This is one of those hard to read books, dark, deals with sex-trafficking and abuse of women/mostly young girls. When Rachel goes missing and another girl named Jersey goes missing, you'd think their parents would be devastated and do everything in their power to help the police, even to just be there. But some parents are off and traveling/socializing and can't be bothered since their daughter might have just gone off with some boy or had a long night, etc. Disgusting!!!

There are scenes that are very difficult to read and, as a woman, I can't for the life of me ever understand how one woman can take part in another woman's sex-trafficking and rapes and physical abuse. I can't even stomach thinking about some of the scenes so while I gave it a 5-star rating, I would not recommend it to anyone who's triggered by sexual abuse, other physical abuse, torture, humiliations, and being drugged. It's a book that deserves 5 stars for its genre, but it's very dark in places.

A great second novel in the Alyssa Wyatt series. Tense and exciting with emotional scenes throughout. Loved the characterisation

I did not finish this one, it was not for me, I couldn't relate to the characters, and just did not care for the story.

When Rachel is reported missing by her roommate, Detective Wyatt is assigned to investigate her disappearance.

An absolute gripping read - a story that I just could not put down and finished in 2 days.

Needless to say - I'm so excited to see that this is part of a series - can't wait to read the rest!

5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Special thanks to Netgalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Holy cowwwww!

This was so crazy. I had chills throughout and it made me feel all the things. This was an intense thriller and was extremely entertaining to read. I’ll be recommending this to my friends that love thrillers

I love the cover of this novel and the inside. "The Toybox" is an suspenseful novel by Charly Cox. A page turner for sure.

Apologies for the extremely late review. I got this one when I first joined NG and it archived before I downloaded it. I only recently learned that you can still provide feedback if you get the book another way, and I was really interested in this one so I purchased it.

I really enjoyed this one. Sex trafficking to rings are huge operations and I thought this author did a really good job of fleshing it out without it becoming tedious to read. Similarly, I thought the characters were done well that way too-- you are given enough information to understand their reasoning but not so much that you're overwhelmed by unnecessary back story.

The only thing I didn't love is just that I have read a ton of crime/mystery/thrillers concerning sex trafficking in the last couple years and while I enjoyed the story there wasn't really anything that made it stand put as especially unique. That being said, I would definitely read more by this author.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing the ARC of this thriller that engaged and repulsed. While the subject is horrific, the strength of some of these characters was great to see and I only wish I’d read book one in the series as our detective seems like a character I’d like to know more about.
We begin our story focusing on Rachel, persuaded to go to a frat party she was reluctant to attend. She starts feeling unwell, goes to look for her friend and then wakes up locked in a cage with four unfamiliar faces staring at her.
Our focus then shifts to another girl, friend of the daughter of our detective. After a falling out with her boyfriend, the girl goes missing. There are common threads between these two girls, but nothing strong enough to clearly signal their disappearances are linked.
The narrative shifts between the detective and her team investigating the disappearances and the girls who find themselves imprisoned. We are, thankfully, spared the worst details but there’s enough there to tell us that these girls have been targeted and are victims of a particularly sadistic sex-trafficking ring.
Torn between the revulsion felt due to the subject matter and a desperate need to see justice done, this was not an easy read. It was, however, highly engaging and there was a very welcome focus on developing our central characters. I know the reveal of book one would not be a surprise having read this, but it definitely seems worth going back to.

So, this is a tough read, but a good read.

Not a spoiler, because the description makes it clear, the plot is based on the abduction, debasement, and murder of girls. I can tell you that it’s graphic enough without being explicit. Whether or not you can take it, depends on you.

For me, as the mother of a soon-to-be tween, it was hard.

The characters – all of them – are very well drawn and vivid. The story is heartbreaking. And the chase to save the girls and punish the baddies is a good one.

A very good read, but oh it can be a hard one.

*ARC Provided via Net Galley

Sadly when I started this book I hadn’t been aware of book 1. I really don’t like to start in the middle of a series. But thankfully this book was easy to jump into. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one. It was fantastic. Exciting and thrilling. A pleasure to read. I most definitely will seek out book one now though

This book is number 2 in the series. I hadnt read number 1 but it was still easy to read on its own. This book had me gripped wanted to know more and more. The book is situated in Albuqueque. I loved the characters in this book. I am definately going to read #1.

Thank you NetGalley for providing this book for an honest review. This book kept me hooked until the very end. It grabbed my attention from the very beginning. Young girls were going missing and I was rooting for them to be found. It was hard to put down!!

Detective Alyssa Wyatt, I really like her name maybe because it is a lot like mine. lol This book had me on the edge of my seat. I have not read book one but the author did give enough to make it so I was not lost in this book. I think this is an author I will read more. I enjoyed the story and they edge to this gripping book. It was a thrilling ride. *This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.*

I have to say this book is kinda dark and leaves you feeling kind of creepy. I read it with the lights on. The crimes were pretty intense and reading on through the book left me with a case of nerves. The ending of the book left me reeling. What a brilliant read. I highly recommend this book!

This is the second book in the Detective Alyssa Wyatt series - it follows the first book, All His Pretty Girls and I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

The book revolves around Alyssa Wyatt who is a Detective for the Albequerque Police Dept. in New Mexico. She is tasked to investigate the disappearance of young girls in the area and when a dead body of a young girl turns up, things begin to get very serious indeed.

I just need to state that I am not the world's biggest fan of police procedural novels. This was a grand book but it didn't change my opinion this genre. I always feel like no matter what Detective series I read, they become very similar and tend to blend in to one and this was no different.

The book itself deals with a very sensitive topic and I do think Charly Cox handled it well, you do feel angry and upset reading about it especially considering things like this happen to women every day from all over the world. That's what really resonated with me.

The twist I guessed from early on which doesn't really bother me in the grand scheme of things but I just think it felt a bit... meh... in the end...

Would I recommend this series? Yes I would as I think if you enjoy Detective series then you will enjoy this. It just didn't really suck me in like I hoped it would.

i didnt realise this was the 2nd book in the series when i started reading it. it wasnt a problem though as they referred to the 1st one through out so i didnt feel i missed out on anything. the story line was realistic although there is some disturbing scenesthat may be trigger points for some people as they involve sex trafficking, rape and violence. . I liked the characters and the partnership between alyssa and cord . A really good addictive crime thriller i would recommend

An incredible and extremely intense book. Unfortunately, I didn't realise this was the second in a series, so whilst moments were a little confusing, it was still an enjoyable read and didn't take long for me to understand what was going on and what had previously happened.

Creative, clever, and ingenious. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
Many thanks to Hera and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

A police procedural set in New Mexico focusing on the disappearance of several young women in and around a university town. The women's plight is graphically described by one of the victims, building the tension and the expectations of the readers. The detectives are stunned when the killer moves too close to their personal lives. There are enough suspects to keep you changing your guess every other chapter until the final end brings a surprising twist. Charly Cox has done an excellent job of building characters and a community to give us a thriller that was very hard to put down at all.

First of all I didn't had any idea that it was a part of series. For the story it was an amazing fast paced thriller mixed with so many twists & surprises. I'll seriously love to explore more in this series.
Thank you netgalley for the opportunity.