The Missing Ones by Patricia Gibney

"When a woman's body is discovered in a cathedral and hours later a young man is found hanging from a tree outside his home, Detective Lottie Parker is called in to lead the investigation. Both bodies have the same distinctive tattoo clumsily inscribed on their legs. It's clear the pair are connected, but how? The trail leads Lottie to St. Angela's, a former children's home, with a dark connection to her own family history. Suddenly, the case just got personal. As Lottie begins to link the current victims to unsolved murders decades old, two teenage boys go missing. She must close in on the killer before they strike again, but in doing so, is she putting her own children in terrifying danger? Lottie is about to come face-to-face with a twisted soul who has a very warped idea of justice."--

Took a while to finish this book, really. And unfortunately, I have to say that it was one of those tedious and exhausting reads. While the premise of the story was intriguing - a small Irish town plagued by a string of disappearances - the execution left much to be desired.

The pacing of the book was uneven, with some parts feeling sluggish and horribly stagnant, some parts are over-repeated and others feeling rushed. The characters were not particularly interesting and I found it difficult to like or identify with any of them, especially with the main characters.

Furthermore, the writing style was... somewhat lacklustre and lacked the depth and nuance that I look for in a thriller. The dialogue felt stilted and contrived, making it difficult to fully engage with the story.

While this book had the potential to be a gripping thriller, it disappointed in many areas and left me feeling very underwhelmed. It's not as gripping as I expected. What a bummer.

I think... too stereotypical crime setup for me. And maybe a bit too slow paced. I liked that the book never took the easy way out. It's a rough book.

This book was a bit of a slog. Don't get me wrong, the story was decent but I felt the characters were a bit underwhelming.

I almost gave up on it twice. I'm glad I didn't because it was graphic and I was disturbed in all the right ways. It was well written but the characters.. UGHHHHHHHHHHH.

I think there is a good chance it was because of the narrator. This has happened to me before and reading the book improved the characters so I am waiting on my library hold and if there is an update, you will get one too.

3.5 stars