Perfection. This book was amazing from start to finish. A read to transport and to thrill. Just amazingly wow! A brilliant read to take you away so you blink when you've stopped reading, take a minute to get back. Just the best kind of book. Read it. It's sooo good.

Thank you to Bookouture for my copy of this book via Netgalley and for letting me take part in this tour. I enjoyed the first book in this series so I was excited to see what happened next to DI Raven.

As in the first book, Eleanor makes no apologies for who she is. She also, it appears, hasn't learnt from her mistakes. She is still not trusting her partner and she is still running off on her and getting herself in danger. She is still recovering from the trauma of what happened in the first book and her past. Eleanor is one of those people that hold everything in and the guilt is starting to consume her.

I think Eleanor and Laurence grow as a partnership in this book which was nice to see.

The case itself was creepy AF. The story was told from both Eleanor and the perps perspectives. This case was more of a how is she going to catch him than a whodunnit. It seemed that there were no connections to the victims at first.

This book is not action, action, action. It's all about the details, the evidence gathering and thinking outside the box. It really kept my attention and was very easy to read. I look forward to reading the third book in this series soon.

Eleanor back on duty after six months’ enforced leave, Eleanor is determined to prove herself fit for service.

Her first case back involves investigating a fire which has uncovered the charred remains of a young woman. The post-mortem it reveals some disturbing details—the girl was dead long before the fire, her body had been lovingly preserved before being dressed up, her hair perfectly arranged, and a lime-green scarf knotted around her neck.

Following a tenuous link to an old missing-persons case, Eleanor discovers the poor woman’s identity. Before Eleanor can uncover any more details, another woman goes missing, and then, a little boy. It seems that someone is collecting a family for themselves.

Desperate to prove herself, she pushes herself to the limit to find the killer. But her fight may become a battle to save herself.

The premise was actually what attracted to this book. The plot was well written. The entire research of how to preserve a body and all the technicality involved was excellent and there were some parts in the end which were exciting.

But I wasn’t hooked to the story as much as I wanted to be and there were times when my attention swayed. So, overall, this was just an okay read for me.

Thank You NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC!

I did not realize this was a second book in the Detective Eleanor Raven series (previously published as "The Vault"), so first I will separate out why this did not lend itself to being a stand-alone book:
1. There was a lot of backstory from the first book that I was able to deduce - something horrific happened to Eleanor (not clear whether it was while on duty or not until later in the book).
2. Her partner is requesting a transfer - possibly due to feelings from his rescuing her from whatever event it was or possibly from her changed behavior after the event.
3. Eleanor has some physical injuries related to the event, but seemingly some psychological ones as well.


I also felt there were way too many characters to keep track of; this might be helped by the gradual character build you would obtain reading the first book. They were also called by both their first and/or last names, further confusing me.

Notes on the themes and setting in the book (some spoiler alerts).
1. This was a dark novel. I thought the handling of the BDSM scenes was well done and contributed to the plot.
2. The descriptions of necrophilia made me cringe, although they too contributed to the storyline.
3. It took me a while to figure out that this book was set in Canada - the only clue was that the temperature was related in Celsius. But the dialect seemed a mashup, and the setting wasn't well defined.
4. The processes behind embalming and especially the procedure used in the book was well researched and interesting.
5. The book was fast paced, definitely tense at parts, and the author connected all the dots at the end, making for a thrilling ending.

If you are already a fan of this author you will enjoy this book; if you haven't read her works before, I recommend starting with the first book, Cry for Mercy.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read this advanced reader's copy.

Another absolutely fantastic read by a truly talented author. I have been pulled in and completely unable and unwilling to put this book down. I have devoured this entire book in just one sitting. It is absolutely fantastic.

This book has gripped me from the very beginning and is completely impossible to put down. I have attempted (unsuccessfully) to guess where this was going.

This is definitely jaw dropping and fast paced. I've been completely hooked by this one. This is unique and keeps you on the edge of your seat.

I have read and loved author books by this author and already cannot wait to read more. A definite five star read!

When I started reading this I did not realize it was the second in a series. But I was still able to get a good idea of the events in the last book and love that I could enjoy this book even as a standalone.

This story really jump starts right in the action and only keeps going. After the about 25% I could not put it down and had to find out whats happens next. I definitely plan on reading the other books in this series.

3.5 stars

Perfect Little Dolls by Karen Long is the second in the Detective Eleanor Raven series.  Note that when it was originally published in 2014, it was titled "The Vault".

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)

Detective Eleanor Raven works for the  Homicide Department of the Toronto Police Department.  Her boss, Chief Inspector Marty Samuelson has been her boss since she graduated over 10 years ago, and tries to support her.  Her long-time partner Mo has recently had a heart attack, but is now back part-time. The rest of her team consists of Wadesky, Timms, and her new partner Detective Laurence Whitefoot.


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

Eleanor is still recovering from the kidnapping and torture that occurred 6 months ago.  Physically, her leg still throbs, and she has problems swallowing.  Her mind, however, is in worse shape.  As well, she cannot handle the fact that her new partner knows about her secret sex life.  She is back at work, but no one is sure that she should be.

When the plasticized body of a young woman is found in the dump, the case promises to be bizarre.  As the body is finally identified as Giselle Baker, they track down both the bar where she worked, and her room-mate.  Other than finding out she supposedly had a rich boyfriend that no one had met,  they do find a strange wooden carving of a snake, and the room-mate tells them that someone had broken in and stole some baby skulls that Giselle had owned as well.

When another woman goes missing, and then a small boy, Eleanor is sure they are tied together.  No one else is convinced.


My Opinions:   

I'm still confused as to this British author setting her series in Toronto Canada.  It would be okay if the detective (who uses British slang and words), would be identified as a British detective, but apparently she's Canadian.  Her old partner lost 4 stone.....we use pounds when talking about a persons weight in Canada....  The research done by the author is rather lacking.  If the stories weren't so good I'd throw in the towel.  I'm hoping her third novel will correct some of these issues.

Characters are really important in a series, as in any book.  I didn't really like Eleanor in this one, and although I did not really consider her flawed in the first book, her demeanor in this one definitely had me re-thinking that.  I still think she is a very capable and strong-willed detective, whose heart is in the right place.  I love her boss.  However, I did not like the discord between Whitefoot and the team.  I was on Whitefoot's side most of the time.

The plot was a little different, and quite dark, but it was good, as was the pace.

I am looking forward to the next one!

A decent read that kept my attention throughout but I felt the plot was lacking in some ways. As you can see I'm in the minority, so if this sounds up your street then give it a go. Ratings are subjective.

DI Eleanor Raven is looking for a killer. A killer who makes dolls of his victims. He embalms them then plasticizes them.
They are his family. His perfect family. Now he desires to be a father. He has found the perfect child to add to his collection.
Scary, spooky, psychological thriller. Tense and entertaining to the very end!!

GRIPPING psychological police procedural that delves into the darker, sadistic & evil side of human nature. Great main characters struggling with their own life dilemmas amidst an unusual suspenseful storyline wrapping up with a topnotch conclusion.. Totally enjoyed #1 in this series/looking forward to more. RECOMMEND both!! Thanks to NetGalley & Bookouture for this ARC in return for my honest review.

The 2nd book in the Eleanor Raven series, this book was previously released in 2015 called The Vault.
This book sees Eleanor recovering from events in book one, she is receiving counselling and not coping very well. Her partner has requested a transfer but all of this needs to be put in hold when a body turns up on a refuse site. Numerous other bodies are found and then a young child goes missing. 2 different detective teams are working the cases but Eleanor suspects they are linked.
I enjoyed this book. Please note however there are references to sado masochistic tendencies which may not suit some readers.
I received this book in exchange for an honest review

This is probably the first book in years that I’ve had to give up on. Unfortunately, the plot itself seemed thrilling and deeply disturbing which any reader of psychological thrillers would eat up immediately, which prompted me to request an advanced copy. That being said, I was only able to get through 30% of the book before calling it quits. The characters we encountered were dry and slightly monotone making me ask questions such as; What are they feeling? Why are they reacting or not reacting? I prefer books that make me want to keep reading until the sun comes up, but this one made me fall asleep every couple pages.

I have read other books by this author, but for some reason this one was not on my list of top books. I’m sure if I kept going it would pick up, but even the intense scenes caused me to just shrug my shoulders and ukltimately not be impressed.

Give this book a try, read the first one before trying this one as I did not so maybe that is why I am not a fan of it. Other reviews I read said it was not necessary to read the first one, but to give this one justice, I would suggest reading them in order.

Doesn’t the title just scream ‘creepy’?! It definitely was but it was absolutely fantastic. Such a good dramatic novel!

Creepy.
Eleanor returns to work after leave to recover from kidnapping and torture at the hands of a killer. Whitefoot, her partner, requested a transfer - he found her, unable to cope with his guilt.
A man found a well preserved corpse in the landfill and brought her to his home on the outskirts. Eleanor and Whitefoot are assigned the case.
Toby has worked for ROM, a Toronto museum, for decades. Over the past few years, he has been slipping newly acquired pieces to his home. He also preserves women of a certain type afternoon killing them.
Told from Toby and Eleanor's perspectives, this plot is a slow build. I was very interested in the characters, held my attention but felt too long. Details were slow.

Two quick notes about this book -

1 - It was previously released in 2015 under the title 'The Vault', and is the second in the DI Eleanor Raven series.
2 - it contains many explicit scenes that include sexual assault - to adults, children & the deceased, BDSM, mishandling of human remains, among others. Proceed with caution.

From the blurb on the back, I thought this would be a fast-paced thriller, but it ended up being nothing like that. The story was focused too much on the psychological affects of what happened in the previous book, and I felt like the characters in this book suffered from no real development. Plus, there was so much gratuitous.....horror... that I just could not settle into the story. Also, the ending was a bit of a let-down after the build up of the entire book.

I would not recommend this title.

First off I want to say huge thank you to the publisher Bookouture, the author Karen Long , and to NetGalley for inviting me to join the blog tour for this book as well as letting me read and review it. Second thing is this is the first time I read anything by this author and it wasn't until I was already half way though it that I realized that I had the first book on my Netgalley TBR to read and review but that didn't stop me from enjoying the story as well as getting lost in it, and other thing that helped was the tension and suspense as well as the creepiness of it.

DI Eleanor Raven is not in a good moment in her life. At the beginning of this second book in the series about her, she is recovering from her traumatic experience with a very dangerous killer, Lee Hughes, who kidnapped, tortured and almost killed her.

The 30 years old Detective is physically recovering from her many injuries. However, the mental “side effects” of her accident are quite more complicated to recover from, if ever.

Eleanor suffers from depression and sometimes has suicidal thoughts. Furthermore, her throat is slowly closing and it is difficult for her to eat normally and even swallow. This circumstance is making her weaker and weaker every day.

Six months after the incident, her boss, Chief Inspector Marty Samuelson, has decided that she can come back to the Police Station, but that she should be in a probationary period of three months.

In addition to this, her actual partner, Detective Laurence Whitefoot is acting quite strange and doesn’t consider Eleanor fit to be back at the field work.

Besides, Eleanor has to attend weekly visits to a therapist provided by the police, Seb Blackmore, as part of her probationary period. These visits are not really welcome by the Detective…

THE STORY

With all this in her plate, we start the story with Eleanor on her first day back after the attack.

The police received a call in which someone says to have found some type of skeletal remains on the Westex Landfill site. The remains are burnt because there had been a small fire somewhere that morning, which has already been extinguished.

However, there is something weird concerning the remains,…

The body somehow resembles a doll. It is sitting like a doll and it is positioned like one. The killer preserved it by embalming it. Why is that?

It seems that a worker from the Landfill site, Mackenzie, found the corpse some months before and thought it was a shop dummy, a mannequin. Because it is what it looks like…

FORENSIC PROCEDURE AND THE ART OF EMBALMING

So this is basically the story line of “Perfect Little Dolls.

More bodies start to appear and we follow the work of Eleanor and her co-workers who desperately try to find the killer before he is murdering little Tommy who has disappeared from his own bed during the night. It is a race against the clock and we are not sure if Eleanor would make it.

If all this were not interesting enough, we also learn about the police way of working, the steps taken in a criminal investigation, as well as some really intriguing forensic information about bodies.

Furthermore, we are introduced to the world of embalming, which I didn't know anything about. I know for sure I would not embalm any pets (like some people do) but it is still exciting to learn a little bit about it. It gives the story an added bonus.

ELEANOR RAVEN

One strong point for my 4 stars rating of “Perfect Little Dolls” is the main character, Eleanor. This is the second book in the series dedicated to her, so there are some interesting facts about her life that in this present book we only know by a character mentioning it.

However, it is not 100% essential to have read the first book (which I anyway plan to do!).

Eleanor is a very interesting character. She had a traumatic experience during her teenager years for which she feels guilty. This could be one of the reasons of her actual sexual life, which has really surprised me because I had not expected it, especially because she is a police officer.

She seems to be in a constant state of angriness and sometimes her most violent impulses appear in the most unexpected moments or situations, which makes her work quite complicated. This is I guess the only way she has found of dealing with her demons. Hopefully, through the therapy sessions she is forced to go to, she could find a better, easier way of dealing with her problems.

The character of her partner, Detective Laurence Whitefoot (who, by the way, saved Eleanor’s life) is also quite interesting, because they don’t really have a good relationship, and Eleanor seems to get on better with her previous partner, Mo.

However, it is very interesting to see the dynamics with Whitefoot and I am looking very much forward to see how their relationship develops with time.

FINAL THOUGHTS ABOUT “PERFECT LITTLE DOLLS”

The book is quite disturbing, because of the main plot. However, I don’t think it is a disadvantage but quite the opposite. I like the way the author introduces us in the story, in a very organized, clear way which makes the reading quite easy. There are no misunderstandings.

Karen Long gives us the information little by little, which made me devour the book in order to know what happens next.

Although we know who the killer is right from the beginning of the story, the author still maintains our expectations quite high, and the reader knowing it doesn’t make the reading experience boring at all.

However, when the story ends I am missing more information about the killer, some more background story. We learn why the murderer does what he does, there are some hints about his possible motivations for behaving in that way but, in my opinion, it is quite little.

What this killer does to his victims is quite out of the ordinary, so it would have been a very good opportunity to learn about his deep motivations and to have given the reader the possibility of entering his mind. Is all this going to be explained later on in another book? Hopefully so, because the killer is quite the character.

All things said, I really enjoyed the book and I am looking forward to read more about Eleanor, including the first book of the series.

----------------------------------

Thanks to the publisher, Bookouture, the author Karen Long and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of “Perfect Little Dolls” in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! I really enjoyed this book, what a cracking way to start 2021. This is a new author to me and I will definitely be reading more. The story was very engaging, so much so that I read this in one sitting as I couldn’t put it down. The characters were great, believable and likeable and I enjoyed the storyline. A very well written book that had me on the edge of my seat.

This was an enjoyable and disturbing thriller, not for the faint of heart. Note that this is the 2nd in a series but I personally couldn't find any reference to it being part of a series and had not read the first one. Though it can be read as a standalone, I spent the first part of the book confused about who was who and not really understanding the main character's background or the dynamics between the characters, so I'd recommend going in order.

The book centers on Eleanor, who is a police detective also dealing with her own demons. When a preserved body is found in a landfill, she and her team scramble to figure out what is happening and who would have the skill and the means to do this to a body. Additional bodies and missing persons pile up and Eleanor determines that these are all connected and that they need to move quickly before more deaths occur.

I really wasn't into the first half of the book- I couldn't keep the characters straight and I didn't feel like I understood why Eleanor did some of the things she did. I also felt like much of their investigation involved hunches and jumping to conclusions rather than following the evidence.

Then, more than halfway through the book, it all came together me. I still thought that there was a fine line between educated guessing and true police work, but the investigation got more interesting, and the look in to the villain's motivations was dark and gruesome, which enhanced my thrill factor.

Overall, I rate this book 3 stars based primarily on the 2nd half. I am not sure I will read the next book in the series, as I fear it will be hard to get into as well, but I did think that the overall storyline was unique and thrilling, so it's a possibility. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974

Trigger warning: Trauma, near rape, bdsm, and child harm

Part 2 in Eleanor Raven's series. A body, that looks like a doll, is found in the dump. What ensues is a race against the clock and trying to locate a serial killer with a penchant for creating a family. This is a stand alone in the series. You may put it down and pick it back up, you'll want to discern how it ends.