The Running Girls was an easy read. Just weeks after Frank Randall is released from prison for murdering his wife, the body of a second girl is found in the same location. The placement of the bodies is too close to be a coincidence. Detective Laurie Campbell is married to Frank Randall's estranged son and as she begins to investigate the case and look into the murder of her mother in law she starts to question her own intuition.

The author’s law background makes the investigative part of the story very strong, and the book touched on some important social issues in law enforcement such as bias influencing an investigation and the existence of a boy’s club. The first 15% of the book was a bit slower than I would have liked mostly because I found the sections narrated by Frank’s relationship to be a bit clunky and it was almost off-putting. Similarly, the interactions between Laurie and David were a bit distracting, the lack of self-esteem that Laurie had was the weakest part of the writing for me. At times it almost perpetuated this idea that adultery could be justified. It didn’t really add anything to the overall story, it could have and given how strong the author’s writing is in other areas, I did wonder if the awkward sections are a deliberate attempt at reflecting a newly released convict’s difficulties adjusting to life on the outside and a marriage that is in trouble. Overall, I really enjoyed the story, it was relatively fast paced, and the twist was unpredictable, there were very few hints along the way.

I would say it’s a 3.5-4/5 for me. Enjoyable but probably not a contender for my top 10 books of 2023.

A harrowing story where a man convicted of murdering his wife is released from prison, but within days a girl goes missing. The hunt is on to find her before it's too late. An interesting read, with a thrilling finale.