I'm sure that Gina Harte fans will like this book but I'm new to the series and I did not. To me, this book is a great example of why multiple POV storytelling should be avoided.

I always hate hearing directly from the perp. We should be in as much anguish and suspense as the book characters. Omniscience reduced the tension and these guys are always drips.

Then, we have the first person real-time voice of the kidnap victim. So the tension of knowing whether she is alive or dead..

Here we also have the voice of a teenage boy who in many ways is peripheral to the plot. These segments aren't even very well done, I don't think, although I don't inhabit the world of a 14 YO British boy.

I slogged through to the end to confirm that the person I had tagged was indeed the bad guy but I considered closing the book pretty early on.

One Girl Missing by Carla Kovach is the eleventh book in the Gina Harte series. I picked up this series with The Liar's House (book 4) and I also thoroughly enjoyed books five through to ten.

The author has written a really clever and fascinating story with a layered plot that drew me in right from the very first page. Set in the fictional Midlands town of Cleevesford, in this eleventh tense tale, the stakes are high and Gina needs her team more than ever, though she is very focused on her job. Annabel Braddock has disappeared, presumed abducted after a night out with her best friend, Jennifer. Annabel and her BFF were walking home from the Angel Arms pub when they are hit by a car; Jennifer was left seriously injured and Annabel is nowhere to be seen.

Feisty and down-to-earth, Gina is a brilliant Detective Inspector. DCI Chris Briggs makes an interesting contribution and DS Jacob Driscoll is Jennifer's boyfriend. The great pacing by Carla Kovach also had a hand in my huge enjoyment of the story. I suspected many of the characters though I remained bamboozled to the end. If you love a good detective series and psychological thriller with plenty of twists and a very dark feel, then One Girl Missing is for you. Very highly recommended. 😊

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from Bookouture via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

I pick One girl missing just because I liked the synopsis, everything sounded captivating. The first thing I noticed was that this book is the eleventh in the series Detective Gina Harte by Carla Kovach. I thought about that time when I messed up the order of books of the Helen Grace series and I said: what if I can read this book without knowing the background story? Would I understand the action? The answer? Yes. The only problem was about the relationship between the main character and her ex-boyfriend, but this isn’t the main plot of the book so it doesn’t matter.

The action starts with 2 women walking home in the evening. Suddenly, a car is coming toward them. One is hit and another is kidnapped. After this moment, everything becomes a race with the clock. The woman who was deadly injured is in critical condition and every hour matters. But then another one… how much time she has left? How much time before the criminal decides to kill her?

I like that character who is guilty isn’t obvious from the first chapters. It took me nearly 200 pages to guess correctly and even at that moment I wasn’t 100% sure. The author played us, giving a lot of clues, pointing to a character just to switch when I believed that I understand the reasons for the murderer. The fact that she gave us a character that wasn’t present in the book, just mentioned, and I was ready to blame everything on him… well done, Carla.

Something that I don’t really like is that the action in One girl missing is a little complicated and not in the good sense. I think the author wanted to punish every character that did something wrong and for that, she wrote a lot of scenarios and involved events from the past, traumas, old cases, everything.

Another important thing about One girl missing is that the author wrote about women that were abused. This book raises awareness about rape, unwanted attention that keeps coming, and the shame that comes upon victims. The main idea is to encourage girls, women to speak for themselves, that they are not alone and that they can combine their voices to give strength to their case.

Another brilliant crime thriller from Carla Kovach.
Annabel and Jennifer are walking home from a night out when something terrible happens. Jennifer is hit by the car and when Annabel tries to help she gets hurt and then dragged away by someone.
With Jennifer’s life hanging by a thread the hunt is on to find Annabel.
Gina and the team try and track down her husband but he’s no where to be found at first and it seems all was not good between the couple.
There’s lots of suspicious characters that could be the kidnapper and I really enjoyed trying to work out who it was. I got it completely wrong though as this is a very cleverly written story.
I love this series and look forward to what comes next for Gina.
Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

This was my first book by Carla Kovach, and I was immediately hooked. There were so many twists and turns as well as suspects. Every new chapter brought something new to the case, so you were constantly trying to figure out who hurt Jennifer and abducted Annabelle. Kovach has written this remarkable fast paced mystery full of obsession, betrayl, heartache, and tragedy. It will definitely have you on the edge of your seat dieing to know who has Annabelle, and what do they want with her.

Wow wow and wow I love this authors books and was so looking forward to reading the next instalment of the Gina Harte series. These books just keep getting better and better and this one was just brilliant it had me hooked from the very first page and once I had started reading it I couldn’t put it down.

Gina Harte and her team did it again and kept us gripped with the plot and the tensions mounting and the incredible twists and turns in the story. This was an intense nerve jangling story that kept me on the edge of my seat while reading.

Can’t wait for the next book and to see where Gina Harte and her teams journey goes next. I don’t think I will ever tire of these books.

The bodacious DI Gina Harte is back with an intense, riveting read! So many suspects, so little time. A tightly woven tale with heart-pounding action. I devoured it and am anxiously awaiting the next!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC!

I enjoyed this book, but I didn't love it. Maybe if I had read the previous books in the series, I would have felt more invested in the characters. I didn't feel it is a stand-alone as I feel like I'm missing the relationship issues between Harte and Briggs. Overall, it was an okay read.

Such a GOOD book !!!! I highly recommend ! Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read and review this book ! Opinions are solely my own ! #Netgalley #Bookouture #OneGirlMissing

This is book eleven in the DI Gina Harte series, and I would recommend reading them in order. This instalment is fast paced and is littered red herrings in the form of a large suspect group. The tale is told via multiple people, and I felt this gave me a better sense of what was going on and enabled me to get to know the characters and understand their lives and their flaws. Of all the perspectives told, I found the hairs on the back of my neck rising whenever Mr. Whittles was telling his side - this guy seriously creeped me out!

One thing that doesn’t sit well with me, is the title. Annabel isn’t a girl - she is a woman. I really think the title needs to be modified, referring to women as girls is very out of touch.

All in all, an exciting police procedural, which had me predicting - incorrectly (more than once!) who the culprit was. I look forward to seeing what's next for DI Harte and her team.

Funny, for all my complaining about being annoyed that DI Harte couldn't stop obsessing over her dead husband that finally we get a book where he is just a ghost and I am still annoyed. I think I am just annoyed with her. Perhaps that means I am done with this series. This book dealt with a missing woman and the many many people who might have taken her. Starting there: the person missing is not a girl. She is a teacher, wife, mother, and not a girl. Even one of the other characters remarks that she isn't a girl. So, let's quit demeaning the characters. Also, the many potential suspects were a bit overwhelming. While I do understand that at the beginning of a case the net is wide, but to have so many solid potential kidnappers up until the big reveal seemed a bit much. I am still not exactly sure why the perpetrator picked that time and method to pursue her. It felt somewhat random. This book felt like it didn't know where it was going most of the time and the chapters that left the main story to provide insight from Annabel and Omar felt like distractions more than adding to the story. I was never able to lose myself to the story.

ONE GIRL MISSING is the eleventh crime thriller novel in the Detective Gina Harte Series, by author Carla Kovach. Having enjoyed the previous novels in the series, I move on to book 11. The story is set in Worcestershire England.

Even though this novel worked well as a stand-alone, I would recommend other readers to read the previous books as they will be given background information on the characters in this book. A solid police procedural with engaging characters.

Teacher Annabel Braddock and her best friend CSI Jennifer Bailey were out at a local pub. Annabel had been having marital problems, and her husband, Grant was angry all the time and they didn’t talk. He was never home and had had many affairs. Jennifer had made Annabel see what she needed to do, as she had to think of her five-year-old daughter, Cally first. Annabel told him she wanted a divorce.

After the two women left the pub, neither of them noticed a car speeding towards them. What followed was that Jennifer lay unconscious on the ground while her friend was abducted by the driver.

Detective Gina Harte and her team soon realize there are plenty of people with a reason to harm Annabel. Jennifer’s boyfriend is DS Jacob Driscoll on Gina team, and he is beside himself with worry.

This last novel in the series provides non-stop action and an enjoyable read.

Many thanks to the author, Bookouture and Netgalley for my digital copy.

Book eleven in the DI Gina Harte series by Carla Kovach. Right from the beginning this novel had me hooked, it is fast paced with plenty of red herrings and twists and turns. When two women leave a pub after an evening out a car knocks one unconscious and abducts the other. With mounting suspects it is up to Gina to work through the deceit and lies to find the missing woman before it’s to late. A good police procedural and another great addition to the series.

I did struggle with this book. I found the fact that Omar could wander/drive around for most of the day and night incredible. all the suspects seemed equally creepy and there are several other things that I found unbelievable (but I can't mention as to do so would give away certain things). i just found it all a bit disjointed.

I’m sorry to say that I’m done with this series. I enjoyed the taut plotting, clever twists and effective tension of the earlier books, but you can have too much of a “good” thing and I’m tired of the recycled plots, relentless misogyny and tedious protagonist angst. This is book eleven of the DI Gina Harte books, and I read the first nine in order, skipped the tenth because I was SO bored with the dead abusive ex-husband plot line, but thought that with that issue resolved, things would improve. I actually think this one would work better if you haven’t read any or many of the previous instalments - you get all the backstory you need, and think that you’ll enjoy it more if you haven’t read too much of this stuff - or if you loved the previous books and want more of the same. I’m just getting fed up with formulaic yet unbelievable police procedurals, no matter how well written they are.

A secondary school maths teacher has been abducted after a night out with her best friend who was left for dead. While her marriage was in trouble, she had other admirers stalking her - which one of them has taken her and will DI Harte’s team find her in time? Meanwhile Gina’s secret lover looks like he’s moving on…

First the good - as ever this was a well-paced suspenseful thriller with a decent range of characters, likeable and unlikeable, on both the police and suspect sides. The main story is mostly told from Gina’s third person past perspective, but there are also chapters featuring Annabel the kidnappee’s and Omar the lovelorn teenager’s first person present POV. The plight of poor 5 year old Cally, left wondering where her mother is, was suitably heart-rending. I’ve enjoyed the development of Gina’s team over the years, and the way the crime impacted one of their own was well done.

I’ve complained about this before with this and other series: it’s just not realistic that one detective in a small town could face so many sexual predators/abductors of women over a short period of time (especially when she doesn’t ever learn from her mistakes!) I also found it hard to believe that one woman could inspire obsession in so many different males. The identity of the perpetrator was easy to guess, despite plenty of red herrings, and I was disappointed not to be given any real explanation for his crimes. Gina doesn’t really solve the crime, and comes across as immature and scatty, and I was disappointed by her ending - I no desire to read more about her wallowing in self-pity and misplaced guilt. The title also annoys me - Annabel’s age is not stated, but she appears to at least be in her mid to late thirties - hardly a girl!

I am being harsh, but I’m comparing this to the earlier books in this series and feel like the author has run out of ideas, and it’s perhaps time to move on to a new character - I’d certainly be keen to read more of her work if it wasn’t always about violence against women and Really Horrible Men. My GoodReads friends have given this four and five stars, so I’d suggest reading a range of reviews to decide whether you might like it. Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC. I am posting this honest review voluntarily. One Girl Missing is published on March 9th.

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this amazing book

when annabel and jennifer go out for a girls night out they dont expect to victims of a hit and run driver or that annabel will be missing from the scene....poor jennifer is left to die

jennifer is one of harte team so all the team are out on this one pulling together but one thing is for certain they need to speak to annabels husband quickly

so many red herrings but this book is go go go right from the beginning and nothing lets ups, with suspicion falling on annabels husband and his whereabout suddenly another player is on the scene another teacher....

things are starting to get complicated but with annabel still missing time is of the essence

wow couldnt put this book down, kept me glued and didnt see that ending coming
cant wait for the next book in this series

Two friends on a night out, Annabel and Jennifer, one left for dead and the other goes missing. With many suspects on this crime, Gina is in a race with time to solve it. There's some personal stuff going on as well. Gina's relationship with Briggs is up in the air and one of the victims is the girlfriend of one of the detective's on Gina's team. This is action packed and will certainly keep you guessing till the end. Another great entry in this series.

Author Carla Kovach is still going strong! I stumbled across her Gina Harte series back during the start of Covid, and fell in love. If you haven't read any of the series you should, but these books work fine as stand alone reads. In fact I didn't read from the beginning of the series and started with book 7. If you want to read my reviews on the books I have read of Kovach's just click here.


Like her other books, this one kept me fully engaged from start to finish. Yes, there were times that the story was predicable, but there were so many plot twists I was kept guessing up until the end.



The characters were diverse and complete. I really felt like I got the full picture of each one of them and felt like they were well grounded and important to the overall story. This book is told from alternating perspectives which helped immerse me into the mystery and see the picture from all sides.



There is plenty of action in this book and the plot moves along at a steady pace, never fizzing out like other mystery or thrillers do. I never once felt like the story was dragging along. This crime thriller is well thought out and I enjoyed every word.



This was a solid 4.5 star read for me. I truly enjoy the Gina Harte series and cannot wait for the next to be published. "One Girl Missing" is set to be released here in the U.S. on March 9, 2020 so pre-order now!



Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for allowing me an advanced digital copy to read and give my honest review.



Happy Reading!

After a hit and run not far from the Angel Arms, Jennifer is left in a critical condition and her best friend Annabel is missing.
While Gina and the team are waiting and hoping for Jen to recover, they start interviewing Annabel's family close friends and work colleague's
The investigation throws up an array of issues in Annabel's life, marital problems, an obsessed love struck teenager, a sexually inappropriate colleague and a back-stabbing baby sitter..... to name a few.
It's a race against time to find Annabel before she disappears for good!
This is such a fast paced, white knuckle ride of a book that is completely unputdownable! As you all know this is one of my most favourite book series that gets better with every new instalment!
Surely its about time this series gets turned into a TV show?!
I'd absolutely love that!
Another fantastic read from Carla Kovach!

🚨Plenty of twists and suspense: had me hooked😊

This story was exciting and had me guessing and repeatedly finding I'd got it wrong! Life-threatening hit and run, stalking, kidnapping, assault, murder: it's got it all and strong woman DI Gina Harte leading the team to find the missing and nab the guilty. Never a slow or boring moment and it's told from multiple points of view so I got a fuller picture, including from the victims' perspectives.

Definitely has me looking forward to the next book in the series!🤗

Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for sharing a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest opinion.