This is the second book in the series featuring Detective Lexi Bennett. I really enjoyed the first book and was looking forward to this one and it certainly didn’t disappoint. After hearing screams Lexi discovered the body of Olivia, a thirteen year old talented musician. She had fallen from one of the Canterbury’s ancient towers. It appeared to be a case of suicide as she had left a note but her parents and friends, including Lexi’s nephew Sam, were convinced that was not the case as she definitely wasn’t suicidal. When another teenage body is found, also a musician, it seems too much of a coincidence especially since his suicide note was very similar to Olivia’s. Though her boss doesn’t agree Lexi is certain that someone is involved with their deaths as she had found links to the dark web. Things become desperate for Lexi when Sam goes missing. Can she find the killer before it’s too late. This was another gripping and fast paced book that had me hooked from the first page. I cannot wait for the next one in the series.
Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

I adore this author and her books! Loved this one just as much as the first in this series and I recommend them both to everyone.

I really like Detective Lexi Bennett she has a spunk and a fire and she isn’t afraid to follow her gut. The second novel features her on the trail of someone from the dark web encouraging young people to commit suicide. This hits close as I have teenagers in my home. It’s scary how the world can come after them in a way that can’t be tracked. But the story was good and I enjoyed it. Ready to start the next one.

The Girls last cry by Alison Belsham is the second book in the new Detective Lexi Bennett series and was another brilliant book. Which was a great page turner that had me gripped from the beginning till the end. Plus, I found it hard to put my kindle down. I really like Detective Lexi Bennett character....She is so down to earth you can really feel for her character etc.

Detective Lexi Bennett is walking through the quiet Canterbury streets when she hears screaming. Rushing towards the sound, she finds the body of a teenage girl lying beneath one of the city’s ancient towers. Lexi looks up at the cold grey stone, and vows that she will find answers.

Did the girl jump or fall… or was she pushed?

Olivia ’s distraught parents say their daughter was a talented musician with everything to live for. Lexi’s nephew, Sam , who knew Olivia, tearfully insists that she would never have taken her own life. But when a note is found, Lexi reluctantly wraps up the case.

Another teenager is found dead on a deserted path beneath a cliff. Lexi is certain there’s a link, especially when she learns that the boy was a musician too.

Is being a musician as well the link or is there another link to these murders?

Her phone rings..........it's a call that fills her with dread. Her nephew Sam is missing.

Can Lexi outsmart a truly brutal monster, or will her own family pay the price?

WoW!!!! this so good!!!

I am looking forward to the next book in the excellent Detective Lexi Bennett series

I highly recommend this book 5 star read.

Big thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to listen to and review this book ARC.

Oh my goodness, this book was sooo good! Just couldn't put it down. Lexi is a fantastic protagonist, and I can't wait for the next book in this series. Highly recommended!

THRILLING police procedural with lots of suspense throughout. First time reading this author but will definitely back track to read #1 in this series. RECOMMEND for a totally great reading experience. Thanks to #Bookouture, #NetGalley for #The girl's last cry in return for my honest review.

Is there anything better than a series getting better? I enjoyed the first book - The Girl's Last Cry was even better.
Fast pace, loved the plot. And Lexi - likeable and realistic.
A teenager is found - potential suicide. But then another teenage is found dead. Lexi needs to figure out what's happening - fast!

DI Lexi Bennett returns in the second of the series, she’s drawn to the sound of a police siren while running errands. What she finds draws her into an investigation of apparent suicides by young teens. Despite their having left notes something seems off to Lexi, and she and her team work to find the connections between the dead. I enjoy the way the personalities and interactions between the characters are described, for example Ridhi’s willingness to go the extra mile for her boss, Colin’s smugness, and Tom’s dependability. Lexi is smart, empathetic, and independent, sometimes too much so, The fast pace kept me reading well into the night, and the book came to a satisfying end for me.
Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for an advance copy, I highly recommend the series.

Just as I loved this first #DetectiveLexiBennett book, this follow up didn’t disappoint. Lexi’s back on her game, using her incredible skills to find another serial killer. Belsham is a writer I’m loving and I can’t wait for the next installment in the #DetectiveLexiBennettseries!

Thank you, Alison Belsham, Bookouture, & netgalley for my copy! All opinions are my own.

The Girl's Last Cry is the second book in the Detective Lexi Bennett series and, after reading this and the first instalment, what a series it is. It has great characters, gripping fast paced storylines and a great setting. I loved everything about it and cannot wait for book 3.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for my ARC.

4.5⭐️ rounded to 5⭐️

Detective Inspector Lexi Bennett hears screaming. She rushes towards the sound where she finds the body of a teenage girl lying beneath one of the city’s ancient towers. Did the girl jump or fall… or was she pushed? Nobody believes that she would take her life. Then another teenager is found on a deserted path beneath a cliff. There are some similarities with their deaths. Will Lexi be able to find the killer?

This is the second book in the detective Lexi Bennett series and I think this one is my favourite. This series just gets better and better as it goes on. I absolutely loved the concept for this book, despite how terrifying it was, especially towards the end when things were so tense. This book at times was hard to read because of what the killer would do to their victims, which was so heartbreaking to read. I truly struggled to put this book down as I was desperate to find out who the killer was and how the story would end.

I loved hearing some of this story from DC Ridhi Kulkarni’s POV, she’s slowly becoming another favourite character of mine, alongside Lexi and Sergeant Tom Olsen. I do wish that we got to hear more from DC Colin Flynn as whilst we hear more from him in the book, I often question his importance/relevance within this series.

My only issue with this book is the killer seems to come out of nowhere and when we were introduced to them, I had already guessed that they would be the killer.

⚠️ CWs: suicide, suicidal thoughts, suicide attempt, derogatory language, child abuse, mentions blood, alcohol use, self harm, cancer and bullying ⚠️

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read this book!

DI Lexi is back for a 2nd adventure. Teenagers are dying of apparent suicides but Lexi starts to see similarities between the cases wondering if they are really suicides after all.
This is a great book #2 in this series and a great follow up to book 1. Can’t see what happens next!

Lexi Bennett is at it again, this time racing the clock to figure out why so many teenagers are suddenly committing suicide- and why nothing about their crime scenes really makes sense with a self-inflicted unaliving. Determined not to write these kids off, she digs deep until she uncovers a killer operating on the dark web to lure distressed teenagers to their own deaths.
Like in the first installment of this series, Lexi Bennett’s story unfolds as a suspenseful police procedural, but without the red herrings I find so annoying in thriller/suspense books these days. We are really given what we need to follow along with the investigation through Detective Bennett’s eyes until everything becomes clear. This time I felt like I “figured it out” before Lexi and her crew, but I only had to yell at them for a chapter or two (and then my sister, as we buddy read this and both went uhhh Lexi, girl, come on….). I also enjoyed that, unlike book 1 where it was extremely personal for Lexi from the very start, this case allowed her to be a little more objective for most of the investigation, which in turn allowed her to be more level headed and not jump to conclusions quickly. I also enjoyed being able to see Lexi and her sister, Amber, in an actual relationship, and it was nice that Lexi had somewhere to go and someone to talk to this time when things got tough. Overall, I found this to be another really solid installment of the Lexi Bennett series, and I look forward to her next one!

Lexi Bennett is waling through the streets of Canterbury when she hear screaming. She arrives to find a teenage girl staring at the sky having fallen from the tower. What can have happened, did she slip, did she jump or was she pushed. The girl is talented musician Olivia. She was friends with Lexi's nephew & he refuses to believe she would have done this. When another musical teen dies & there are strange similarities in their suicide notes Lexi believes there is someone out there pulling the strings, although her boss does not agree. When Lexi's nephew goes missing she knows she is right, but can she save Sam?

I really enjoyed the first in this series & if anything this one was even better- I can't wait to read the next instalment! Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

Thank you to Bookouture for providing this advanced copy for my review!

This is the second installment in the Lexi Bennett series, and I was so impressed that it was available mere weeks after I read the ARC of the first book. Alison Belsham must be a writing machine!

In this installment, Lexi is investigating a series of teen suicides which just don’t seem quite right. Did they really take their own lives? Did someone assist them? Or, even worse, force them? When Lexi’s nephew Sam is caught in the fray, the clock begins to tick to solve this awful mystery.

To start, please be aware that this book may be triggering for you if you are sensitive to suicide or self-harm. Proceed with caution!

I enjoyed the same things about Lexi this time around. She is intelligent, good at her job, and logical while still being empathetic. She is at times frustratingly impulsive, but the benefit of this being a series is that we are learning that this is really just one of her personality traits. No one is perfect, and she is always trying to improve her self-control!

This story was a little different from the first one. This book was definitely a bit more twisty, but I still really appreciated that there weren’t a million red herrings thrown in before there was an out-of-nowhere final reveal. I did eventually predict where the ending was going, but it was because all of the little pieces lined up in order, and it made sense! That is the kind of mystery I like.

Though I am a fan of mysteries and thrillers, I don’t read a lot of police procedurals, so it was interesting to see Lexi’s process. It was fascinating to see her confidently outline a plan of attack in the briefing room, even when she had no idea what to do next. I’m not sure how other books compare, but I enjoyed it in this one.

My one note - The first few chapters of the book felt slightly clunky, writing wise. At first I wondered if it was just because I listened to the first book as an audiobook and was reading this one in print, and I needed a British voice to make it sound smooth. But I think it was also just because it is a sequel, and the author had to quickly reintroduce everyone from the first book. After this first section was over, I felt like things smoothed out.

Speaking of which - can we get the audiobook for the third one, publisher? Pretty please? Thank you!

Overall, if you liked The Girls on Chalk Hill, you will definitely like this one, perhaps even more! I would read them in order. While they’re different cases, it’s important to get a sense of Lexi, her team, and their development. But definitely do it!

Detective Lexi Bennett is taking a lunch break away from her desk when she notices police holding a crowd back. Moving towards to help out, she finds a teenage girl laying on the ground, apparently fallen from the city’s towers. Lexi feels the burden this family most feel, and the questions. Later that day she heads over to her sisters for Sam (her nephew) birthday, and finds out that the girl was a friend. Sam is adamant that Olivia would not have jumped, Lexi promises him that she will look into it.
The next day another teenager is found dead, ….
Second book in a great series, you can read it on its own.

Thrilling. Tense. Beautifully written. Thoroughly addictive. A masterpiece of a series and this book is just absolutely wonderful and unputdownable. Loved it so much.

Wow the first book in this series was so good this one is as amazing! I absolutely loved it, my heart was actually racing at one point! I adore Lexi and glad we got to know her team more. This book was crazy from the start I have no idea who the killer was I couldn’t put it down. I had to stop reading a few times to just breathe it was that good!! I can not wait for the next one

The Girl’s Last Cry by Alison Belsham is the second book in her gripping Detective Lexi Bennett series. The well-developed mystery within this latest installment will hook readers of thrilling police procedurals.

Since her return home to head up Canterbury’s Major Investigation Team, Lexi has been inundated with case after case. While her team is tying up loose ends on a current investigation, another bizarre case lands at her feet. One of those rare moments when she got some time to relax, Lexi took a leisurely walk on the Canterbury streets. While enjoying her walk, she heard screams. Following the sound of the screams led her to a gruesome discovery: the body of a female teenager lying on the ground.

The victim’s parents say she had everything to live for and would not have jumped to her death. Lexi’s nephew was friends with her and he refused to believe she would take her own life. But then how do you explain the suicide note? However, the death of another teenager and the accompanying suicide note prompts Lexi to dig deeper. 

The story in this installment touches on the dangers of the internet, with emphasis on the dark web. It also touched on mental health. Lexi works hard to solve the mystery behind the apparent suicides. The fact it involved teenagers hit her hard given her past and which made her determined to discover the truth. The case took on a personal nature when her nephew got caught in the middle of the disturbing events.

Lexi’s determination and diligence once again came to light. Although she made a few questionable choices, one would not expect from an experienced investigator. The mystery kept me on my toes. It took most of the story to figure out the identity of the mastermind. However, as the clues came together, both the identity and motive became clear.

The Girl’s Last Cry delivered a clever, suspenseful and engaging tale with some interesting twists. Fans of police procedurals will want to pick up this latest mystery by Belsham.

I listened to the audiobook of the first in this series and thoroughly enjoyed it so was eager to get my grubby little fingers on this, the second and I definitely wasn't disappointed. You don't have to have read the first book as I think this works really well as a standalone but I would recommend it as it's a cracker!

Once again, Alison Belsham has constructed a story that is absolutely gripping with bundles of tension, characters that are believable and written at a pace that is perfect.

Please be warned that this book deals with teenage suicide so if that is a trigger for you, I would move on although I think Alison deals with it sensitively and without any sensationalism.

My thanks go to Bookouture and NetGalley for enabling me to read and share my thoughts of this latest Lexi Bennett investigation and I look forward to the next.