Every Missing Girl is Leanne Kale Sparks’ second novel in the Kendall Beck series. The book is due out February 7, 2023. Thanks NetGalley for my arc. I wasn’t aware this was part of a series however, it was so good I’m going to read her first novel!

Overview: Special Agent Beck, an FBI agent, specializes in crimes against children. She and local Denver PD detective Adam Taylor are working a double homicide at a local convince store where a young missing girl is recovered. (Their partnership and personal connection developed in Sparks’ first book.) Later that evening Adam’s niece, 12 year old Frankie, goes missing from her hockey game. Are the two related, did Frankie runaway, how does someone take a child when there are two law enforcement officials mere feet away?

This suspension thriller follows both cases and a myriad of suspects as they try and find Frankie before time runs out.

Overall this was a good read. Some of the leads and story lines were muddied or unresolved but didn’t take away from the book itself. It’s not necessary to read Sparks’ first novel: The Wrong Woman however you have time before this release so you may want to add that to your list as well.

I liked this one a lot. Again, Sparks balances a few different mysteries and weaves together a good plot with little nuggets of twists and turns before the big finale. I will definitely continue with this series!

Oh wow! This was good! I am surprised how much I genuinely enjoyed this one! A good premise with good characters as well.

This was my first book by Leanne Kale Sparks and what a doozy it was. While this is book 2 of 2 relating to FBI agent Kendall Beck I appreciated that the author gave enough of the backstory that I didn't feel completely lost. Overall I enjoyed this particular book and I looked forward to picking it up every chance I could. While the storyline itself kept me intrigued I do feel there were alot of extra characters that didn't seem to add to the storyline and were thrown in as a mere distraction and with so many people it did get slightly confusing. The ending of the story absolutely surprised me - I was expecting it to end a certain way and it went completely offtrack for me which I did love.

FBI Agent Kendall Beck is send to a robbery gone wrong in a convenience store, together with her sidekick from the police, Adam Taylor. Beck is specialized in missing children and that is the reason she is also on scene: one of the casualties in the store was a man who was with an abducted girl. After reuniting this girl with her mother, instead of going to thoroughly investigate what has happened, they both go the skate rink that evening to watch a hockey game of Adam's niece, Frankie. If you think that is odd, than be aware that a lot more illogical things will happen with these two. You'll have to suspend all disbelief in order to enjoy the story that will unfold. The next thing? Frankie is missing right after the game ! Is she abducted? Has she run away? Beck and Taylor immediately assume the worst and go on the chase to find the 12 year old in the maze of Denver's backstreets.

Where it would be normal to assume that Adam would be off the case immediately as he is the girl's uncle, instead he is ignoring all orders and plants himself firmly into every interrogation and messes up big time because he can't keep his temper in check. If he wouldn't have meddled, the case would have had a much better chance of being solved rapidly, but he is just one big bag of testosterone going loose. Kendall is supposed to be an intelligent and strong woman, but she invents some crazy theories, instead of going after the very obvious culprit. For example: did she really think you could make a 12 year old believe her father could be dead? Does she know there is something called social media? This is just one of the many things that made me cringe.

I guess that if you can put these peculiarities aside - and the fact that there are way too many characters, mainly a dozen FBI agents and police officers - then you can enjoy a procedural with a lots of action, a twisty ride and bombshell ending.

Thank you NetGalley, Crooked Lane books and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Every Missing Girl (A Kendall Beck Thriller) by Leanne Kale Sparks
(book review - 4.5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫)
Thriller - Available on February 7th.
272 pgs.

This chilling novel is book 2 in the Kendall Beck Thriller series. I read it as a stand-alone. The author spins a winning tale set in the scenic Rocky Mountains of Colorado. I was hooked from the first chapter. This is my first time reading this author, and I was blown away. This is a must read for thriller fans!

Synopsis
The FBI's Kendall Beck and Denver Homicide Detective Adam Taylor work together to investigate the kidnapping of a local teen. When Taylor's niece, Frankie, suddenly disappears at a local hockey rink, it's obvious that a predator is at large. Can Beck and Taylor find Frankie before she is harmed?

Thank you NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for sharing this novel with me. Your kindness is appreciated. Way to go Leanne Kale Sparks! This book is a winner!

#EveryMissingGirl

Surprising police procedural with a couple shocking endings. This is book 2. I did not read book one and even though this can be read as a stand alone I think I did myself a disservice. The information is there; you are not lost; I just did not fill connected to Kendall or Adam. There are two - well 3 crimes being investigated. This is understandable to me, I believe our police have to be working on more than one thing at a time. Sadly one appears to be a carry over of child trafficking. Let me say clearly Leanne Kale Sparks handles this with tact and taste. Adam, our detective is fraying at the edges when his niece disappears. Understandable but there is a reason you are not allowed to investigate when its personal and it is shown here as Kendall (FBI) is dealing with lost steps because of Adams jumping at inappropriate moments, or speaking up at inappropriate times. I thought this was realistic and helped drag me deeper into the story. The twists at the end were awesome and unexpected. I would definitely read this author again and hope for a book 3 :) Thank you for the arc! I freely volunteer my thoughts and opinions. #everymissinggirl #leannekalesparks #crookedlanebooks #netgalley

Thanks to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book was bad.

The mains frustrated me in different ways, but I guess I’ll start with Adam. For a man who’s supposed to be a professional, whose dealt with serious cases, Adam was an immature man-child at almost every turn. He gets in the way of the investigation at almost every turn, ruins Kendall’s interrogations, and doesn’t seem to care about his own investigation or remember key details of the case. I think I’m supposed to sympathize with him because he’s off his game and doing these things because of his niece, but all I could think was how Adam was failing two little girls and causing far more harm than good. Had he not interfered so many times, this case probably could have been solved much faster than it was. He also uses his size to intimidate his sister in law and all but forces her to say something deeply personal that she wasn’t ready to talk about yet. Maybe in the first book he was better, but he was such a deeply unlikeable character here.

Kendall was a character I was initially okay with, and then midway through I started getting frustrated. Look, this is a book with cops and the FBI - I’ve read them before and I know I’m going to have issues with how they go about solving things, and I keep that in mind when I read them - and figured Adam staying on the case even though he technically wasn’t supposed to was just going to be the extent of my issues. But wow, this book. Kendall “sees red” during a fight with a suspect and beats him on the floor long after she’s gotten him subdued, and the narrative claims she’s doing this for all the women beaten down by men. When he (rightfully) says it was excessive the others say he has no leg to stand on because she was “defending” herself and that she’s not a cop anyway, she’s a federal agent. She later thinks to herself that she loves seeing grown men cry and piss themselves in her job. She even has a weird ass random thought about not believing DID is a real disorder (genuinely, why did the author include that? Just an added extra shitty thing Kendall thought?) and after talking to one of Frankie’s friends, asks for a warrant of this twelve year old’s home for one of the thinnest goddamn reasons I’ve ever heard - something I don’t believe is even mentioned again, because I think a real judge would laugh at that request.

I hope the author and readers recognize that a cop - federal agent or otherwise - constantly overstepping her bounds and unfairly exerting her authority is a shitty thing to do, not girlboss feminism.

She also just wasn’t a very good detective? Adam wasn’t either but I feel like that’s kind of obvious based on everything he says and does. Kendall’s presented as smart but she asks for a warrant of a 12 year old’s home because she? Thinks the girl was lying? She has what is possibly one of the dumbest, paper thin theories on if the girl’s mother took her, and she misses the obvious suspect who were basically screaming “We are incredibly suspicious, it’s us!” I know she probably couldn’t have gotten that, but again, since she was requesting warrants left and right based off what felt like nothing I don’t think it’s a stretch to say she should have picked up on that. Didn’t love the ending either, but by that point I was at least glad to be done with the book.

The only pro I have to say is that while this is the second book in the series, you don’t really have to read the first one to get what’s going on here, because Kendall will tell us about what happened in the first book. Many, many times. So that works.

Wow! I haven’t read a book this good in a long while. I loved Kendall and Adam and that they could be friends and not immediately be involved. I loved how the 2 stories wove together and I loved the ending. Unusual!
I literally couldn’t get enough of this book. I kept picking it up …. One more chapter…..
I’m not sure what else to say…. Off to hunt out more from this author

Every Missing Girl was poignant and wonderfully descriptive. This dual POV mystery unfolded at a near perfect pace and really made you think. It kept me guessing, and pulled at my heartstrings.

WOW!!!! I just finished this and all I can say is WOW. This book had me wanting more through the. whole. thing. Literally the whole thing!!! This book is one that will stay with me for AWHILE!!! Leanne really put her whole heart in soul into this and gave us a MASTERPIECE! Chefs kiss 🤌🏻🤌🏻 Every Missing Girl has the perfect amount of dialogue, one liners, description, EVERYTHING WAS PERFECT!!

We follow Kendall and Adam as they search for Adam's niece. This was a decent read. I wouldn't say outstanding, but it was ok. A little to predictable in a sense of how the story goes. I'd recommend it if you like mystery and detective type books. Unfortunately it just didn't stand out to me. The ending was not what I expected though. So I will give the book that.

Absolutely fantastic plot! Could not put the book down once I began reading it. Cannot wait for it to be released. Will recommend it to everyone I know!

This was a pretty average police procedural with standard characters. I liked that two cases were going on simultaneously, which inevitably connected. However, I did get a bit confused trying to remember details from both cases and which characters were talking about which at any given time. I had an inkling as to who the perpetrator was, and I didn't mind the resolution (I thought it would go a different way) however, I found that some pieces didn't get resolved and that just left me confused and unsatisfied (or maybe I was too tired to see the connections).

Overall, not a bad book, and I read it in one sitting.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this book.

When Det. Adam Taylor teams up with FBI special agent Kendall Beck on a homicide case, he thinks it's just another case. When his niece is kidnapped, however, Beck and Taylor must work together to unravel what happened to find Frankie.

Though I will say I figured out the villains in this story very quickly, I still found the book to be very engaging. I loved Kendall Beck as a character and thought that she was intriguing and strong. I like that Adam and Kendall aren't immediately drawn as romantic counterparts and that they work as friends and colleagues to solve the two cases in the book. Even though I figured out a lot by the end of the book, the end still thew me because I wasn't expecting it. All in all, this was a great read!

Kendall works on missing/kidnapped children cases for the FBI and gets called to work a case with Adam from the local police when a girl is recovered from the scene of a gas station robbery.

As Kendall and Adam work the case from different angles, their work comes too close to home when Adam’s niece goes missing.

Adam and Kendall have to work both cases at once - will they be able to do it fast enough?

Every Missing Girl can be read standalone or as a follow up to The Wrong Woman!

Thank you to @netgalley for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.

#netgalley #netgallyreviewer #netgalleyreader #netgalleyarc #fiction #booklover #bookreviews #whatimreading #whatiread #bookish #bookstagram #bookworm #booknerd #bookaddict #bibliophile #bookgram #bookstagrammer #instabooks #bookreviewer #takealookitsinabook #everymissinggirl #leannekalesparks

I liked the storyline and the thought behind it, but I feel like it was set in the wrong state. A lot of the plot was focused on someone selling marijuana which is legal in Colorado where this story is set; which in turn made a few things about the read not make sense.

Thanks @netgalley for read number 141 of 2022. I need to read more by this author. A very fast-paced, but disturbing, book. There were lots of characters to keep track of, but I liked how the plot lines intersected. A twist at the end for sure. A ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read in my books. #avivaandfriendsrecos #bookstagram

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the digital ARC!

Let me start off by admitting I have a rather serious (and mostly unexplainable) diversion to third-person narratives these days…but this one totally worked.

Sprinkled with just the right amount of sarcasm and quick wit, there was such a natural flow to Sparks’ prose. Couple that with solid pacing, great characters, and an intriguing plot/case, and this one’s officially a win! An easily enjoyable read from start to finish.

Every Missing Girl is out February 7, 2023!

Note: this is book 2 of the Kendall Beck series, (which I completely overlooked when grabbing it from NetGalley), but it worked great as a standalone!

I liked this and read it pretty fast. This is apparently a second in series but I didn't feel it was necessary to read Kendall's first story. There were references to it and enough was explained to make me feel that I didn't need to read it first in order to follow along with this story. (But I'm planning to grab it still as it seems it could be a good story!)

This opens with a double murder and missing-now-found (alive) child which is why Detective Adam Taylor and FBI Agent Kendall Beck are both assigned to the case. There is a second case open when Adam's niece goes missing. I liked Kendall and Adam's vibe and can't wait to read more of them in the future! (Especially to see how their relationship progresses-- they seem to have been thru some stuff together). They seem like great friends but also work well together, and some of my favorite times were when Kendall put Adam in his place and didn't take any shit from him.

The police and FBI procedural aspect was pretty standard. There were a couple red herrings in terms of suspects and I thought this was a good story. Fast paced, short chapters, and kept me interested throughout. I was not bored.

If there's any reason this didn't make it to 4 stars: there were a couple grammatical errors and consistency issues. Like "too" instead of "to" and "employer" when "employee" would have been appropriate, then finally: a scene where Kendall looks next door to a person's house and thinks "could he be at his sister's?" when it was clearly established by multiple scenes that the character living there is his Aunt. Hopefully these are caught in the next edit though; and they weren't serious enough to take me out of the story as I knew the intent.

TW: rape and, because it is Kendall's job, lots of talk (and descriptions of processes) of child trafficking.

Thank you to the publisher via Netgalley for the early copy to read and review!