).

I love Natalie Ward! She's been on my top favorite characters since the first book, but I found my interest in her to be waning in this book. From the beginning to the end I found myself dragging my feet to complete this one, which was definitely not the case in the previous books.

When fourteen-year-old Roxy says she’s going for a sleepover at her best friend Ellie’s house, Cathy sees no reason to check her daughter’s story. The two families are neighbours, and the girls are in and out of each other’s homes every day. It is a decision she will regret. A day later, Roxy is found murdered in exclusive Linnet Lane, miles across town, in a house owned by two brothers with no apparent connection to Roxy. Detective Natalie Ward, called to lead the investigation, is determined to get to the bottom of why Roxy was in the basement of this grand Victorian mansion when she should have been eating chocolate in her pyjamas with her best friend.
Then Roxy’s mother Cathy disappears.
When Cathy’s body is discovered close to where her daughter was found, Natalie is forced to face the grim fact that the killer is just getting started. She is troubled by the reaction of Roxy’s brother Seth to the tragedies and when his alibi falls through she brings him in for questioning, certain she is making headway. But while Seth is in custody, one of Roxy’s school friends is found murdered and Natalie knows she must cast her net wider. Can Natalie work it out before another innocent life is taken?

I found the plot in this one to be repetitive - two disappearances and Nat keeps hauling in Gavin and Kirk to the station. The same questions asked, the same points highlighted and for the most part, I found them to be going around in circles - I don't think her team were in their best form in this one. Personally, I did not find the plot to be strong but very predictable. The characters, however, were good. We get a glimpse of a lot of Nat's personal life in this one and those were the good parts for me. I loved reading more about Josh and David. The ending of the book was great. Sadly, those were the only highlights of the book for me. Despite all this, I still think Nat is one of the best and will keep an eye out for her next.

Thank you, NatGalley, Bookouture and Carol Wyer for an arc!

Now here's an author I would give my Last Rolo to!!!!

All Carol's books are an excellent read.

The Sleepover by Carol Wyer is the fourth book in the Detective Natalie Ward series. This series of books that just gets better and Better. I found its one of the best books in this fantastic series. It's full of twists and turns throughout, Its complex and will keep you guessing who the suspects are right till the end of the book. But, it does not end there!!!!

If you love this kind of series of books that will also keep you awake at all hours. This is a series books for you. Each book you will read how Detective Natalie Ward character grows, how she works closely with her team and always gets results etc. Natalie is like an old friend and cares for others around her. However, you will learn about Natalie's past with her estranged sister and why she finds lies so hard to forgive.

I highly Recommend The Sleepover and the other books in the brilliant Detective Natalie Ward series by Carol Wyer.

Looking forward to Book Five......No Pressure Carol!

Big Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for my advanced copy of this book to read. All opinions are my own and are no way biased.

I have not read the other books in this series but I will certainly look out for them now. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and not having read 1-3 did not hamper my enjoyment. It was an exciting rollercoaster with lots of suspects and kept me guessing until almost the very end. I liked the way Natalie ‘joined the dots’ in the investigation and the way the perpetrator was finally uncovered.
I would, and have, recommended this book to my friends.
Thank you Carol Wyer, Bookouture and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to give my honest opinion.

This is the fourth book in the DI Natalie Ward series and I found it a fantastic read. It really had me hooked from the start. The book is set around Armston-on-Trent, Staffordshire way. The chapters are dated and have a rough time of day, ie late afternoon, morning, etc, so you can relate to the time of day the story is set in.

We start with a little bit of background on Roxy and her family, their lifestyle, etc. Her relationship with her mum and her friends. That particular Saturday, Roxy and her mum had rowed about a boy that Roxy had wanted to see but her mum, Cathy, had said no. Instead, Roxy arranged a sleepover with her friend Ellie and left with her stuff in a carrier bag to go to her friend’s for the evening. Cathy caught a final ‘see you’ from Roxy as she settled onto the sofa to enjoy her cup of tea and watch a bit of tv, glad she had made up with her daughter before she left the house.

Later that night there was a fire in an old Victorian mansion on the other side of town. DI Natalie Ward was called when a badly burned body was found, as yet unidentified. The next day, the body was identified as Roxanne Curtis, fourteen years old. Why had the family not called to say she was missing? The team started working on amassing information on Roxanne and her family, they become suspicious of the amount of callouts by the police since Paul and Cathy have been together. Also, the amount of injuries that Roxanne had sustained and that she had gone missing before. Natalie and Lucy left to interview the family but they couldn’t tell them very much apart from she went to her friend Ellie’s for a sleepover the night before.

On Sunday evening Cathy went missing, her friend Megan and partner Paul were becoming more and more worried. The police were too but on Monday morning she was found, drowned in the canal with suspicious ligature marks around her neck so possibly not suicide. Just what was happening to that poor family. As the police enquiries progressed they wanted to speak to Ellie, Roxy’s friend, but she couldn’t be located. Her mobile was switched off and her mum didn’t know where she was. Lucy finally found her in a children’s park on the swing’s and she agreed to go to the station to speak to them. She was afraid she might be next on the killer’s list….after she had heard about Habib being found hung in the field.

This book was very well written and drew you in from the start. The story is descriptive and you can see it happening in your mind’s eye as you are reading. Totally gripping and I found it hard to put down as I wanted to know what happened next! 5 out 5 stars from me. Roll on the next one.

Okay, this book is full of well developed suspicious characters who would all make excellent bad guys. Carol Wyer has built a community full of suspects and slowly gives us clues to weed out which ones need to be arrested. Natalie Ward returns in the 4th installment of this series. Her character continues to develop in each book, giving us more thrills and tension to keep us reading. The investigation into the murder of a young girl compounds when more young girls disappear and the murdered girl's mother disappears too. Twists in the clues will keep you guessing. Good luck solving the crime before the end.

The Sleepover by Carol Wyer is book four in the Detective Natalie Ward series. I haven't read any of the other books in the series, so starting with book 4 bothered me a bit. The book has a lot of police talk in it which made the story drag a bit for me. Although I do enjoy a good police procedural, this one was missing something for me. I can't pinpoint exactly what it was. I think the manner of Roxy's death just really bothered me.

The Sleepover by Carol Wyer is the fourth in the Detective Natalie Ward series.

First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Bookouture, and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

 
Series Background:    (Warning – May contain spoilers from previous books)
DI Natalie Ward is a strong female detective, but also a woman who is trying to juggle her job and her home life. Her husband has a gambling problem and lost all their savings. Then he lost his job, and he is now working from home. He is feeling inadequate, and Natalie finds herself constantly having to massage his fragile ego. Although she tries, she feels like she is neglecting her two children, even though they know that if she is on a murder investigation, it has to take precedence. She is often torn. Natalie’s team consists of: DS Lucy Carmichael, DS Murray Anderson and PC Ian Jarvis.



My Synopsis:   (No major reveals, but if concerned, skip to My Opinions)

A fire destroys a home, and the burnt body of 14-year old Roxy Curtis is found.  What was she doing in a home where the owners insist they don't know her, and when her mother thought she was at a sleepover at the home of her best friend.

Nathalie is sure that the home-owners, brothers that also own a nightclub and a tea room, are hiding something.  They don't seem too concerned that their home burnt to the ground, or that someone died in the fire.

Kids lie, but so do adults, and Natalie is not impressed.  It seems like everyone is hiding something, and when more people die, things seems to be getting more confusing than less.

On a personal level, Natalie is still struggling with the lies that her husband has told her, and she is worried about the changes in her teenage son.

 

My Opinions:  

I like most of the characters in this series.  They are flawed, but real.  Natalie has normal kids with normal teenage issues.  I dislike her gambling husband, but I also lost respect for Natalie in a previous book when she fooled around with Mike.  I'm hoping that whole situation gets corrected soon.  I think the author gives the right amount of attention to Natalie's family.

Overall, the plot, the pace and the writing is great.  There were a lot of twists, and the number of suspects surprisingly large, but nothing felt over-done.  It was just a really good mystery.

The topic of secrets and lies was prominent in this book.  Why people lie, even when it makes no sense to lie....

Anyway, I am looking forward to the next book!

Absolutely great book by Carol Wyer. This book had everything with so many twists and all the characters are hiding their secrets. It had me glued from the first chapter and kept me guessing throughout. If you are looking for a new book to read that will have you gripped, pick up this one. You wont be disappointed.

14-year old Roxy tells her mom Cathy that she’s going to her best friend’s house for a sleepover. But when Roxy’s dead body is found inside an incinerated house the morning after, it’s clear Roxy wasn’t at a sleepover after all.

Detective Natalie Ward is first on the scene to investigate Roxy’s death and how an expansive house in a ritzy part of town ended up in flames. The owners of the house—two brothers who co-own a nightclub together—claim to have no idea how the fire started, but Natalie doesn’t trust what either of them has to say.

When Natalie starts questioning Roxy’s family, information from their past starts to surface. There’s evidence that possible physical abuse was taking place inside their household. Was someone in their home the real danger to Roxy?

The Sleepover by Carol Wyer is book four in the Detective Natalie Ward series. I really enjoyed the first two books in the series, but as the series has progressed, I’ve lost interest in Natalie Ward. The book is bogged down with a lot of police talk, which made the story drag. I wanted to see less of Natalie’s personal life and more action. I can appreciate a good police procedural, but this one left me wanting more. 2.5/5 stars.

Thank you NetGalley, Bookouture and Carol Wyer for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was fast paced. Hard to put down. It flowed well and it was very well written. It caught hold of me and had me hooked from the start . I was literally on the edge of my seat reading this book.

Book 4 in the DI Natalie detective series. This was a good read but for me it lacked something. It was a little bit slow paced and unfortunately I didn’t find it as good as the previous books in this series. 3.5 stars for me.

Fourteen year old Roxy tells her mother Cathy that she is going to a sleepover at her best friend and neighbor Ellie's house.
The next day a body is found in a house fire across town. The two brothers who own the house are strangers to the family. When the remains are identified as Roxy, Cathy and her family are thrown into different states of grief.
Then Cathy disappears.
As Detective Natalie Ward investigates, she keeps running into dead ends. It seems that all her suspects and witnesses have secrets and are hiding things.
Natalie becomes frustrated as she continues to dig for leads. When Cathy is found dead, not far from where Roxy died, she knows she has to discover the truth before there are more victims.
This was an excellent British police procedural.
Besides being a superb mystery, the characters are interesting and well rendered.
I really became involved with Natalie and her family, struggling with her husband David and his problems finding a job and his fight with an addiction to gambling.
This works well as a stand alone, but I recommend starting at the beginning for the exceptional character development.
This series just keeps getting better and better, I can't wait for the next one!
Thank you to Bookouture for the e-ARC via NetGalley.
4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 stars.