Omg! Angela Marsons does it again! Another fab book covering a sensitive topic.
Detective Kim Stone is back - 2 months after she died, she thinks she’s ready to come back and take it easy. But DI Burns who’s taken over her team - well, he’s incompetent at best!
Kim takes on the case of Jamie Mills - an apparent suicide that Burns was not interested in, and then another supposed suicide leaves a child motherless. Kim and her team need to find out why. Meanwhile Stacey has a missing man, and his wife to contend with.
Kim learns that the two victims had recently spent time at a clinic that specialises in conversion therapy for gays - and finds that it is more abhorrent than she thought possible. What is the connection between the clinic and their deaths?
Is Kim up to the job? Her friends and therapist are all trying to find out, but there is only one way to know for certain!

Great book with twists and turns - can Kim and her team work it out before another tragedy?

Many thanks to NetGalley, Bookouture and Angela Marsons for my ARC of ‘Hidden Scars’ in return for an honest review.

This is the seventeenth Detective Kim Stone novel, and the series is awesome and, somehow, the author seems to make each book better than the last. It can be read as a standalone but may be worth investing the time and money to read from the beginning if you haven’t yet started the series.

Kim has returned to work from a long recuperation time and discovers that her temporary replacement has not been fully committed to the caseload as well as appearing to be mismanaging of her team. Although not fully fit, Kim gets straight back into her first case where a young man is found hanging from a tree. Another death, made to look like suicide, occurs of a young woman and Kim discovers that both have been attending a clinic voluntarily to ‘correct’ their homosexuality.

The treatment of gay people is handled well and as usual, the plot has numerous twists and turns.

Yet another excellent read and highly recommended.

I was a late comer to the Kim Stone series and have binge read the series. Book 17 starts with Kim’s return to work after the brutal ending of book 16.
Once again a few different mysteries intertwine themselves and the tram has to unravel the threads. A young man is found dead in what first appears to be a suicide, shortly after another body seems to reveal the same.. all is not as it seems.
This series is still going strong, bring on book 18!

Once again, another great read. Angela Marsons doesn’t disappoint! I always read the Kim Stone series from start to finish on the day of receipt, and then have to wait patiently for the next instalment.

Hidden Scars sees Kim return to work after a few months whilst recovering from an attack. Although not 100% fit she finds her replacement hasn’t been giving his all to the job, looking only for cases to cover himself in glory. The team are more than happy to see their boss return, and send the replacement on his merry way.
Kim discovers that a current case has not been treated as she would have and begins to investigate the suicide of Jamie, a young man who she discovers had attended a conversion therapy clinic. Delving deep into the clinic’s dodgy dealings despite other patient’s fear of retribution, the team set about getting justice for Jamie.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #Bookouture for my copy of #HiddenScars by #AngelaMarsons.
Oh wow 🤩 I loved it 😍
I am so thrilled to have Kim Stone and her team back in my life. This was great, all the old friends Kim, Bryant, Stacey and Penn.
I turned the world off and just sat and devoured it. Now what am I going to do while Angela writes the next one.
If you haven’t read this series yet, start at the beginning NOW !

I love this series!! Following the last amazing book this one did not disappoint. Kim is still feeling the effects following her ordeal. The team wrap around her and she is her usual brilliant self in solving multiple murders set out as suicides. Great cast, great story love angela Marsons

Angela Marsons' writing always gets me in a chokehold, refusing to release! I absolutely love her writing and how I can play the book as a movie while reading.

I love seeing Stone come back! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
If you haven't read this series and are a fan of police procedurals, then give this a go!

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and Angela for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Hidden Scars is Book 17 in the DI Kim Stone series from Angela Marsons, (18 if you include last year's prequel)

"Kim has returned to work after her near fatal beating at the hands of a enraged criminal. She is told to ease back in to the job but when she sees the ineptness of her temporary replacement and how dispirited her team has become, she takes over. There are several deaths that are made to look like suicide but are actually murders. The team trace the victims back to the same clinic. And now they must find the killers and stop them."

Glad to see Kim back fighting crime, especially after the events of the last book when we didn't know if Kim's story was over. She is still a character that continues to grow and change with each book. There is a little bit of over-explaining, but mostly Marsons incorporates it into the narrative.

If you haven't read Marsons, this is a police procedural. It can be read as a stand-alone but you will enjoy this more if you read some of the series first. Interesting approach for Marsons.

Another outstanding crime fiction novel from Marsons.

I so love Angela’s Kim Stone books, and Hidden Scars is another winner.
So much going on and then all pulling together at the end, keeping the suspense and guessing going.
Great book, great read.

A really great book. This time we get to see a little more of the the vulnerablilities of Kim Stone.

An intriguing book where the murders don’t seem to be linked at first. A side plot that seems random but is so much more.

All in all another stonking read from this crime fiction queen!! 5* from me.

After being brutally beaten until she stopped breathing and had to be resuscitated, DI Kim Stone is now starting back at work after two months away. Still not back to full strength physically or mentally, she’s supposed to start slowly and let her temporary replacement take charge of her team while she gets up to speed again. But when she sees the way he dismisses cases he deems unimportant and how he mismanages her team, especially Stacey who has been relegated to paperwork and tea making, she can’t help but send him packing.

Her first case is that of Jamie, a young man found hanging in a tree, but Kim suspects his death was not due to suicide. A second death, of a young woman, also made to look like suicide puts Kim on the scent of a clinic both victims attended voluntarily to ‘correct’ their homeosexuality.

It’s so good to see Kim back in the field. Despite her recent trauma and ongoing nightmares, she’s as tough as ever, but with a new softer side to her that lets her show more kindness and empathy to the families of victims and to her own friends. This is a tough case with a dark side to the ‘conversion therapies’ used in the treatment of gay people, which Marsons handled really well in the plot. It’s also great to see Kim’s team back in action and to enjoy their relationships with each other and catch up on their lives. Another excellent episode in this series – thrilling, intense and totally absorbing

Gripping, intense and well thought out! Marsons continues to knock it out of the ballpark with her DI Kim Stone series. I love seeing Kim and her team solve crimes. They are a likeable lot and I enjoy their witty banter. In Hidden Scars, Marsons takes on conversion therapy.

Detective Kim Stone is still coping and healing with the events in Six Graves where she was savagely beaten. She is supposed to be taking things easy and slowly transitioning back to work, but Kim does not like to do anything easy. She throws herself into her work and doesn't stop until the case(s) are solved.

Jamie Mills was found hanging from a tree in a local park. His death was initially ruled a suicide. Kim's replacement, Burns was happy to move on to the next case even when Stacy shares her thoughts that there is more to his death. When Kim comes back to work, it becomes known that he had a knee injury and the natural of his wound meant he could not have climbed a tree, and his death is ruled a murder. His is not the only death, soon a young woman and a married man are found dead under suspicious circumstances.

On top of this, a local accountant has gone missing without a trace. His wife has reported him missing and Stacy throws herself into finding out more about her disappearance.

As the instigation delves deeper into the lives of the three dead people, Kim and her team learn that each voluntarily attended a local clinic. A clinic which has them sign an NDA. A clinic that does conversion therapies.

Marsons takes on a difficult subject and handles it like a champ. This book had me from the very first page and kept my attention throughout. This series is still going strong, and I hope there is no end in sight. I am a big fan of this series and love the characters in this book. I love how Kim is both tough as nails yet vulnerable. She has a big heart, and it shows in her interactions with Bryant and a young man named River in this book. Her team is also very likeable, and I love their interactions and teamwork. Marsons gives readers glimpses into their private lives which helps to fully flesh out the characters while showing character development over the course of this series. Plus, we learn Bryant's first name!

With books in a series, I always like to note if it can be read as a stand-alone. This book really does pick up after the events in the last book and I believe to fully enjoy this book, one really needs more background information, and I would recommend going back and at least reading that book before this one (you could even go back to the beginning!)

I always love trying to figure things out on my own and doing my own detective work. I did not solve the case and in fact was left with my mouth hanging open more than once!

This is one of my favorite series and this book was fabulous. Potential readers should note that this book deals with sexual identity and conversion therapies. There are hateful characters in this book and their treatment and thoughts about others may be difficult for some readers.

It’s always exciting to hear when Angela Marsons is releasing a new Kim Stone book, and each book has always gone straight to the top of my TBR pile. I couldn’t wait to read Hidden Scars, book seventeen in the series, from the moment it was announced. After the traumatic events that took place in the last book, it was going to be interesting to see how Kim was coping. If you haven’t read the last book, this book does contain some small spoilers, so I would certainly suggest reading the previous book first if you’re a fan of the series. Kim’s team have been patiently waiting her return to work, especially as they have found life without her at the station difficult, particularly with their new boss, who has taken charge in Kim’s absence.

In Hidden Scars, the novel opens with a devastating scene, following the suicide of a young man. But Kim can see that there is something more here than what first meets the eye. It certainly feels that if she wasn’t back in time for this investigation, it may well have been brushed to the side.

Angela Marsons explores some heart-breaking stories in this book and she explores the topic of conversion therapy. It’s harrowing to hear how people, who are gay, are forced to try and change who they are, often by their own family, who can’t accept the fact that they are gay. It’s flabbergasting to think that there are people out there who believe they can change who a person is. Angela Marsons brings this to light well in her book, in a sensitive way as well. You can feel the emotions right throughout this story, especially how angry these new revelations make Kim and Bryant. I was desperate to know who was behind the killings and, as per usual, I was rooting for Kim and Bryant to catch them.

Each book always brings something new to this series and Angela Marsons always, expertly, manages to keep things feeling fresh. I will never stop reading the Kim Stone novels. Hidden Scars is another brilliant read from Angela Marsons and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for Kim next.

4.5⭐️

#17 DI Kim Stone Series

This is a series that I love, admittedly some books slightly more than others, but I find the author consistently great.

It’s best if you’ve read the previous book, as there’s reference to Kim needing physical and psychological therapy to overcome the trauma from the previous investigation, but it’s not crucial.

There’s a new boss who had replaced Kim who the team are struggling to work with.
There are 2 strands Jamie a young man who died by hanging and deemed suicide by the new boss with no investigation. It piques Kim’s interest so she starts delving.
The other is a missing middle aged man, his behaviour is out of character.

We get the story from Kim’s pov, an unnamed captive. One of Kim’s team is in the spotlight in this book which is good to see.

Kim’s manner is very different at the start of this book, the reader can see that she is emotionally shut down, even with Bryant.
There’s some lovely character development in this book, it bought tears to my eyes.

I had a couple of nitpicks with a few things, hard to know if there has been any changes to the published version.

I really enjoyed the book, kept me entertained. Another fine addition to the series

Kim Stone was seriously injured in her last case but she has now returned to work with her loyal team. She finds herself investigating apparent suicide cases, all linked to so called conversion therapy. The storyline is bang up to date but may prove distressing to some readers. I love the relationship between Stone and Bryant, the writing is, as always, excellent. One of my favourite series of books. Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC.

Book 17 in the series, I've read lots of the series but missed the two previous ones which I think you need to read to understand what is happening as Kim Stone has been off sick after what happened to her in book 16 and been told to take it easy on her return to work.
She returns to a death of a 19yr old which was reported to be suicide but when she returns to the scene she says it was murder and goes full steam ahead to change the verdict, then a 22yr old is found with the same MO and both found to be gay and had difficulty coming to term with this, and had conversion therapy at a local clinic.
This is a very difficult subject which was told very sensitively.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC

After such a shocker of a read in the last instalment of this series it’s hard to believe that the author has pulled another belter of a good read out of the hat with this the 17th one, but she has.
Kim returns to her team and just in the nick of time as there nearly wasn’t a term to return to. While not either physically nor mentally recovered from her ordeal she hides it well and everyone is relieved she is back . A brilliant original and shocking main plot runs along like an unstoppable rollercoaster. Great developments in the subplot while we glimpse an almost softer Kim and there’s an amusing little twist right at the end. This series never disappoints and I’m already looking forward to number 18

I've loved this series since the first book! This 17th installment didn't disappoint.

Angela Marsons is a fantastic author and she keeps her characters fresh and alive with each book in the series.

Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

I have enjoyed all of the Kim Stone series, and this one is also a great success. A great plot with A lot of action and suspense makes it a hard book to set down, keeping ones interest right to the end. It could be read as a standalone, but my recommendation is to do the series. You truly will not be sorry.

Here we are on book 17 - what a thrilling journey we’ve been on! The whole series is amazing, but I do feel this is the best yet! I will say that this instalment isn’t always an easy read, as it deals with examples of extreme homophobia and conversion therapy - something I knew little about, and to be honest, I am truly appalled that such practices still exist.

One of the things I love about these books are the dynamics between the main characters - everything just works, and works well, in fact, reading a Kim Stone book is like spending time with old friends.

All in all, a brilliant read - the plot flows, the staging is fast-paced, every character is well written - it is simply enthralling, no surprise it gets the full five stars from me. Oh, and Alan, didn’t see that coming!