I’ve read this authors previous books In Safe Hands and At Your Door. I really like DCI Anna Tate so couldn’t wait to read more of her. This was a great read.

DCI Anna Tate is a great character. She’s very likeable and works real hard. We get two storylines running side by side. Anna is called to cut her compassionate leave short when a young boys body is found during the riots. At the same time her daughter finds herself caught up in the riots with no way to reach her mum.

Really enjoyed this story and read it pretty quickly. Definitely recommend it.

A great read that has many story lines running at the same time and manages to pull them all together in a surprising way. The death of a young boy that is being investigated while the police try to quell the back lash of an officer's shooting means the story has many suspects to sort through. How the boy's death a consequence of his parent's actions is just one of the surprises in this story.

Jacob goes missing on his way home from school.Jacob is the son of a famous T V Presenter.
While he is missing London is under threat by rioting,looting and setting fires. One of these fire throwers throws one into an abandoned pub unknown to them that is where Jacob is being held.
D.C.I Anna Tate called in early from her leave of absence to work on the body found in the pub.
While investigating this her daughter Chloe gets entangled in the riots when Anna's boyfriend Tom is set upon by thugs while trying to take Chloe to his house.
This is a very good read
Thanks NetGalley

What lengths that people will go to never fails to amaze me! This was a super charged intense read. The story is gut wrenching and suspenseful at the same time. This was my second read by this author, and I am very impressed with the originality of the books. If you are looking for a grisly, intriguing, captivating crime thriller, you have stumbled across a excellent one!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of the book.
#netgalley

4☆ A Gritty, Compulsive, Suspenseful Crime Thriller

Little Boy Lost is the third book in a series, but my first book. If can be read as a standalone without any problem.

DCI Anna Tate has been called into work early from her leave of absence.
A young boy has been found abandoned and burned in the basement of a derelict pub, set on fire by the rioters.

They quickly discover that the young boy is actually called Jacob and he went missing on his way home from school.
But that's not all, he's actually the Son of a Famous TV Presenter and it turns out his not exactly popular, with many enemies.

In amongst finding Jacob, London is in chaos with rioting happening throughout London.
This actually bought back memories as this happened close to me. So it felt very real.

Anna and her team must work together to find out who would be twisted enough to kill a young child, and why?

The story is told in various POV one being Anna and her investigation into the the death of Jacob and the other Her 12 year old Daughter Chloe who gets caught up in the chaos and danger of the rioting.
I really enjoyed this style of writing as you got to delve into the investigation side but also got the reality and horror of the riots which was very real and relatable to me!

Little Boy Lost is a gritty and compulsive crime thriller that keeps you turning the pages, it's suspenseful, gripping and pacy and you get wrapped up in the chaos.
The police procedural felt slightly old school and developed at a slightly slower pace which I really enjoyed good solid investigation.
Would I recommend reading Little Boy Lost..... without a doubt.....yes!

Thank you to Avon books for this copy which I reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

This was a good mystery set in modern day England.

This is the third book in the series, and the second one that I've read. I really liked the first book, but this one fell a little short for me. When the book opens, DCI Anna Tate is on leave from her job as a police detective to bond with her long lost daughter Chloe. Her leave is cut short, however, when the police department needs every officer on the job as it deals with hordes of rioters in the streets. Anna is called to handle the murder of a young boy found chained to a wall in the basement of a vacant bar that was set on fire by rioters. The boy is the son of a prominent man, so the case is a high profile matter.

As Anna starts to investigate, she discovers that a lot of people had grudges against the boy's father, and any one of them could have kidnapped the boy. A second story line that weaves through the book involves Chloe. She becomes lost in the mayhem created by the rioters and the story follows her quest to find safety and reconnect with her mother. This story line was pretty far-fetched and I didn't enjoy it very much. I felt that it detracted from the main story and while I can understand why the author felt she needed some vehicle to bring Anna and Chloe closer, I still didn't care for it.

Overall, it's still a good book with lots of twists and turns, but I didn't enjoy it as much as the first book. I will still read more books in the series, however, because I really enjoy the main character.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for this ARC.

I thought this book was a fantastic read. I’ve read the first book in this series but not the second. DCI Tate is on compassionate leave at the beginning of the book and is soon called back into work to investigate an abduction that becomes a murder. I really liked her character, thought she was very believable and you get small glimpses into her home and personal life. The book has so many twists in the plot, you follow the police investigation and read of the rioting taking place across the city. The author has wrote this book very VERY well. I was completely hooked with the story, some chapters ended with you (ok me) desperate to know what was going to happen next ...... An absolute cracking read and I will now be reading book 2 and looking forward to the next instalment. 5 stars

J P Carter brings the indomitable DCI Anna Tate back for another spine-tingling case that will keep readers up all night turning the pages: Little Boy Lost.

It was meant to be a typical weekday afternoon where millions of schoolchildren all over the land make the daily trek home from school. However, one little boy never managed to make it back home. Ten year old Jacob Rossi had left school one October afternoon and began his journey back – only he never did make it back. Jacob had disappeared off the face of the earth and left no trace behind him. Police left no stone unturned but did not manage to find him – until they were called to a burning building where a body had been found with a label in his school blazer that read J. Rossi. DCI Anna Tate and her team realise that they’ve got a tough case ahead of them that is going to challenge them, test their mettle and lead them down many a dark and twisted path. Will they manage to solve this case? Or will they end up with more questions than answers?

As Anna begins digging, she is surprised to find that there were people with a grudge against Jacob’s father. A lot of people. But who could be so twisted and evil that they would exact their revenge upon the father, by so brutally hurting his son? Could there be somebody so heinous in their community that they would do whatever it takes to ensure Jacob’s father suffers? Why did a little boy end up having to pay the consequences for his family’s actions? Can Anna get to the bottom of this case? Is Jacob’s abductor somebody who is so close that he is right under their nose? Will the abductor strike again? Or is it already far too late?

In a race against time, the stakes have never been higher for DCI Anna Tate, but will she rise to the challenge and put the bad guys behind bars again? Or is she on the tail of a criminal so twisted that not even she can catch him?

J P Carter certainly knows what scares and terrifies his readers and he is on top form with his latest DCI Anna Tate thriller, Little Boy Lost. A chilling read guaranteed to keep his readers on the edge of their seats from page one until the last sentence, Little Boy Lost is a pulse-racing, nerve-twisting and nail-biting thriller that is definitely not for the faint-hearted.

Best read with every single light in the house switched on, Little Boy Lost is a white-knuckle chiller that is so brilliantly written, readers won’t be able to sleep for weeks.

This book is also part of a series and it had me from the first page. I haven't read the first two books in the series and will be definitely reading more. I loved the style of writing and look forward to reading more.

5 stars just isn’t enough!! If I could give it 20 I would! Being a big fan of Anna Tate I was really excited to read this! It took me 4 hours front to back, but I barely looked up from it!
The riot scenes absolutely terrified me and I read them with a knot in my tummy and a knot of anxiety in my throat.
The main story - the body of the little boy being discovered during the riots felt almost like a back story - with the Anna/Chloe story being the main for me!
Fantastic as always! Can’t wait for the next one!

Thank you for the advanced copy of this book. I really enjoyed this, really like the main character Anna, she’s a strong female detective who kicks arse. Always enjoy a book set in London as well. Well written, I’m going to lookout for this author again!

'Little Boy Lost' is the third book in the series featuring Detective Chief Inspector Anna Tate. I read, reviewed and loved the previous two books in the series and so I couldn't wait to get hold of a copy of this new book. Having just finished reading 'Little Boy Lost', I can confirm that it is just as good as the previous two books in the series. In fact for me, 'Little Boy Lost' is the best of the series so far and I loved each and every minute of the story but more about that in a bit.
What can I say about Detective Chief Inspector Anna Tate? I warmed to her from the start and I actually felt as though she became a good friend. In fact, reading about Anna again felt like reuniting with old friends. Life hasn't been easy for Anna and it's only fairly recently that she reunited with her daughter, Chloe. Anna's ex abducted their daughter when their daughter was 2 years old and he effectively went on the run with her. For ten long years, Anna has been searching for her daughter and now they are back together, although their reunion hasn't been straightforward. Anna's ex and Chloe's step-mother are now deceased and the truth about Chloe has come to light. Chloe went out a two year old and came back a teenager. There is a lot of catching up to do. Anna's bosses have been very understanding and granted her a certain amount of compassionate leave to enable Anna to get to know Chloe again and establish a relationship. However, Anna's compassionate leave is brought to an abrupt end when rioting breaks out in London and a young boy's body is found in the basement of an abandoned pub. Anna is tough, determined, stubborn, diligent, methodical and she kicks ass when she needs to.
I was addicted to this book from the moment I read the synopsis and then the story itself just sealed the deal as it were. For me, 'Little Boy Lost' is the true definition of an unputdownable pageturner of a read. I picked the book up only intending to read a couple of chapters but I was still sat there reading over a dozen chapters later. I knew that putting the book down was not an option and so the book travelled everywhere with me. It was as if I feared missing some crucial detail or a vital clue. The more of the book that I read, the more that I wanted to read and the quicker the pages seemed to turn. I would say that I flew through the latter half of the book as my desperation to find out how the story concluded grew and grew. All too soon, I reached the end of the book, which I was disappointed about. I don't mean that in a negative way but I was enjoying the storylines, the characters and the author's writing style so much that I just wish the book had continued for longer.
'Little Boy Lost' is brilliantly written but then I think that is true of any book in this series. The author certainly knows how to start the story with a bang. For me, the story hits the ground running and maintains the fast pace throughout. The author grabs your attention from the start and he draws you into the story from the start. The author then takes you on one hell of a scary and unpredictable rollercoaster ride with several twists and turns that sneak up on you and leave you feeling as though you have been punched in the gut. I was gripped by the story and on the edge of my seat throughout this book. J. P. Carter uses such vivid and realistic descriptions that I felt as though I was part of the story myself.
In short, 'Little Boy Lost' is another amazing book from J. P. Carter and for me, it's the best book of the series so far. I would definitely recommend this series to other readers. I look forward to reading more from J. P. Carter in the future. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 5* out of 5*.

I want to start off by saying thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book, it was a very good read easy to follow along with storyline and characters. This was a new author for me but I very much enjoyed it, thank you for the opportunity and I look forward to reading more by this author again. I highly recommend this book to everybody.

Little Boy Lost is a great new release in the DCI Anna Tate crime series; I heard wonderful things about the first, In Safe Hands, and the second, At Your Door, and was hoping that the third would live up to that reputation. It certainly did! I love that this novel has so many elements of a great crime series for me – a strong female lead, an abundance of sound police procedures, some twists without being unbelievable, and an easy to read, yet interesting plot. Little Boy Lost ticked all these boxes and was a fabulously entertaining read! This could easily be enjoyed as a stand alone novel, but reading them in order would, of course, enable more understanding about Anna as a character, and her past. Anna is an inspiring woman, determined and vigilant, as well as a strong leader who never gives up. She cares about her victims and wants justice for them, no matter what the consequences might be. I felt connected to Anna and shared her worries surrounding her daughter, Chloe.

I really enjoyed the intensity of the action in the story. Set in London during a time of dreadful unrest, J. P. Carter recreates the horrors of the 2011 riots. Time is ticking away as Anna investigates the murder of a young boy at a time when all police forces are being stretched to the limits. It all felt incredibly real and believable; I experienced the stress and anxiety endured by Anna and Chloe and could not fathom how the authorities were going to cope.

While Anna is investigating the case, her daughter finds herself lost in the midst of the riots, as a consequence of some unfortunate events, and unable to warn her mother. Those two storylines run concurrently for a sizable part of the book. Both storylines are really intriguing and kept me turning the pages throughout – I read this book in just a few hours.

There are some gritty parts to this story as well as oodles of suspense, and this in addition to the great characters and the well-constructed plot, makes for a truly brilliant read, in what is definitely a favourite new crime series' of mine!

I will be reading the first two books in the series, and confidently recommend Little Boy Lost.

I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel at my request, from Avon Books via NetGalley, and this review is my own unbiased opinion.

A very disturbing story. very well told and believable after previous London riots.
My husband has always pointed to the regular occurrence of riots in the UK's history, and the fact that social ills were addressed afterwards, as a reason, possibly, that unlike most of Europe, we still have a monarchy. And have not had a real Revolution.
I saw a play created from interviews with our last London rioters, and it is clear that a significant portion of our youth feel very disenfranchised. And the increase in knife crime in 2019 emphasises this.
So the social unrest that is The background to this story is a viable a believable extrapolation.
I am not sure if Chloe's back story added a great deal apart from muddling stories up. I would have left it out. Its riot experience was enough.
And the final twist was one I never saw coming. Excellent.

Corrected Review.

If you are looking for a hard-hitting, realistic crime thriller book then look no further because Little Boy Lost is the book you want to read. This book actually took me longer to read than I was expecting because it also hit a little too close to home. This book is set during riots taking place across London. This is only a small part of the plot but it does take up a lot of the book and so I will warn you that if that kind of violence is not for you, you might not want to read this book.

On that note however, J. P. Carter, has done a fantastic job of portraying the riot. As mentioned above, such a good job that it truly is a very hard-hitting read. While it’s not the main plot of this book, it is also so integral to the story that I didn’t feel I could review the book without mentioning it. As for the rest of the plot, I was well and truly enraptured by this book. I had to know how the boy became trapped. And I was not expecting the ending at all, which I truly love in these kind of reads. I quite literally had no clue until it came to the reveal what had happened.

I also feel that it is important to mention that I have not read a book by J. P. Carter before and that having not read the first two books in this series did not hinder my reading experience. I still felt very attached to the main characters and very much want to go back and read the first two books in the series now.

This book is strong, fast-paced, addictive and fierce and I cannot recommend it highly enough. I will say that you need a strong disposition for some of it but I also believe that you can definitely skip some of the riot stuff if you need to without it spoiling the plot. Essentially, that side of it was more to do with why the case was going to be harder and how to bring life to the characters. But essentially, I think that everyone should make sure that they give this book a read if they like crime reads!

I’d like to thank Avon Books UK and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Little Boy Lost.
It seems picky but of the three strands of story in this book I only felt interested in the boy whose body is discovered in the first few pages. Chloe the daughter was just an aside for me and I really didn’t enjoy the rioting storyline.
Once again this was one of a series of books and this was the onl6 one I’ve read but that was fine as it read well as a stand alone book.

If I could have read this book in one sitting… I would have done. It was soooo good and gripping that I felt I just had to keep going. However, that thing called “life” got in the way and I had to keep coming back to this novel. No worries, I still enjoyed it and found myself completing it in record time.

This is my first read from Carter and I had no knowledge of Anna Tate, the series this book focuses on. Despite being the third book, Carter helpfully provides enough background information that I did not feel like I had missed anything. I felt connected to Anna as a character and shared her heart-aches and worries surrounding her daughter, Chloe. Indeed, the end result was that I shall be looking for the first two books in the series, so please do keep an eye out for their reviews in the near future…

What I enjoyed most about this story was the intensity of the action. Set in London during a time of awful unrest, Carter recreates the horrors of the 2011 riots. The clock is ticking as Anna is trying to solve the murder of a young boy whilst all police forces are being stretched to the limits. London is falling in on itself as gangs are destroying the city, reacting to a terrible mistake by a police officer earlier in the week. It all felt incredibly real and believable; I felt the stress and anxiety experienced by Anna and Chloe and could not fathom how the civil services were going to cope.

The narrative is initially divided into two segments: Anna on her murder investigation and Chloe. Chloe becomes sucked into the riots one night and her encounter with lawless London is terrifying. Disorientated, confused and with no way of finding safety, Chloe is swept away into the nightmare that London has become. I found these sections the most exciting and interesting as the horror that is portrayed had my heart in my mouth. I was desperate for Chloe to find safety and for Anna to come to her rescue.

On the other hand, the murder investigation gradually grows in dominance in the narrative. Naturally, this had a much slower pace and I enjoyed watching the progress of the case. Many recognisable London places are referenced and, knowing the area rather well, I could easily picture these urban streets in my head. Anna is a detective who leaves no stone un-turned but, with a depleted police force due to the riots, finds herself with few resources and a ticking clock as she tries to find who killed the little boy, Jacob. Whilst I could not see who committed this atrocious action, I liked the final twist at the end as it maintained my interest throughout the story.

This was a great, gripping read. The setting was enthralling and I loved the intensity this added to the rest of the crime. Whilst Chloe’s story was more enjoyable, I liked Anna as a main character and supported her quest for justice. She is portrayed as an admirable character and I look forward to reading about more of her investigations in the future.

With thanks to Avon books and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is apparently the 3rd book in the DCI Anna Tate series, but only the first one I have read; it reads fine as a standalone. I thought it was a good story, but can't put my finger on why I didn't love it- it took me much longer to finish than usual because I just wasn't hooked. There are a couple interspersed story lines here, the primary one being the disappearance and subsequent death of a young boy who is the son of a celebrity. There is also the personal story line between Anna and her daughter Chloe, who was kidnapped by her father at the age of 2 and was just recently reunited with her mother as as teenager. And finally, there is rioting going on across London, which ties into both of these stories.

I found the story about the missing boy to be interesting, as there were a lot of people who ended up having a grudge against the boy's father, making it hard to tell what was going to happen. I was unable to figure out who the "bad guy" was until Anna herself figured out, and thought it was a great and unexpected twist. There were so many different characters involved in this piece of the story that it did take some time to keep everyone straight.

Anna's daughter Chloe ends up getting lost out in the riots- I enjoyed this part of the story less, though I liked Chloe's smart, yet naive, character. I wasn't super interested in the riot storyline and these pieces of the story just made me feel uncomfortable.

I didn't really connect with Anna's character, which maybe is the reason that I didn't gobble up the book the way that many other reviewer's did. I found her actions and dialogue to be somewhat perfunctory, rather than making me feel any real emotion. I also found it shocking that though she just found her daughter again after all of these years, she never once bothered to check on her during the night of the riots, assuming that she was with her partner and she would have heard from him if there was a problem. I can't think that any reasonable person would react that way in that situation.

All and all, this was a good story including a great mystery, but the overall book itself was just OK for me. I do not plan on going back to read the previous books in the series.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is my review of the third book in the DCI Anna Tate series written by J P Carter called Little Boy Lost. It is set in the London boroughs.

Jacob Rossi is a ten year old boy walking home from school when he is kidnapped. DI Joe Benning is assigned to the case and tasked with the job of finding him. The day after, a pregnant woman is shot in a police raid, by an armed police officer by mistake. He was after her husband who was in the same room. Riots soon broke out in protest in the capital over several boroughs, making it dangerous for police officers and innocent people all over London.

A couple of days later, DCI Anna Tate receives a call from her Boss requesting that she returns off compassionate leave to attend a crime scene where the fire brigade have made a horrible discovery due to a pub being set alight by a fire bomb. They have found a body in the cellar, wearing a school blazer similar to the missing school boy and the label inside reads: J Rossi.
DCI Anna Tate asks DI Joe Benning to join her team for the investigation to find who kidnapped him and ultimately, who threw the fire bomb at the pub as Jacob was alive and well looked after up to that point. The kidnapper had made sure that Jacob had food and water, a mattress and a makeshift toilet. Also, as DI Benning was involved with the kidnapping investigation it made sense to get him on board and use his knowledge of the family and what he had found out so far.
It turned out that Mark Rossi had a TV career as an entertainer. He had been working with his late stepfather Isaac Rossi as he ran a production company until it went bust, then Mark’s career picked up. Unfortunately for most of the twelve staff of that company they hadn’t been so successful in finding employment. Some were struggling to find jobs so were angry and abusive towards him plus there was the online abuse on his media profiles to take into account for enemies that might want to harm him or cause grief. His wife worked as a solicitor in the city.
Would any of those people want to abduct his son to get to him though? If not, why hasn’t there been a ransom demand? Why stash the boy in a pub cellar?
Wow, this book was full on! It was like being on a roller coaster ride at one hundred miles per hour but I loved it, so many twists and turns, kept me on the edge of my seat!! It’s a definite must read in my book. J P Carter has been added to my must read authors list from now on. 5 out 5 stars