Sequel to the girl in the red coat. This book follows on from the story and I was intrigued to find out what happened to the 2 main characters Carmel and Beth. Although I felt this book did tie up alot of loose ends I still felt it left a lot unanswered.

This is a sequel to ‘The Girl in the Red Coat but could be read on its own.
This is a rather compelling, emotional read all about the difficulties of recovering from a very traumatic experience and how to move on from it. It is a very well written powerful story, disturbing and dark at times and focuses on a mother’s love. How Carmel moves forward is enthralling and Mercy’s story is heartbreaking. A very thought provoking novel.
Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with this copy.

The Lost Girls is a compelling but harrowing story which follows on from the Girl in the Red Coat. Carmel has now returned home to her mother after being abducted aged 8 and held for 5 years by a man running a religious healing cult

Now in her twenties, Carmel feels disconnected and is still not the person she used to be. Although he is in prison, her captor still exerts control over her. Carmel is also haunted by the need to discover what happened to the other girls who were taken.

The narrative switches time periods and perspectives as we follow Carmel's compulsive journey to learn more about Mercy's background and what became of her.

Unfortunately this book was not for me and it was really slow and tricky to stay interested in.
The story is about a girl who was kidnapped by a preacher - it was just a bit hard for me to read and stay with so it was a DNF for me.

Firstly, I have not read 'The Girl in the Red Coat' but I will definitely be doing so now. Returning to this book, and it did not matter that I had not read the first book as Hamer explains everything so well. I was drawn into this book and could not put it down. The plot is dark but enthralling and the characters are very strong.
Thank you to NetGalley and Faber and Faber Ltd for an advance copy.

Thank you again to Netgalley, Kate Hamer and Faber & Faber for the opportunity to read this ARC in return for an honest review.

I was lucky to have the opportunity to also read 'The girl in the red coat' prior to this, and I have to say, I felt Kate Hamer stepped it up in this new story.

"Lost, she narrowly escaped disaster. Beth is desperate to return to normality. After a years-long ordeal, her daughter is finally home and safe. But Carmel has questions she can't ignore about the cult that kidnapped her, and about the preacher who gave her another girl's name. Found, she must survive a miracle. Digging into her past, Carmel uncovers secrets which suggest that she wasn't the only lost girl - and which puts her in danger all over again. While her mother struggles to salvage the safety they've only just found, Carmel tries to come to terms with who she has become. One question, a mystery at the heart of her disappearance as a child, haunts her: What happened to the other lost girls? "

I'm never a fan of books which swap between narrators and so the flipping between Carmel, Beth and Mercy is not something I was looking forward to. Especially with the change in time-zones also. HOWEVER, this worked really nicely AND the changes in perspective complement each other well. Listening to the audiobook alongside the written story also helps with these changing perspectives. I had seen some reviews that the flipping between characters was quick and sometimes confusing - and so this helped work well.

Considering the premise of the book, this could have been a particularly difficult and emotive book to read, however the author has managed to keep this a light-read and lightly touches on the more harrowing and disturbing topics. Whether this is a good thing, I am still in two minds, as I think it diminishes the depth of the characters and their experiences slightly. I definitely was not expecting 'the lost girls' to be who they were...I won't say more on this but it was definitely an unusual twist.

All of this aside, it was a good read, and a high 3 for me. I will also definitely look out for more novels by Kate Hamer.

Absolutely incredible follow-up to The Girl in the Red Coat which I read years ago from the library by chance but has stayed with me ever since. I adored every page.

With thanks to the author, publishers Faber and Faber Ltd., and NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC of this book in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

I had no idea until after finishing this book that it is a sequel to the Girl in the Red Coat, and in hindsight I think having read that first book would have helped me to enjoy this second one a bit more. As it was, it had an interesting storyline and was no doubt beautifully written, I just didn’t find myself engaged with any of the characters to any great extent, except perhaps Mercy who seemed to see the best in all people and all things, and who I felt sympathetic towards.

The telling of the story through different timelines was interesting, but I found of the pace of the book a little slow at times, especially in relation to Carmel, and often found myself looking forward to the next Mercy section. That being said, having the background of the first book might have made a difference.

Unable to read this book as no longer able to access. Enjoyed the first book and was excited to have the opportunity to read this one, so disappointed not able to. Will look out for it elsewhere.

Given 3 stars for expectation.

The premise for The Lost Girls really caught my eye and I was interested to see how the story unfolded - I did not realise it was a sequel to The Girl in the Red Coat.

The story is told from 3 POVs - Carmel, her mother Beth and also Mercy. Carmel was kidnapped age 8 by a preacher who took her around America as a 'healer', before eventually being returned to her mother age 13. In this story Carmel is now 21 and still haunted by her experience, struggling to assimilate back into normal life at home.

Most of the story is told retrospectively and in flashback, I found Mercy's story the most engaging and felt she was well drawn and her situation made clear. I did not connect with Carmel and found her hard to empathise with, even as she struggled to make sense of her experiences with the cult and also with the changes in herself.

I really empathised with Beth and her heartache was palpable, she had wished and dreamed for so long to have her daughter back and the celebration when she did was heavily tempered by the realisation the Carmel who came back was not the same person and there are years of her life Beth knows nothing about.

I am not sure the mudlarking thread really added much to the story overall - it seemed a bit tacked on and not really relevant. I did finish the book and felt the ending was handled nicely, however overall felt a bit disappointed with the story.

Absolutely loved the way the relationship between mother and daughter developed. Enthralling storyline I did find on occasions far fetched but beautifully written and would highly recommend.

Following on from the first book The Girl in the Red Coat this book does not disappoint. Carmel is understandably troubled by her experiences and needs to heal and rebuild her relationship with her parents. This process is hampered by her desire to determine what became of the other girls who were abducted before her. Slowly she learns Mercy's story and what became of her which brings the novel to an explosive ending.

Back-to-back after reading “the girl in the red coat” I read this. I was already invested in the story and what happened next. Five years apart, we now see Carmel at 21. Clearly struggling to understand what has happened, she reaches out to the only person who may be able to help her. The mother who feels unable to help, who has lost her parents who were such a support when Carmel was missing. This again builds on that love between a child and parent but a deeper mystery that places Carmel into greater danger with the hope that she can live again.

I find this hard to review as parts of it I really enjoyed and, at times, I found myself skipping lengthy sections. The story moves through timelines as the MC seeks to make sense of her childhood when she was kidnapped & contrasted with the story of another 'lost' girl who may or may not be linked. The author clearly has talent and I will look out for their next book. (Copy received via Netgalley in return for an honest review)

Wow what an intense page turner. Well written and one of those books you can’t put down. Be prepared with a cuppa and a few hours

This book follows Hamer’s The Girl in the Red Coat. It continues 8 years after Carmel is reunited with her mother Beth. The Lost Girls involves a similar narrative structure, in that Carmel and Beth alternate as first person narrators, but the book also involves third person narration about Mercy Roberts, a girl abducted before Carmel. Mercy's identity is imposed on Carmel by her abductors. This book of about loss of course: Beth's loss of her daughter, her struggle to revive her relationship, and Carmel's loss of her identity, albeit both temporary. The writing occasionally forces the metaphors of loss, but the altering first person voices seem more clearly drawn in this book, helped by the third person accounts of Mercy and her troubled life, neglected by her parents, and living in dire poverty. The plot is not complicated, and so the reader’s interest must be maintained through characterisation and dialogue. Mercy’s character emerges as the most nuanced and multidimensional, aided by the third-person perspective that allows for broader description of the dynamics between the various people pushing Mercy in different directions for different purposes. This amplifies the feeling of peril for the character, which is not quite sustained for the main characters of Beth and Carmel.
With thanks to NetGalley and Faber and Faber for a copy of this book.

Carmel is home but she is damaged by her experience of being kidnapped and kept away from her family for 5 years.
Beth (her mum) is struggling to understand, to help and to cope.
Mercy was also taken.

Marcy's story is particularly well told with the scenic descriptions of her home, a shack in the wilderness of small town America is so vivid that you can taste the dust and smell the damp.

I found Carmels character a bit harder to get to grips with, perhaps because of the perspective her side of the story is told from but overall the book comes together very cleverly and leaves you musing on the truths of what the preacher thinks he saw.

Beth is desperate to return to normality as after five years her daughter is back home. But Carmel has questions about the cult that kidnapped her.

She uncovers secrets which suggest others were lost too. So what happened to these other lost girls?

This is an interesting premise. A young girl abducted by a religious cult. Who can't quite let go? It's a cross between “Where the Crawdads” and something by Stephen King. I really enjoyed reading this story and I think it's well written with great, believable character.

I was excited to read this as I thoroughly enjoyed Kate's earlier book 'The Girl in the Red Coat'. I'm so pleased this book carried the story straight on, and would highly recommend both books

Fascinating, interesting and shocking story. It's worth reading. Carmel is traumatized by her kidnapping. She was kidnapped by a religious sect when she was 8 years old. They held her for 5 years. Why? She mentions a pastor, or rather a preacher, who named her after another girl. Will she be able to live normally? A very emotional story. Carmel wasn't the only one kidnapped. What happened to the other girls? Will her life still be in danger? The second character is Beth. She is Carmel's mother. She too has been traumatized. Someone has kidnapped her beloved daughter. After finding her miraculously, she experiences drama every day. He's obsessed. She checks if her daughter is there. Carmel doesn't always like it. Carmel has a pet rat named Alan. Her mother is not happy about this. Will both heroes learn to live normally? Will they always be afraid? Will they work through the trauma together? There is another heroine Mercy. You can read more about it in "The lost girls". You don't read this book, you flow through it. In this story, we move in the years 1999, 2000, 2013 and 2014. The book often deals with issues related to God. The ending is shocking. I'm impressed. Good plot, good action and original characters make this book impossible to put down. Congratulations to the author of a good story.