A fabulous series. This is another great book by Jennifer. It is is a story line full of twists I look forward to reading more.

Wow, this instalment really picked up in terms of plot and storyline. There was so much going on that I couldn’t wait to find where the next lead would take the team. So much so that I read it in a single sitting. Yes, I still enjoyed it despite being devoured and I personally find a story that has me this engrossed is sure to be a winner.

Jennifer Chase is back with the fifth instalment of her Detective Katie Scott series. This time Detective Scott is investigating the murder of sisters Tessa and Megan who went missing two years previously, whose bodies she discovered whilst showing a documentary film crew around rural woodland where there have been sinkholes.

Given that the girls have been missing for two years, Katie wants her and her partner McGaven, who run the cold cases department of Pine Valley Police Department, California, to be the lead detectives. They are in for a tough and mysterious time though with DNA showing something they didn’t expect, a tattoo with the number 372 found on one of the girl’s scalps, and someone seems to be trying to stop them from progressing in the case.

Can the pair discover what happened to the girls, and is the case far bigger than just the two of them?

Having read the previous four books in the series, I was eager to see where author Jennifer Chase would take her new book. The Fragile Ones didn’t disappoint, in fact, I think this is the best from the series with Detective Scott not only having to work the murder case of two young children, she is also trying to work out who is trying to stop her from getting too close, as well as someone seems to also be helping her. Alongside her investigation, you have her relationship with Chad and also her PTSD which rears its ugly head at the wrong times and Katie fights to keep it under control.

The plot was gripping and mysterious. Why would someone brand a child with a number and how come it kept on cropping up in strange places? Plus, why did their mother call them ‘The Fragile Ones’, what did that even mean?

I rushed through the story eager to find all the answers. It is a fast-paced book and takes you on an emotional rollercoaster as well as being twisty. You can feel the story intensify as the investigation proceeds and Katie starts putting some of the pieces together. You can certainly tell it has been written by someone who knows the field that she writes expertly as everything felt so raw and real.

The Katie Scott series is one of my top favorite series. Every installment of the series is gripping & highly tense. The Fragile Ones too is a compelling new addition to the series. No one makes solving cold cases sound interesting as Katie & I have Jennifer Chase to thank for that! While the characters in the book were great as usual the plot was somewhere between good & great. Crimes involving children are hard to read & the fact that it affects Katie too shows that the characters in the book are so believable & realistic. There were a good number of moments that had me on the edge of my seat! And the twists were also so well laid & executed! In the book, there may have been another possible cold case that may have reached Katie's table but we never learn any more of it. I was hoping that the case would have been addressed in the end, if not solved. But that's just a small & my only gripe! Otherwise I loved this book. Over the course of the series I've come to love Katie but I absolutely adore Cisco! I hope Katie & team solve more cases!

Thank you NetGalley, Bookouture & Jennifer Chase for an arc!

The writing in this book was awesome. So much tension and suspense. It had me glued to the pages. I love the settings in the this book it makes for a great atmosphere.

Love all the previous books in this series, and this one is just as good. Plenty of twists and turns.

Now here's an author I just love! All her books are just Brilliant! So when Jennifer Chase released her fifth book in this Detective Katie Scott series called ."The Fragile Ones" I just had to put things on hold, sit in my comfy chair and open my kindle! then become apart of Jennifer's new book. WoW,

"When the bodies of eleven and twelve-year-old sisters, Tessa and Megan, are found at the bottom of a ravine—dressed in matching pastel summer outfits, their small bodies broken from the fall.
Detective Katie Scott is called to one of the most shocking and heartbreaking crime scenes of her career."

The Fragile Ones did not disappoint! it was amazing. The best one so far.

I highly recommend this series Excellent from the beginning till the end!

Big Thank-you to Bookouture and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion

I did enjoy this book but there were a few things that let it down. I found the ending lacking a bit. There wasn’t really a full explanation of everything that had happened and the motives behind them. Then there was Katie’s weird interactions with a colleague and a creepy discovery that was never explained. I also think that her relationship with Chad needs more air time. He only ever pops up briefly.
However, it was an interesting read with lots of twists and turns that kept me guessing. I was suspicious of pretty much everyone. I also love Katie and McGaven’s relationship and Cisco is just the best.

I received a copy of the ebook via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

This is the fifth book in the series featuring cold case Detective Katie Scott. Katie has now got her PTSD under control after having therapy and has a new boyfriend Chad. When Katie and Sean, her partner, are asked by her uncle, Chief Scott, to accompany a film production crew as guides whilst they are filming a local historical site, Katie reluctantly agrees. Whilst she is showing them some ruins she spots two bodies at the bottom of a ravine, Katie and Sean realise it is the bodies of two young sisters, Tessa and Megan, who went missing some years previously. But on investigating the case they discover that they have a difficult one on their hands as the DNA of Tessa reveals that she was abducted as a baby and isn’t the biological sister of Megan. Also Tessa has the number 372 tattooed on her forehead and Katie then realises that they are looking for a dangerous killer who could strike again. They find it difficult trying to get information from the residents of the small town of Rock Creek and it’s obvious that someone doesn’t want them there. As new information comes to light, the weather turns and a bad storm threatens to stop Katie and Sean saving another life. The plot was tense and gripping, a roller coaster of a ride with so any twists and turns. This is a book you won’t be able to put down. A highly recommended series.
Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

A good police procedural in most parts with Katie Scott in the lead. Missing people were her forté and I loved how she worked the case with determination and good instincts. The plotline was gripping but then it meandered leading to a finish.

A good read.

Thank you Netgalley and Publisher for the copy.

This was a fast-paced thriller with a lot of twist and turns. I enjoyed the first half but the story fell flat later. Even though 5th in the series, I felt that it could be read as a standalone.

When the two bodies of Tessa and Megan are being found two years after their disappearance, it's just the beginning of a case, that's gets bigger by the day. I really like Katie, she is a very god detective. Hard working, never giving up and I like how her struggles makes her more relatable, more real.

I loved other books by this author but I'm not a fan of this one.
Even if it's fast paced and well written I struggled with the plot and the story fell flat.
Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

A novel of compelling oddities in a case Katie is striving to solve as she tries to manage her toss. Never stronger her character pushes through to solve this twisty adventure
Thank you netgalley and the publisher for this arc

Wow ! Definitely not for the faint of heart ! A deliciously intense and heart pounding thriller that you won't soon forget ! I highly recommend ! Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read and review this book ! All opinions are solely my own ! #Netgalley #Bookouture #TheFragileOnes

This book was amazing. I was very intrigued by the book blurb and decided to give it a try. I was so glad I did because this is one very exciting and thrilling book. The mc is hot on the trail and I could barely take a breath because I was so engrossed in discovering who the culprit is. The wild twists and turns get you even more excited to find out before the book ends. I definitely recommend this book.

Fast paced thriller which continues the story of Katie Scott and her K9 Cisco. The characters are good and the story full of twists and turns.

A dark, gritty and disturbing thriller that will keep readers gripped all through the night, lock the doors and hide under the covers because Jennifer Chase has written her scariest book yet: The Fragile Ones.

In the line of duty, Detective Katie Scott has been called to her fair share of heart-breaking crime scenes, but nothing had prepared her for the shocking sight that awaited her when she was called to a ravine where the bodies of two young girls had been found. Katie is determined to leave no stone unturned in her quest for justice, but as she begins to pick through the fragile remains, she makes some disturbing discoveries: the two girls were not biological sisters and the youngest, Megan, is a DNA match to a kidnapping case from years before. Are the two events linked? Or is it just a tragic coincidence? When Katie finds a tiny number burnt into the victim’s skin, Kate quickly realizes that she is on the trail of a dangerous killer who might strike again and cause even more mayhem and destruction.

But as Katie goes down one dead end after another, it looks like solving this mystery will prove absolutely impossible. Could the other missing children in the area also be in danger of this ruthless predator who will stop at nothing to wreak their twisted plan of vengeance? As if Katie didn’t have enough to contend with, a wild storm is fast approaching which jeopardises the breakthrough Katie makes connecting a fibre found during the autopsy to a nearby boatyard. As another girl goes missing and the power goes out, Katie only has her instincts and her team to help save an innocent life from certain death. Will Katie manage to find the child in time and put the killer behind bars once and for all? Or is it already far too late?

My heart was in my throat the whole time I was reading Jennifer Chase’s The Fragile Ones. A pulse-pounding crime thriller that is tightly-plotted and brilliantly paced, The Fragile Ones shocks, terrifies and will keep readers glued to the pages of this top-notch page-turner.

In Katie Scott, Jennifer Scott has created a flawed, fearless and fantastic heroine who is sharp, meticulous, intuitive, but also human. Katie is somebody readers will be drawn to and a crime fiction heroine I’d love to read more about.

A high-stakes thriller perfect for fans of the genre, Jennifer Scott’s The Fragile Ones is a twisted tale readers will thoroughly enjoy.

Detective Katie Scott discovers the bodies of two children, leading to the re-opening of a cold case. One of the girls has been branded: what do the mysterious numbers represent?
The Fragile Ones is the 5th book by Jennifer Chase to feature army veteran Katie Scott as she returns to civilian life. There are mentions of previous cases but no obvious spoilers that would prevent you going back to read them out of order.
Katie continues to have a dogged determination to find justice for innocent victims. Her former life in the army still sends shockwaves through her as she relives the horror in flashbacks. Yet she is brave as she faces her fears and carries on with her duty. Her partner McGaven and dog Cisco return to support Katie, and her relationship with boyfriend Chad continues to develop.
The weather and scenery play a major role in this book as both hamper the investigation. Each chapter has a day and time stamp which serves to focus on the rapid developments and twists that Katie must negotiate. The case itself felt a little disjointed to me and by the end I didn't feel that I knew enough about the killer, motives or victims. However, the pace of the plot and the passion of Katie are thoruoghly entertaining.
The Fragile Ones is an enjoyable instalment in the Katie Scott detective series and I look forward to seeing what she will face next.

Um... I'm so baffled by all the five star reviews of this book, not to mention baffled by the supposed villain and his motives. Oh my goodness. What on earth?? This author has supposedly got degrees in criminal profiling? How can anybody be satisfied with this ending and the supposed reasoning? I am baffled by all of it.

First off, I do appreciate the premise of the main character. She is a veteran with PTSD who has her service dog from the war accompany her as a cold case detective. I'm always a fan of strong female characters but more so when they are allowed to have flaws, be relatable, and be likeable. A few other reviewers have mentioned that we don't really get much for why we're supposed to like Katie. We're just shown that every man in her universe worships her and admires her, and she does things like falls through two stories of an old house into a basement and then is banged up again and gets back up (note: this is not really how old houses or human bodies work). This premise is why I gave the book two stars instead of one, along with the fact that I appreciate the short chapters, quick storytelling and some good writing. Some writing was good, while other parts were incredibly amateur though and just sloppy. Little things kept jarring me, like there's an incredibly detailed description of how Katie rappels down the side of a cliff to get to something (obviously a well googled section for very specific details on how to use the equipment) and then it says "a large predatory bird circled overhead." This woman can rappel down a cliff and lives in a rural area, but she doesn't know the difference between a hawk or a vulture? Can we at least call it a raptor?

Or the chief of police in the small town she was sent to (Rock Creek) kept being referred to as the sheriff, when the sheriff was her uncle who she worked for in her own town. A sheriff is in charge of the whole county, while the police are in charge of one town and each town has its own police chief. Then she went to Rock Creek to check out leads and nobody in the (real) sheriff's department had been to the town or knew much about it. That's not how sheriff's offices work. You work your whole county, and police will often assist neighboring towns even for things like fire calls or drug busts even if they're not even in the same county. There's no way a deputy in a sheriff's office wouldn't know all the towns in her/his county because they're all in your territory. But then they'd go back to calling the Rock Creek police chief the sheriff again. In one section they called Rock Creek's chief sheriff so-and-so twice in a row before going back to referring to him as a chief.

And then there were like 20 absolutely ridiculous and/or unexplained plot elements. To name a few.... (view spoiler)

The author does write about doing things in the rain well. That's kind of the strong suit of the book and I'm not joking. It's pouring down rain pretty much the entire book and she does a very good job of describing driving in the rain, chainsawing downed trees in the rain, fighting with bad guys in the rain and so on. The rest of it just has me continually shaking my head and rolling my eyes.

I read a digital ARC of this book via NetGalley.