When a teen aged girl walks out of the woods covered in blood, Detective Chief Inspector Jonah Sheens is instantly on high alert, but Keely insists she’s OK, that it’s her sister that is in trouble. Keely is willing to help him find Nina, but first he and his investigative team must listen to her story. As they listen, they find a few clues, but is Keely witness, victim or killer? Is Nina still alive or in danger and do they still have a chance to find her before it’s too late? A spellbinding psychological mystery that will have you not knowing who to trust. With rather dark subject matter, Lodge writes a story of abuse and revenge and has the reader riveted throughout.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Net Galley for providing a free ebook ARC edition of this book.

Wow, was this good! I was first introduced to the series with "She Lies in Wait" as an eARC and was so amazed at the author's story telling ability, I just couldn't wait for the next book. That feeling hasn't faded a bit after each book!

This is a dark psychological thriller with the question - Would you kill your sister? The story starts from page one with a bloodied young girl walking out of the woods and encountering DCI Jonah Sheens . The DCI's team both know they must move fast and press for information in order to locate the young girl, Nina, but also that they must wait for their witness - suspect? - Keeley to tell her tale. And what a tale it is! Tragedy, abuse, bullying, fear, confusion - it's all there!

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good police-based thriller/suspense novel. Once I got into the book, it was so hard to put it down and deal with day to day things because I just wanted to know what happens next. Highly recommend, and I look forward to the release of the audio version so I can experience it all over again!

Great psychological thriller about two sisters seeking revenge on those who have abused them. Keely and Nina are placed in foster care following the sudden death of their mother. Unfortunately, their lives will never be the same. After several placements in foster homes and care facilities, and ignored complaints, they take matters into their own hands. Their brilliance is seen in the clues they leave for detectives to follow.
The personalities and lives of the detectives working the case add a whole new layer of enjoyment to this read. I so enjoyed their approach and ever evolving theories about the case.
The pacing and writing are both stellar, leaving the reader wanting to read “just one more chapter” hoping to solve the case.. themselves. Altogether a very engrossing psychological thriller. Many many thanks to Gytha Lodge and NetGalley for affording me the absolute pleasure of an arc of this intriguing book, published today. You have a new fan Gytha Lodge.

This is part of a series, which I didn’t realize until I had started reading it. It can be a standalone book and I didn’t feel I was missing anything from the series. The story hooked me from the very beginning. It’s a book you want to be able to concentrate on as there is a lot going on. I loved it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the opportunity to read and review "Little Sister", by Gytha Lodge.
This is the fourth book in the series that features DCI Jonah Sheens (or Copper Sheens as his former girlfriend calls him) and his team, who investigate major crimes. This time, Sheens is enjoying an outing with his infant daughter, when a teenager appears, covered in blood - she's one of two girls who have recently gone missing from foster care, and her story is what sets this taut thriller in motion.
Keely wants the police to find her missing sister, Nina, but is unwilling to tell them exactly where she might be found, or who might have taken her or even why (and why is she covered in blood). She wants them to figure out for themselves what happened, and begins to tell her story.....
At its heart this is a story of abuse that was reported by discounted, as well as a tale of revenge. Keely wants the people who mistreated both her and her sister (and their foster brother) to pay for their crimes - even though there is no proof of these crimes, having been investigated in the past.
Without giving anything away, there are a number of Easter Eggs in Keely's story, which Jonah's DC, Juliette Hanson begins to unravel bit by bit as the story progresses.
Ms. Lodge has concocted a riveting story, related from the points of view of both the investigators and the teens.
The conclusion surprised the heck out of me, and I'm not easily surprised considering the number of mysteries and thrillers I've read over the years.
This is a complicated story, and the reader has to pay close attention - something that Juliette, Ben, Johan and the other investigators quickly learn.
Highly recommended, but do go back and read the previous instalments in order to get a good feel for the main characters.

Little Sister got off to a gruesome start. A young woman emerges covered in blood. She makes creepy and foreboding comments about her missing sister. The rest of the story surrounds finding out who is telling the truth and how the fragile and innocent are protected in society.

The story was great when it surrounded Keely and her story. When we were wondering about Nina and what is the truth. The storing got really boring when it came to the personal lives of the police involved and their every inner thought. We could have learned of their relationships with each other and their trust in their colleagues through action instead of words. Show don’t tell. These were unnecessary for people who were familiar with the series and irrelevant for those of us who were new.

Though they are probably meant to be the heroes here, the cops rally came off badly here. They were not very observant, I noticed several inconsistencies that got a slight note at the end, and for people who are supposed to help the victims they were horribly blind to some obvious flags.

I loved the sisters and their actions, their strength, and their intelligence. I didn’t like the reoccurring characters at all.

The fourth book in the Jonah Sheens series was totally different than the previous ones but equally enjoyable. Detective Inspector Jonah Sheens is enjoying a drink in the local pub when a teen girl comes out of the woods covered in blood. Keely insists that she is fine but her younger sister Nina may not be unless the inspectors find her in time. Once at the station, the entire team is there (my favorite is Ben Lightman) and the investigation into where Nina could possibly be begins. But this is where the story veers off the normal track because the team is not leading the story. Keely insists that she will no tell where Nina is unless she is allowed to tell her entire story from beginning to end and they have to listen for clues as she does. The entire story is controlled by this strong and somewhat manipulative teen and at first I was annoyed by this narration. However, as her tragic tale unfolded, I could only feel sympathy for this character who was an abused victim of a flawed care system which had failed her and her sister badly. My outrage was tempered by the fact that the investigators were not even sure that she was telling the truth and had to find facts to support or negate her story. At times, I felt that Keely was prolonging the story in order to distract the team from finding Nina, although I could not come up with a logical reason for her to do so. There were surprises along the way in this procedural mystery, but I found it to be more or a psychological thriller as I was led down the rabbit hole of exploring Keely’s mind and her motivation for telling her entire story while her sister might be in danger. The story was complicated and was brilliantly written to reveal details methodically. I enjoyed the book and think it can be read as a standalone but I do recommend reading the other books to get more insight into the lives and characters of the investigative team. This book was centered around Keely with the team taking a secondary position this time. Fans of procedural and thrillers should enjoy the unique way the book is written and the surprising, revelatory conclusion.
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Random House Publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guidelines Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”

This book was not at all what I thought it was going to be. This book was suspenseful with a lot of twists and turns. This is the fourth book in the Jonah Sheens Detective Series. I have not read any of the previous books and didn’t have a problem.

This story focuses on two sisters living within the system. When the older of the sisters, Keely, ends up in front of Jonah Sheens, he is not sure whether she is a killer or a victim since she is covered in blood. Keely is not about to tell him the truth about what has happened to her younger sister, Nina. Keely is intent on having Jonah work out from her story, exactly what has happened to the sisters.

This book is well written and I enjoyed the book.

I enjoyed this suspenseful story. This is a new author for me which I enjoyed from beginning to end. A story where the characters not only have great growth but the plot as well. This is a well written story about what happens when two girls go into the woods but only one comes back. Is she a victim or murderer? What really happened in the woods that day? I enjoyed the twists and turns that had me coming back for more. They are twists that had me sitting on the edge of my seat just waiting to see what happened next. The characters pulled me into the story and brought it to life. I enjoyed how they are connectable and supportive of each other. They made the story easy and entertaining to read. I highly recommend this book.

Great read! Book opens with a girl walking out of the woods covered in blood. I was hooked as soon as Keely insists she is fine but her sister is not. As Keely unfold the story, the police struggle to figure out the clues before it is too late.
Great character development and attention to detail kept me holding in to the very end. Highly recommended for all!

* I received an advanced reader’s copy of this book from NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group in exchange for my honest review.

*Thank you to Random House, Gytha Lodge, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

Previously published at https://www.mysteryandsuspense.com/little-sister/

“There is no place for secrets in sisterhood.”

― Erin Forbes, Fire & Ice: The Kindred Woods

Little Sister is the fourth novel in the DCI Sheens series. I would have liked a little background on the characters, but I don’t believe it is necessary to read the other books. It is the story of two sisters who just want to be heard. What Keely Lennox has to say will have detectives running circles for days, despite what she is telling them, loud and clear.

Detective Jonah Sheens is at a pub with his newborn daughter when a girl comes out of the woods, covered in blood and in a daze. Keely Lennox and her younger sister, Nina, have run away from their group home. 16-year-old Keely refuses to reveal the location of her sister until they actually listen to what she has to tell them. As she begins to tell her story, the police wonder who the actual victim is.

There are several voices in Little Sister, including Detective Sheens, Keely, and Officer Juliette Hanson. Each character on its own is brilliant, but Keely is the real standout. Though it is never talked about at length, she seems to be on the spectrum with a chilling voice and a deeply disturbing story. Keely is cold, hard, and manipulative and determined to tell her story. She begins with telling the officers that there are three men responsible for ruining her life. While the detectives’ primary goal is to find Nina, believing it is her blood on Keely, she asks them to listen to the puzzle she is relating, because it has obvious clues and leads to Nina’s location. At first, the team doesn’t know how much of her story they believe, after looking at her record and realizing she has a history of lying and allegations against the two foster families she had been placed with including Jared Boula, in the house they have just run away from, Henry and Sally, former foster parents and Frank Pinder, the male in a previous home they were sent to. Little Sister is a twisted and dark tale with triggers of abuse, rape, and grooming told from the unreliable viewpoint of an emotionally fragile teenager, who has never found one person to believe her.

Gytha Lodge has written a mesmerizing, well plotted thriller that is like a puzzle, requiring the reader to pay close attention to all the minute details, though the bigger twists blew me away. Especially one told in the last few pages of the book. But Hansel and Gretel had nothing on these detectives. Once they figured out what Keely was trying to tell them all along, they acted quickly to save both girls from an inevitable fate. Keep your seatbelt on; the plot will take you on so many twists and turns you will find yourself going back to the pages where Keely told her story to figure out the bits and pieces of what she is saying. Absolutely brilliant!

Oo this one was definitely a thriller! Absolutely loved the suspense of it and the writing was amazing! Must read if you want a good thrill!

Little Sister is the 4th book in the series. I had only read one other book in the series prior to this one. I feel I missed some of the personal lives of the characters but not in any way the current mystery.

Keely approaches DCI Sheens with blood on her. He immediately takes charge and slowly begins to unravel the story of Keely and Nina.

Keely and Nina are sisters who are in the foster care system. Keely is very slow to release details on where her sister is and if she is harmed or in immediate danger. She insists on telling the entire story of their lives in foster care before she will reveal where Nina is.

Foster care has not been kind to Keely, Nina and Callum. Callum is also in one home along with the sisters.

There are many twists and turns in the story. Some I did not see coming at all. I enjoyed their story and wanted to find of exactly what was happening/had happened.

I would like to know more about the series characters and will likely read the previous books that I missed.

Thanks to netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for the advance copy to review.

I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This book is well written and the characters are described well. This is the fourth book in this series, I recommend reading the first book in this series to get to know the characters better but overall this book is well written. This book will keep you on the edge of your seat from the first page trying to figure out what will happen next. This book will be in stores for $17.00 (USD).

Sometimes in series there are books that don't speak to you as much or don't further the development of the characters within the series. This is one of those. Other than the opening of a door near the end of the book, a majority of the pages are taken up with a long and winding and twisted story. Honestly, one that I can't see playing out the way this one did for many reasons. But, thankfully this is fiction and the author can allow whatever method of getting to the story as they want because this was a solid journey through the young lives of three people in the foster care system in Britain. It wasn't pretty. The story does not get in to the horrific details, but overall it is a picture of abuse: physical, emotional, and sexual. The story also didn't leave room for the personal lives of DCI Sheens and his coworkers. It would only have distracted from the story everyone wants to read about the young women and what has happened to them. We can get back to the recurring characters in the next book.

Little Sister by Gytha Lodge
(DCI Jonah Sheens #4)

This is the forth book in the DCI Jonah Sheens series and I'm hooked on the series because I like following Sheens and his team. I enjoy the crimes they work so hard to solve but I also like knowing about what is going on in their lives. They can be working non stop on trying to stop more bad things from happening, be so focused on stopping criminals, but we do get time spent in their heads, sometimes a lot, sometimes a little, where we see their hopes, fears, regrets (so many regrets), and their dedication to moving on, doing better.

This time the team is dealing with a sixteen year old girl, covered in blood, with a story to tell. She won't be convinced to tell the story any quicker than a step by step relating of all that has happened to her, and her fourteen year old sister, since their mother died about seven years ago. Keely wants what has happened to her and her sister, Nina, known. It is on record already because they tried to bring bad men to account but they haven't been believed. Could that blood be from Nina? There aren't wounds on Keely, but Keely won't say how her sister is, just that she is okay "for now". It seems that time could be running out for Nina but there is no rushing Keely. She is going to tell her story in her way.

At first I didn't like listening to Keely. She seems robotic in the way she relates her story, not to be coaxed off the path she has set for herself. Cold, clever, and possibly a psychotic mastermind? It's so hard to know. There is talk of jealousy, revenge, hurt feelings, and cruel and unjust punishments. These girls might have been abused in so many ways and no one listened to them. Or they might be making it all up and now Nina could pay if Keely doesn't get what she wants.

Sheens has been very involved in the care of his six week old baby, especially since his partner is struggling with exhaustion and depression. Now he's not able to take his share of the load off his partner. He wants to make this relationship work although his heart is not completely in the relationship. Still he's bending what he wants to fit what is right. He wants to do the right thing above all else.

Once we get further into the story, things just get more confusing and complex. Keely holds the key but time is running out. This is another fascinating entry into a really good series. Now I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for this ARC.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House for gifting me a digital ARC of the latest installment in the wonderful police procedural series featuring DCI Jonah Sheens by Gytha Lodge - 5 stars!

DCI Sheens is in a pub on his day off when a young girl enters the pub covered with blood. When he goes to investigate, he discovers she's fine but her little sister is missing. Keely and her sister, Nina, disappeared from their care home. Jonah takes her to the station where he assembles his team to listen to her story and try to find her sister.

Wow - mind blown over and over - this series keeps getting better. And, yes, you could enjoy this as a stand alone but the past books add so much depth to this amazing cast of characters that you really should start from the beginning! This book has the reader looking for minute details and discovering the facts along with the detectives as Keely's tells her story. I was riveted to the pages and the author did an amazing job keeping this storyline on track. Besides the disturbing topics of child abuse in all its different forms, it was fun to see this story come to its satisfying conclusion. Must read!

4.5 stars.

Little Sister is dark yet compelling read with so many twists and turns that keep you guessing.

Jonah and his team are hard at work to try and find the missing sister of Keely who did not come out of the woods.

Keely is a compelling story teller as in a clear and concise manner tells Jonah her and her sisters story.

They are both foster children and Keely claims the system has let them down badly.

Can Jonah believe her when all the evidence points to the complete opposite.

But there is something about Keely.

The tension mounts and the pages turn quickly.

I absolutely love this series and as I get to know Jonah and Juliette . I cant wait for the next heartfelt case in the series.

Don't miss this series.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group , Random House for an intense read

This is the fourth book in what is a new-to-me series, but at no time did I get the feeling that I'd missed out on much except a fleeting wish that I'd been privy to previous interaction among the police coworkers and their significant others. Detective Chief Inspector Jonah Sheens, for instance, is trying to make a go of things with the mother of his infant daughter (mostly out of a sense of responsibility, it appears), but he's also in an emotional turmoil over leaving the more recent love of his life - ah, now there's got to be more to that story!

The current plot, however, took my mind off such concerns just because it's a doozy: As Jonah is in a pub garden with his daughter, a teenage girl pops out of nowhere (well, actually, out of the woods) covered with blood. But it's not hers; the girl, who says her name is Keely, insists that she's fine, but claims her younger sister Nina is missing after they both ran away from a children's home not long ago.

But when Jonah asks for details - and hopefully Nina's location, since he suspects the blood is hers - Keely refuses to disclose anything except her story, which she will tell only from the beginning. It will, she claims, contain clues that will lead him and his team to Nina as well as three men who, she also claims, are responsible for reprehensible acts against her and her sister that have so far gone unpunished. Problem is, deciphering Keely's intricate, precise verbal presentations (way too much so to be believable coming from a 16-year-old, IMHO) proves challenging; and, if the blood is any indication, time to find Nina alive is running out fast.

Scenes shift from Keely's interrogations to her narrations to investigation reveals from other team members to Jonah's personal life and back again (and again), but each scenario adds more clues as to what's really going on - most of which isn't pretty. There are plenty of twists and turns in each perspective - more than enough to keep readers on their toes and guessing until the end, making for a suspenseful and engaging story. I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review a pre-release copy, and I'm now looking forward to the next installment.

Wow! This is a wild read with so many twists and turns throughout. This is my first by this author but certainly not the last. What a wonderful police procedural with so much impact that I had to race through it to find out what happened!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House for this ARC!