Bring Them Home by DS Butler

9^th May 2023.

This is an interesting crime story, featuring the police investigation of two girls, who leave school early one afternoon and disappear into nearby woodland. DI Karen Hart leads the investigation, convinced there’s a link to a previous disappearance. That case was never resolved.

The investigation and reactions of the parents and local community are deftly handled, building the tension and suspense as Karen Hart struggles to make progress. Her failures on the previous case haunt her and colour her actions and as the pressure mounts to find the missing girls.

The tension keeps you turning the pages as the list of suspects and motives grows with each chapter until the breakthrough and climax sweep into effect. Karen Hart is a believable, likable character with her own demons.

I also liked the way the story remained focused on the investigation, rather than moving between this and the nightmare facing the girls.

It’s a good introduction to DI Hart and a solid basis for further investigations.

Description

A perfect village. A perfect crime.

When two young girls disappear from their primary school, the village of Heighington is put on high alert—and not for the first time. Called in to investigate, Detective Karen Hart is sure that parallels with a previous disappearance are anything but coincidental.

DS Hart is still reeling from a case she tried and failed to solve eighteen months ago, when a young woman vanished without a trace. She’s no nearer to the truth of what happened to Amy Fisher, but with two children missing now too, the stakes have never been higher. As she looks to the past for clues, she must confront her own haunting loss, a nightmare she is determined to spare other families.

Hart soon realises that nothing in this close-knit Lincolnshire community is what it seems. Pursuing the investigation with personal vengeance, she finds herself in conflict with her scrupulous new boss, but playing by the rules will have to wait. Because while there’s no shortage of suspects, the missing girls are running out of time…