This is another excellent addition to Schaffhausen’s Ellery Hathaway series. Ellery is called upon to investigate a kidnapping with ties to a years-earlier death that causes Ellery to relive her own terrible kidnapping.

This series just keeps getting better and better. The plot is clever and the writing is excellent with intricacies, but nothing overly complicated. I loved the ending, which wraps up the mystery nicely but also leaves a cliffhanger. I recommend this and all the books in this series to any fans of contemporary mysteries. I can’t wait to read the next in the series!

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Ellery Hathaway has a job as a police officer. She survived an abduction many years ago. A 12 year old girl is kidnapped under her watch. This brings back bad memories This book had many twists and turns and kept me guessing.

90. Every Waking Hour - Joanna Schaffhausen. Fourth book in the Ellery Hathaway series. Ellery and Reed are present when a woman realizes the child she nannies for is missing, and they investigate the potential kidnapping. This was pretty good, not as good as the third book, but it ended on a bit of a cliffhanger that leaves me ready for the next book. Four stars.

this book is part of a terrific series, it can be read as a stand alone book, though i would recommend to read all the prior books in order for the very best experience. the characters have so much depth and heart and hurt and you watch as they learn slowly how to live with it and slowly change. the mystery in this one is good as usual, both a current case and how it relates to what happened many years before, slow building suspense , a bit of humor and characters you care about

Thank you Netgalley, St. Martin's Press and Joanna Schaffhausen for allowing me to read this ARC. Once again, I have requested a book that is part of a series without reading the previous books. And once again I am on the search for the other books in the series because I loved the ARC so much. (I hope I get some Amazon gift cards for Christmas!) The characters were all new to me but were so well-written I was invested in them early on. The mystery/story was good with different layers that all came together in the end. The writing was so good I read this book in two sittings. (This might have been the only “thriller” to make me cry.) Needless to say I loved this book. If you want a "smart" thriller, this is the book for you!

4.5 stars

Ellery Hathaway has a problem. The Boston PD detective may have survived an abduction by a serial killer and she has solved a few pretty important crimes since she became a cop. She's even trying to learn how to use the word “boyfriend” without freaking out. What she can't handle is hanging out with a little girl who carries around a purse full of colored plastic ponies.

She isn't the only one with doubts either. “Mama said I shouldn't be alone with Ellery on account that she's got emotional problems,” Tula sweetly informs her father. But FBI profiler Reed Markham has more faith in Ellery than his ex-wife does—and he definitely has more faith in Ellery than she has in herself. After all, he was the guy who found her locked in a serial killer's closet when she was just 14 years old. He knows she's not the type to give up, even if she would rather chase a murderer than bond with a kid.

It turns out there is another girl who needs their help. Wealthy, sheltered Chloe Lockhart gives her nanny the slip, ditches her cell phone and disappears without a trace. Has her prison-like existence driven her to run away? Or has she been kidnapped? Reed and Ellery rush to find answers, even as their own lives become more and more complicated. Ellery can't help remembering her own abduction but there is an even more compelling reason for her obsession with the case. Teresa Lockhart's first child was murdered years earlier. What mother should have to endure the death of not one but two children?

Every Waking Hour is the fourth installment in Joanna Schaffhausen's Ellery Hathaway series. Like the first three novels, this one has plenty of unexpected turns that kept me guessing until the end. When I began the series, it was the characters who kept me reading. I relate—probably a little too much--to Ellery's attempts to live a normal life despite her past. Reed is her perfect counterpart, but their relationship is miles away from the typical romance. The secondary characters—Ellery's new partner, her half-sister and even Reed's ex-wife--also held my attention. It's great fun to watch as Ellery's efforts to push people away backfire.

As is true of the first three books, the characters are still my favorite part of Every Waking Hour. Even so, Schaffhausen's ability to craft suspenseful, convincing fast-paced action is something I've come to rely on. I've always thought of myself first as a fan of psychological suspense novels a la Ruth Ware, Paul Hawkins and Gillian Flynn. And I am. God, am I. But I'm beginning to realize how much I love police procedurals. There isn't always that one HUGE twist, but they offer steady suspense that builds and doesn't usually cause me to wonder, Could that really happen?

If you're a fan of this series, keep reading. If you've never read any of the books, I do recommend starting at the beginning. But if you are short on time, Every Waking Hour also works as a standalone. Much thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ellery Hathaway survived being kidnapped by a serial rapist and killer as a child, but she bears significant physical and emotional scars. Now a Boston PD detective in a relationship with the FBI agent who rescued her all those years ago, Ellery is still "that girl", the one everyone has heard of and whispers about. Can she find a way to live normal life? With those story elements in the background, Ellery investigates the disappearance of Chloe Lockhart, a rich teenage girl from a busy street fair. Did she flee her over-protective parents, or was she taken? Ellery must uncover secrets of the past and present to try to find Chloe before it's too late. This book is well-written, full of twists and surprises (I had to stay up late to finish it), and the characters are nuanced and richly drawn. I can't believe I haven't discovered this series before now, but the first 3 books are definitely going onto my "to-read" list. Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Another great installment in the Ellery Hathaway series. There’s something about these books that grabs me and doesn’t let go, and I’m always wishing there was more when I hit that last page.

We find Ellery once again embroiled in a tough mystery that makes her face her past as she races to solve it. Her dogged determinedness to not only fight for those around her but to keep going despite the life-shattering event of her abduction and near death, always has me rooting for her. She is a character with so much depth, that she is almost as interesting as the mystery she’s working to solve. And of course, I can’t forget Agent Reed Markham, her perfect foil. Steady, warm, and also an expert investigator the two are a team that I always enjoy following through an investigation. If you haven’t read any in the series, head back to book one and I promise you’ll fly through all four and still be ready for more.

3.5 stars

In this 4th book in the 'Ellery Hathaway' series, the police detective searches for a missing girl. The book works fine as a standalone.

*****

As a young teenager, Ellery Hathaway was abducted by a sadistic serial killer who raped her, carved her up with a knife, and shut her up in a dank, putrid closet. Ellery was on the point of death when she was rescued by FBI Agent Reed Markham. Hathaway and Markham's names have been linked ever since in articles, books, and movies about the perpetrator, Francis Michael Coben, who murdered at least 17 girls. The publicity adds to Ellery's distress, because people are constantly approaching her to ask questions and stare at her scars.

Nevertheless, Ellery goes on to become a Boston police detective, and sometimes works on cases with her rescuer, Virginia-based Agent Reed Markham. After Reed's wife divorces him for being a workaholic, Reed and Ellery become a romantic couple, and Reed may be the one person who understands Ellery's PTSD, anxiety, and difficulty with physical and emotional closeness.

As the story opens Reed and his 7-year-old daughter Tula are on vacation in Massachusetts, and Reed, Tula, Ellery, and Ellery's basset hound Speed Bump (aka Bump) are visiting a lively street fair on the Boston Common. Tula and Bump are having an especially good time, and Bump even snatches an ice cream cone when a horde of children crowd around to play with him.

Reed, Tula, and Ellery are settling down to eat tacos Reed purchased when a woman starts screeching, "Help! She's gone! Someone, please help me!" The woman, a nanny called Margery Brimwood, can't find her charge, 12-year-old Chloe Lockhart. Margery explains that Chloe went to buy a snack from a food truck an hour ago, and never returned - and she's not answering her phone.

Ellery and Reed immediately start to search for the girl. They learn that Chloe's parents, Teresa and Martin Lockhart, instructed nanny Margery to keep a close eye on Chloe at ALL times. The reason for this is a tragedy in Teresa's past. When Teresa was married to her first husband Ethan Stone, their 12-year-old son Trevor was murdered in their home, as was the housekeeper. The killer has never been caught, and Teresa lives in constant fear that something will happen to Chloe.

Chloe's close supervision leads to suspicions that she sneaked off on purpose, to get a taste of independence. Still, with Ellery's abduction constantly in the backs of their minds, Ellery and Reed take Chloe's disappearance very seriously. They get CCTV footage from the area around the fair; question nanny Margery Brimwood; interview Chloe's parents; visit Teresa's ex-husband Ethan Stone; speak to Chloe's school friends; publicize Chloe's photo; ask the public for assistance; and so on.

Because of the hubbub of the investigation, Reed and Tula move from their hotel room to Ellery's apartment, so the detectives can work together and discuss the case. Tula is thrilled with this, since she gets to play with Bump, but Reed's ex-wife Sarit STRONGLY disapproves, because she thinks Ellery is troubled and unstable.

The search for Chloe gets off to a slow start, but soon picks up. Ellery and Reed uncover many secrets and scandals as they desperately look for the missing girl, who they hope to bring back alive. The hunt is especially distressing for Ellery, who gets flashbacks to her own abduction.

In the midst of the case, Ellery's teenage half-sister Ashley hops a bus from Michigan, for a surprise visit with her sibling. Ellery's houseguests now include Reed, Tula, and Ashley, which is hard on Ellery, who views her small apartment - with its triple-locked door - as her personal sanctuary. Still, Ellery deals pretty well, with Tula on the sofa, Ashley on an air mattress, and food from take-out and delivery shops.

By the end of the book Ellery has made important discoveries about the case and herself, and the reader gets a hint of what to expect in the next addition to the series.

This is an engaging police procedural that takes the reader on a wild ride through Boston and its environs.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author (Joanna Schaffhausen), and the publisher (Minotaur Books) for a copy of the book.

Excellent police procedural crime story revolving around a serial killer, his victim who becomes a detective, another girl’s abduction and several earlier murders which all turn out to be related. The interplay between all the suspects, and how the occurrences all relate to one another are skillfully intertwined and writtened. This novel had many twists and turns throughout with surprises turning up repeatedly. The final resolutions were mindfully intertwined. I hope there is a sequel to this novel as I would enjoy more stories about the two main protagonists.

will make your heart beat fast and your palms go sweaty. Burning with anticipation, fear, and the disquieting revelation that not all is what it seems, this thriller is impossible to put down—just read it with the lights on.

Again I managed to read a book about Ellery Hathaway in record time.
These books are standalone as far that they are a complete story, no cliffhangers. That said I do feel you need to read the previous books in the order they were written. That way you will understand the connections between the various characters. The emotional baggage they carry and how the relationships are established.
These are easy to read and will have you forget any other responsibilities you might have waiting for you. Maybe it’s because I'm getting more involved with Ellery and Reed but I feel this is the best book so far. I’m looking forward to seeing more in the future.

This is a must read book in a must read series! In all honesty, when I requested this book, I did not realize it was the 4th in a series. I figured let me start it and see if it can be read as a stand alone. I read the first chapter, and yes, I could have kept going without having read the first 3, but why?

I went to Amazon and purchased books 1-3 and I completely devoured them. How had I not read this series before?! Could not put them down. Then I read book 4 and seriously, this is a total MUST READ series. I loved everything about it. In each book, the characters evolved more and more . The storylines got better and better. This latest book kept me guessing right up to the end.

I want more!!! Can’t wait for book 5.

This is definitely an author and series I will recommend.

Thank you #netgalley and #stmartinspress for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Ellery is doing what she does best -- looking for a lost child -- that is the result of being in the wrong place at the right time. While spending time with her boyfriend and past hero, Reed, and his daughter in the park, Ellery meets a nanny who can't find her charge. It is not clear whether the girl has disappeared of her own volition or if she's been taken. The answer lies somewhere in between, and Ellery is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery. Meanwhile, her personal life is at a crossroads; she and Reed live apart but spending time together as they can. He has his daughter with his for a longer visit, but Ellery is not sure how she feels about that part of their relationship. As she battles her past and searches for the lost girl, Ellery realizes that she just make some important decisions about the future. The book is exciting with a surprise ending. Can't wait to see what happens to Ellery next.

4 + + Stars!!!!!
This is my first Reed and Ellery and this is Ellery Hathaway and Reed Markham #4 in the series!
Reviews I have read assure me that Ms. Schaffhausen does a good job explaining what happened in the other three novels. I agree that is true. However, this story has so much detail ~ far more twists and turns than I didn’t expected!!!
In this story Ellery finally has a normal job as rookie Boston detective. She is trying not to fall apart as her 6-month probationary period near the end. When twelve year old Chloe Lockhart vanished in thin air at a busy street fair on Ellery’s watch; brings back terrible nightmares of when she was abducted as a teen. Ellen is currently darting Reed Markham who was the FBI agent who saved her those all those years ago. Now can the two of them solve this case?

The tease at the end gives us a strong hint that there will be a Book #5.
I certainly look forward to it. So Happy that I found a “new favorite” author!!!

Want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this eGalley. This file has been made available to me before publication in an early form for professional review purposes only. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for January 26, 2021

I love this book and author. Wow was it good! I am a sped reader and read this nice and slow because I didn’t want it to end. This author can’t write fast enough for me. I work in a library and recommend this series all the time to our suspense readers. I love the main characters. It seems like such a real relationship. I wasn’t sure who the bad guy was. I highly recommend this book.

Every Waking Hour by Joanna Schaffhausen is the fourth installment of the Ellery Hathaway Series. Ellery was the only survivor of a serial killer’s abduction as a young teenager, now she is rookie detective in Boston, trying desperately to find some normalcy in her life. Ellery is in a relationship with Reed Markham, FBI agent and the man who saved her from the serial killer that help her captive. When a 12 year old girl goes missing from a busy fair they area ll attending, Ellery is thrust back into the wounds she thought had healed. Chloe Lockhart walked away from her nanny, and vanished without a trace. The daughter of a wealthy businessman and prominent surgeon, but held under lock and key within her own home due to a tragic incident in her mother’s past, has Chloe walked away on her own to find freedom, or has someone from her parents secret past caught up with her?

As Ellery and Reed try to untangle the web of secrets this family has, they come across an unsolved double homicide from Chloe’s mom, Theresa’s, past. Theresa’s first child was brutally murdered, along with their housekeeper, but the crime has never been solved. As the mystery of this crime reveals secrets of it’s own, Reed starts thinking there may be a definite connection to the two crimes. As days go by and odd requests are made via text, it becomes clear the police are dealing with something much more sinister than a runaway girl.

This book was so fast paced, one day is all you will need to read it...and I say that from experience. Once I started, i honestly couldn’t put it down. This is the fourth book in the series, and while I have not read the previous three, the author does a fantastic job of bringing you up to speed so you know exactly what is going on and how it came to be. The main characters in this story are so powerful. They live for their jobs, even as their own personal lives suffer. There is a fine line between the rich and the poor, but this book explores the similarities between the financial classes. Money can’t buy you happiness, or safety for that matter. There was so much going on, with the past events and tragedies, and the present crimes and rumors, but everything had an ending. There was nothing left for the reader to guess or be left hanging. Except for tease at the end, which seems to be the introduction to book number five in the series.

This was the first book I have read by this author. I am now a huge fan! I have every intention to go back and read the previous books in this series, as I anxiously await the next book. I would like to thank Netgalley, Minotaur Books and Joanna Schaffhausen for an advanced reader copy of Every Waking Hour in exchange for an honest opinion, as well as an introduction to a well written new book series.

Every Waking Hour is the fourth book in the Ellery Hathaway series. While it is possible to get through it as a standalone, I'd recommend reading the previous books - something I have not done - because of the sheer trauma of the lead character, who was abducted by a serial killer and survived until she was rescued by Reed Markham, an FBI agent. Hathaway is now a detective with the Boston PD, and winds up being the lead on the disappearance of Chloe Lockhart, who vanishes at a fair at which the pair happens to be at with Markham's young daughter.

I don't mind characters who have some Bad Thing in their past that winds up shaping them. It's a bit harder to imagine them in various stressful professions (like a detective) when they clearly exhibit PTSD symptoms as much as Hathaway does. While it strikes me that she's obviously very strong to have survived a hellish near death experience, it would give me pause to set her out on the street where the very possibility of the same thing happening to someone else - like the missing Chloe - could potentially derail their ability to perform her duties. I'm also not a fan of Markham and Hathaway's relationship, but I understand why it's there for fictional purposes.

That aside: it's a good story, with many excellent suspects, following clues that often lead nowhere (as is often, unfortunately, the case), some nice red herrings thrown in, and while not an entirely unexpected ending (if you remove all the potentials when you read it, you'll understand), a satisfying one. There's also a fascinating subplot involving another Lockhart child, along with a bit of discussion about protecting kids versus basically jailing them.

Overall, I'd recommend it unless children in danger is not your bag. A solid four out of five stars.

Thanks to Minotaur/St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the review copy.

First off, I want to thank you to Joanna Schaffhausen and St. Martin’s Press, as well as NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my personal review.

Every Waking Hour is the forth book in the Ellery Hathaway/Reed Markham series, but I read as a standalone book and really enjoyed it! I can’t believe how much more I would have enjoyed it by reading the other three books in the series. I felt the author did a great job of explaining what has happened in previous books, so I was not lost at all.

Rookie Boston detective, Ellery Hathaway is finally getting her shot at living “a normal life” after surviving a serial killer’s abduction as a young teen and is even dating the FBI agent who rescued her. But then, Chloe Lockhart, a twelve year old girl, vanishes into thin air at a busy street fair on Ellery’s watch. This absolutely has to open deep wounds barely healed over for Ellery….one disappeared girl searching for another.

Every Waking Hour is such a well written story that covers insights into evil and the human heart.

Newly minted probationary Boston PD detective Ellery Hathaway must face old and new fears in Every Waking Hour. Her least fearful experience is when Reed Markham fetches lunch for her and Tula, Reed daughter, leaving Ellery in charge of a small child and her pink glitter purse. Leash not included.
While enjoying the beautiful day on the Boston Common, a panicked nanny crosses Ellery and Reed’s path. Her charge, twelve year old Chloe Lockhart went to a food truck and has disappeared. Both Ellery and Reed know not to take this disappearance lightly.
As a fourteen year old, Ellery was kidnapped by a serial killer, tortured and kept in a small fetid closet until FBI Special Agent Reed Markham followed a hunch and rescued her. Years later Ellery and Reed are in a developing relationship. Not so easy for a woman who needs her physical and psychological space more than anything.
Chloe hails from a wealthy family well versed in tragedy. This has so warped her parents' outlook that Chloe sees herself as a prisoner of her parent’s fears.
Runaway, or kidnapped, those are the two main reasons a young woman can disappear. Chicago PD and the FBI considered Ellery a runaway, wasting a full day before realizing she was most likely victim 17 of the serial killer they were hunting. Ellery is determined not to let this happen to Chloe. Luckily, Ellery is a like a missile, she locks on target and doesn’t allow chaff to get in her way.
Reed offers his expertise as an FBI profiler to the Boston PD. Tula is all in on this vacation change.
Ellery hears the clock ticking for herself and Chloe. In the meantime, Ellery is both distracted and helped when her small loft apartment is turned into the clown car of apartments. A woman who could barely let Reed through the door is suddenly invaded by unexpected guests, including one angry ex-wife.
Sarit, Reed’s ex-wife is a piece of work. She gained a husband, baby, and shared a million dollars from the book they wrote together on the back of Ellery’s unimaginable ordeal and rescue. Yet Sarit judges and blocks Ellery at almost every turn. My new “love to hate”
Ellery Hathaway is a strong character, not always easy to like. Ellery is a survivor who has barely recovered, yet is fighting so hard to make a true life for herself; little girl’s glitter purses and plastic ponies included. Ever since Reed rescued her, Ellery has fought to reclaim herself and be the woman she was meant to be. This is a police procedural, but it is also a study in survival; and the book excels on both levels.
Reed is not the typical hero, he saved Ellery once, but Reed is starting to realize opening the nailed closet door where Ellery lay very close to death is as far as he can take her. Reed also realizes he needs to a take a good look at his own life.
Ahh I just realized I inadvertently included a prime example of Schaffhausen genius with words. I just mentioned a nailed closet. Other readers I mention this series to, from husband, to friends to fellow reviewers, always, always mention the nailed closet. Powerful unforgettable imagery.
The story is tight, a necessity because the first rule of investigations: everyone has secrets and everyone lies. Ellery and Reed have to wade through them as the hours pass.
Every Waking Hour may be tight, but it is also beautifully written with rare insight into not just evil, but the human heart.
This limited series is about Ellery and Reed’s investigations. Each book is very different from the other. They are not the same old same old; Schaffhausen manages to keep all of the stories fresh and worthy of your reading time, but with enough back story to catch you up.
As for Every Waking Hour ending in a cliff hangar, not really. Since the fifth book is the end of the series, any reader knows there is one last reckoning."
Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an ARC. The opinions are all my own.