This was a great plot. How do you help someone disappear and then have to find them again? I love the character Marty and enjoyed reading of his adventure. I will definitely seek more of this series.
Many thanks to Thomas & Mercer and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Amanda (surrogate daughter) and Julie (main squeeze) talk Marty into helping a very unsavory person, Tommy Donlan, disappear from Donlan’s uncle who is small-time mob, and who it appears kidnapped Tommy’s wife while in the witness protection program, in the sixth installment of the Marty Singer Series, Once Was Lost by Matthew Iden. Singer is a retired DC Homicide detective, who has survived a major cancer scare, and who still tries to help others find people. Marty relies on old friends and colleagues from his working days in the police department, including some from federal agencies like the FBI. Donlan has a seven-year-old son, which is the main reason Marty agrees to help him.

Marty Singer is not only a likeable protagonist, but he is a caring person, and that makes most readers like him. He will go out of his way and push limits to help someone that he believes deserves the help (And in this case, someone like Tommy who probably doesn’t deserve the help, since he is a despicable person). Amanda and Julie have a big influence on Marty, which makes them all seem like normal, caring people that we all know. Iden is good at characterizing his bad guys, too, and in this book, readers will feel like Marty is helping the bad guy, as well as the good guys. Marty, who is on a small income, is even known to spend his own money on those he is trying to help.

Most readers will like Iden’s storytelling abilities – Iden tells the story in a well-organized way that makes the scenarios flow, and makes the book so it’s hard to put down. This is a good series, and most readers will want to start at the first installment and read them all, since the main characters grow and change as the books progress.


Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.