Three Drowned Girls is the second book by Emily Shiner featuring Detective Freya Sinclair, but can be read without previously reading the first novel. Freya returns to her home town after five years away following a traumatic incident involving her parents. She soon becomes the lead investigator on a case involving missing girls. The story moves along as we learn more about Freya and additional characters are introduced who I feel will also feature on future novels. Fans of the crime thriller genre will enjoy the book even if the ending is far fetched.

i finished listening to the audiobook in ONE DAY. i immediately was drawn to the plot and wanted to know more of the back story.

i enjoyed the third person narration using different voices for each character.

my jaw DROPPED at the twist about halfway through the book. the plot moves at a perfect pace that keeps you wanting more. the dialogue is simple and precise.

… YOU WILL NEVER GUESS THE ENDING

Really enjoyed this audio book. I thought the storyline was very easy to get lost in and my journeys passed in a flash whilst listening to this. I found the characters very relatable and look forward to listening to more of this authors books.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Emily Shiner for the advanced copy of this book. I agreed voluntarily to give my unbiased opinion.

I quite enjoyed this book although I suspect most of the credit for that has to go to the audiobook narrator, whose voice acting of all the parts was really very good. It felt as if it was really slow going particularly at the beginning, with it taking a sizeable chunk of the novel to even find anyone who had a missing daughter. At the end of the day, however engaging and chilling I found the story, it still never quite felt plausible that so many people would have their 6 year old daughters go missing and nobody said a word about it - it is explained why at the end, of course, but it still didn't ring true which was a shame. I think I was more interested in the story that had obviously happened before the beginning of the novel with Freya's murderous parents - I would definitely have wanted to read that! (Except I know what happened now, so there's kind of no point.)

#ThreeDrownedGirls #NetGalley
5 ⭐
After five years away from her hometown of Fawn Lake, Detective Freya Sinclair isn’t expecting a warm welcome from the people she’s sworn to protect. She became a detective to bring serial killers like her parents to justice, but the tight-knit North Carolinian community can’t see past her twisted roots. Minutes after stepping foot back home, the body of a dark-haired young girl is pulled from the river and Freya races to the scene. She’s determined to identify the child and finally prove herself, but before Freya even has a chance to search through missing persons, another girl is reported missing. Freya’s heart breaks at the sight of little Isa’s blonde ringlets and pristine soccer uniform in the photo her father clutches, but the look on his face says he doesn’t trust Freya. Does he think she’s just like her parents, or does he have a sinister secret of his own? But when another innocent girl is found drowned, Freya finds a white hair ribbon snagged on a branch, and instantly recognizes it as part of the soccer team uniform at the local school…
I loved it.
Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for giving me an advance copy.

This was a 4 star book for me! I found the storyline incredibly interesting. The narrator was fantastic and did a great job with all of the characters. Highly recommend for a good thriller!

I've never heard of this author, but chose to read it based on the cover alone. Definitely a page turner. I was shocked by some of the twists.

I got to read an advanced copy (in this case an audiobook) in exchange for a fair review. I wanted to like this book but there were so many problems. The plot centers around multiple young girls being victims, and the people in the community don't seem that interested. The final reveal was unbelievable -- literally. For multiple reasons. There's a subplot about the lead detective having serial killer parents, but there isn't much about that, and I've seen other writers do the same thing recently. There were also a lot of mistakes regarding police procedures. The narrator felt like the wrong voice for what was happening and the accents didn't feel natural for what was happening.

I devoured this book. It was messed up and twisted. Missing little girls, ones that weren’t even reported missing?! How can that even be? Freya and Candy bust their butts to try to figure out who the girls belong to. The more time that passes the more bodies pile up. I thought I had figured this one out a couple of times, but I wasn’t even close.

I want more of Freya’s backstory. I need to know more about her parents and Esther and why she left Fawn Lake. I can’t wait to read book 2.

I really enjoyed the audio. Amelia’s voice really sucked me into the story.

Thank you Bookouture and NetGalley for my ALC of this book.

Freya has recently moved back to her hometown and is feeling the backlash of her parent's actions from her childhood. She is a detective, but people don't trust her because of her history. On her first day on the job, a little girl's body is discovered in the river and nobody can identify the child. Another girl is reported missing who looks similar to the girl who was found. Freya cannot get clear answers about the child's whereabouts and starts digging deeper into the family and how suspicious they are acting. A third girl is found drowned and this is when Freya knows that something nefarious is going on. She has to get to the bottom of it before another child is killed.

This book hit me so deeply in my mom heart, and disturbed me to my core. I still loved it though. The story was frustrating at times because we had to go through the same frustrations that Freya had. It all worked perfectly and the book was amazing. I would maybe put a trigger warning about cultish scenarios. I would highly recommend this for thriller fans.

Three Drowned Girls by Emily Shiner and narrated by Amelia Sciandra, is the first book in a new Detective Freya Sinclair series and what a cracking read this was. It was full of great twists and turns that will have you gripped from the very first few pages.

When Freya Sinclair was a little girl, she had no idea what her parents were hiding in the basement of her childhood home….....She could never of dreamt it and it was a shocking find when she found out about it!

Five years have passed, Freya had moved away from her hometown of Fawn Lake.......Now, she is now a Detective and she became a detective was to bring serial killers like her parents to justice, but the tight-knit North Carolinian community can’t see past her twisted roots. So, she wasn't expecting a warm welcome from the people she’s sworn to protect.

Within minutes after stepping foot back home, a body of a dark-haired young girl is pulled from the river and Freya races to the scene. She’s determined to identify the child and finally prove herself, but before Freya even has a chance to search through missing persons, another girl is reported missing. WoW this is sooooo good......

I highly recommend this book. I loved it.

Big Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a dark police procedural driven by Captain Freya Sinclair with a shocking plot. I enjoyed the main characters including her detectives Candy, Brad and Esther who had taken her in when her own parents abandoned her. Freya has her own past of her issues but deals with them appropriately.

I found the book quite disturbing in all honesty but thoroughly enjoyed it, if that makes sense at all. I would recommend it.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookoutre Publishing

A really interesting book, following a Detective recently returned to her home town (to a not super welcoming reception, because of the actions of her parents). A young girl is discovered drowned, and other young girls seem to be going missing...

This was a solid mystery, a little repetitive in places and a few times when I thought they should have come to conclusions a bit quicker, but it kept me interested and I enjoyed hearing about these characters. Would be interested to read more from this author.

I listened to an advanced readers copuy of the audio book of Three Drowned Girls by Emily Shiner. The book was well narrated, and the story was interesting. The book tells the story of a police detective who has returned to her home town to work, five years after having left when her parents were convicted of a series of murders. Detective Freya Sinclair has returned at the wrong moment, as a drowned girl has been found in a local river. And then a second body is found along a lake. Add to it, there are several young girls who have been missing from the local elementary school - or at least not showing up for school.

The book tells an intriguing tale of a criminal investigation seeking to solve a mystery. The story has a lot of pieces, and requires the reader to pay close attention to it, but the story is interesting, and compelling enough to keep reading to the end. There were a few times when I felt like the author was a bit repetitive with the constant theme of going to a person of interest, and threatening to get a warrant when they don't cooperate. In many instances, I wasn't sold that there actually was probable cause, just a sense of suspicion. BUT minor quibbling, an interesting book. AND it is the first in a series featuring Detective Freya Sinclair.

Themes: murder, child abuse, detective, crime
Book Cover first thoughts: Beautiful and I love the trees, I think the title / author's name is too large.
First Book in the series: Three Drowned Girls

The main character, Freya Sinclair is a detective who grew up in a small town, Fawn Lake, North Carolina. I read more books with strong female lead characters and this did not disappoint. Everything is the viewpoint of Freya. The book jumps into the story quickly with Freya going to a crime scene where a young girl has been found in the lake. Freya then tries to find information and review files to identify the missing girl when another girl is reported missing. As the book progresses Freya continues to try to solve a case involving 3 young girls.

Overall, I think the book was exciting, had some intense moments. I could see the book triggering those that maybe have lost a child or lost a friend.

Con: I do wish the story about her parents was discussed more, what they did, etc. I expected that to be discussed more and be a bigger part of the story overall based of the description of the book.

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Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC (Advance Reader Copy) of Three Drowned Girls by Emily Shiner. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. Publication date is currently expected to be April 22, 2024. This review is being shared on NetGalley, Goodreads and Amazon.

I thought the story and writing was great, however the narration wasn’t my favorite. I didn’t catch certain parts of the story due to it, but overall great story. I will read it next time

When Detective Freya Sinclair moves back to her hometown she didn't expect her first case to be about an unidentified girl that was found in the river. But little did she know this girl was going to the first of many. What is happening to the girls in this town? And why is no one looking for them? Follow Freya and her new team as they solve these cases.
This book had me laughing, crying and glued as I worried if another girl would go missing. I would describe this book as part Law and Order SVU and part Criminal Minds. And I would recommend this book to anyone who loves crime, mystery and thrillers! Thank you to Bookouture Audio and NetGalley for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this audio.

What a great thriller!!! This book was so good! Very well written only thing was I didn’t really like the narrator. But the book is great!!!

A carefully creative story of a parents worst nightmare that will have you wondering about the human race. Remaining clean takes on a new horrific meaning

I had a very hard time with this book. The narrator did a great job in production but I struggled to follow timelines