I found the subject matter of this book hard to read and it affected me in such a way that I could not continue with the story.

I am sure it is well written but I could not complete the book.

This book is essentially a social commentary framed around a legal thriller. It's not bad but the main focus really isn't the thriller/mystery. Justin Glass is a mixed-race attorney descended from a prominent white family (his mother's side) and a local Black hero of the Civil Rights movement (his father) who has since become a political entity.

Justin is a middle-aged widower who has been living in something of a fog since his wife died of cancer leaving him as a single parent with an eleven-year-old daughter. His law practice is barely staying afloat and his cases mainly consist of plea bargains as a public defender. When a little Black girl shows up in his office with a pickle jar half-full of change asking him to find her missing brother Justin Glass doesn't want the case but, seeing someone in a worse situation than his own, finds it hard to refuse. He agrees to check around and see what he can find out.

Thus begins his road to recovery. He becomes part of a high-profile case involving serial murders of local teenaged boys, acting as a go-between for the tight-lipped community and the authorities. His business begins to thrive, his relationship with his own daughter gets renewed priority, and along the way he picks up a sassy assistant who has a collective of relatives that can do pretty much anything anyone needs done.

Little Boy Lost is very much a story for our times. It is all about the failure of the System to meet the needs of the most at risk people in the poorest communities. The characters aren't very original but I will say that as far as "message" stories go this one goes down pretty easy without getting too awful heavy handed. It's relatively fast-paced, a pleasant time waster that doesn't require a lot of thought, easy to read in small bites.

Should be suitable for most readers.

Juvenile African-American boys are missing - for years - and no one gives a fig as they are potential delinquents. Attorney Justin Glass would neither (not knowing about it), but he is asked for help. Justin himself is black (coming from prominent black family), so he knows a lot about the racial injustice and the different treatment. And he continues to fight the injustice the best he can.

What is important to know about this book is that it is mostly the political novel, partly legal thriller and parly a mystery novel (the mystery part being a weakest link here).

While the characters are interesting (if a bit clichey, like the smart emmigrant secretary), the plot is a bit repetitive in my opinion, concentrating mostly on the racial and political aspects of the story. Which is not bad per se, but I have come here for the mystery, which is played just as a side motive.

For the readers interested in the (racial) politics with a hint of mystery this could be a good choice.

A well done thriller about an attorney- Justin- who finds more than he bargained for when 8 year old Tanisha hires him to find her brother. Someone is killing young African Americans and burying them. A surprise around every corner and a good read.

I love a good mystery -- especially mysteries about the missing -- so, this was right up my alley. Little Boy Lost did not disappoint!

The story is well-written and I found myself hooked right away. Justin is a fully fleshed out and complex character that is easy to like, and I think many readers can relate to him. There were a few times when I felt like the author was pushing his agenda more than he was telling a story... but those were few and far between. For the most part, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it to any reader who loves a good mystery and/or legal drama.

**A big thanks to both Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read a free copy of this book.

I'm torn on his rating and review. I liked the story, the characters, but it had a bit of a slow pace for a thriller. There was a lot of going from place to place to place that just bogs down the story, the action. I would recommend it because it brings to light serious issues that need to be addressed in the US.

I loved the opening of this book. An 8 year old girl comes to Justin Glass, a lawyer, with a pickle jar filled with coins and a few bills. She wants to hire Justin to find her brother who has been missing for a month.

When Justin decides that he will look into it, what he finds is shocking. Someone is kidnapping and murdering black teenagers and burying them in the woods outside of St. Louis. Their one connection? They have all been in and out of the justice system since a very young age.

I really liked this book a lot. It reminded me of the Thomas Mullen books that deal with racial tensions and narrated by the blacks that are being prejudiced against. So there is actually a lot more going on in this book than just finding the little girl's brother.

An enjoyable read that I just sped through. The first book I've read by this author and it definitely won't be the last.

Thanks to Thomas & Mercer and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

Unlikely ending

The Glass family has been an important political force in the racially tense city of St. Louis. Two brothers, Justin and Lincoln, are in line to inherit their father's political machine and continue the family tradition. Justin the lawyer has been on a downward personal spiral for years since the death of his wife, but he picks himself up to help a little girl find her lost brother. When the lost brother's body is found in a mass grave, and when one mass grave leads to a horrifying series of similar murders, Justin's inner fire begins to burn.

I found the identity of the murderer a bit unlikely but overall the book reads well and promised to be the start of a series we will enjoy.

I received a review copy of "Little Boy Lost" by J. D. Trafford (Thomas & Mercer) through NetGalley.com.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. Little Boy Lost is one of those books that right from the start felt right. I instantly liked and later came to love Justin Glass, his daughter and the rest of his family, well perhaps not so much his brother Lincoln who is, to be honest, a bit of a jerk now and then. I also love the story

This was an engrossing crime novel. It is a story about murder. The lawyer Justin Glass is from a prominent St Louis family and he takes on an unusual case of a missing boy. Glass is a complex person who has experienced many losses in his life. His fragility brings a sensitivity to the book that is different from many other crime novels. The book includes race, politics, poverty and a lot more, it has a good pace but is not too busy. It was written in such a way it gave me a lot to think about. I enjoyed it very much.

I really enjoyed this book, it goes to show there's corruption in all small towns and cities in all levels, the author made the characters real and their lives believable , the ending also was very real, this is the first time I read this author and hope to read more, I thought the book was well written, an enjoyable read.

3 1/2 Stars

Little Boy Lost was a solid legal mystery. Trafford has a similar writing style to Grisham, but doesn't have quite the element of suspense. With great characters and a good plot, this was an enjoyable read. Hope this turns into a series!

Justin Glass is a member of a prominent black family in St Louis. His father is a US Congressman, his brother is a Senator and Julian is a lawyer doing mainly pro bono work for those who are unable to pay. But since the death of his wife, he has not been coping well. He has spent most of his days struggling with grief, letting his work slip and ignoring his daughter, Sammy who is being bullied at school. In fact, things have gotten so bad that he and Sammy have had to move into a guest house at the home of his white father-in-law.

But his life is about to change drastically when eight-year-old Tanisha Walker tries to hire him to find her missing brother. Although he tries to convince her he can’t help, he decides to phone a friend in the police department. He learns that Tanisha’s brother is just one of several teenaged African-American boys who have disappeared, all with criminal records going back to their pre-teens. Not exactly a priority issue for the police who assume that they have run away and, frankly, are not unhappy they are gone. But then bodies of several of these missing boys are found, all clearly the work of one killer and Glass is asked to help find him since many of the families and friends of the dead kids refuse to talk to the police.

Despite strong reservations, Glass decides to help. He soon finds himself up against racism, and a legal system that seems to have no interest in finding the killer especially as the clues that Glass uncover appear to point to one of their own.

Little Boy Lost by author J.D. Trafford is listed as a thriller but, as several other reviewers have pointed out, it is more a legal/murder mystery. Much of the story is about Glass’ relationship with his daughter, his brother, and his father’s efforts to get him to run for his seat in Congress as well as the Bosnian refugees who run his favourite coffee shop and introduce him to his new secretary/office manager. There is also a great deal about his daughter’s bullying and a client who refuses to plead guilty to a misdemeanor offence because, although this is hardly his first arrest, it is the first for a crime he is innocent of. All of this seems like it should have taken away from the story but, for the most part, it didn’t. These characters were interesting, mostly likable, and added to the story.

The book is well-written and gives an interesting look at race relations in America both inside and out of the judicial system although, again judging from other reviews, if you tend to be on the more Conservative side of the issue, you might want to give it a pass. For the rest, I give it a high recommendation.

Thanks to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review

Excellent story and interesting, valid characters
Looking forward to further books

I was very excited to get this book from NetGalley. The synopsis was very interesting to me. I began this book very excited. The beginning of the book was very good. A little girl comes into a lawyer's office wanting him to find her brother. Bring in racism and bigotry and settle in for a good read. What I found not good about this book was the ending. Just seemed very rushed and not much thought put into it. With a better ending, this would have been a 5 star read. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC of this book in return for my honest review.

I loved this book. It was about a lawyer trying to get justice for juvenile criminals. It has a shocking ending if you're not paying attention.

A legal thriller that seemed to hook me in from the beginning. It is about a black lawyer, Justin Glass, who starts to investigate the disappearance of some black youths after being asked by the sister of one of the missing teenagers.
As well as being a mystery this is also a book about racial issues which are very pertinent at the moment with what has been going on in the US. All the missing boys are black and not a lot seemed to have been done to find them, because of their race and their behaviour prior to their disappearances.
This is also a personal story about Justin and his struggles as a a widowed father. There were some interesting side characters including his secretary, Emma and his young daughter Sammy. I enjoyed learning more about their issues including Sammy’s difficulties at school and how she was bullied.
It seemed to me after reading this this novel that it could definitely be part of a series and this may be what the author has in mind.
However although the book started well I did not find it a particularly compelling read and I did not feel the urge to pick it up once I had put it down. It seemed to move along at a rather pedestrian pace and it did not really hold my interest.
The denouement was not really unexpected or even exciting. There are many legal thrillers out there and in my opinion this is not one of the greats although it is readable. Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for my arc in exchange for an honest review.

In J.D. Trafford’s latest novel “Little Boy Lost”, Justin Glass is an attorney who is doing his best to hold his life together when it seems is easier to let it fall apart. Justin’s life has been an uphill battle since his wife died and with the help of his family he is able to raise his daughter, but when a young girl appears in his office needing to hire him to find her missing brother, Justin has found a new reason to look forward. Justin soon realizes that there is more than one boy missing from the poorer parts of St Louis and he makes it his mission to find out what is happening to the children that the system seems to want to forget. Mr. Trafford pulls the reader in and holds on tight until the very end when he offers up a surprising twist in his carefully constructed novel. I was given an advanced copy of this book, and all of the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This is a great book. Justin Glass comes from a well known family in St Louis but all he wants to do is help people. When he is offered pennies by a young girl to find her brother how could he say no. This book deals with racism and bullying with a very likeable character. Thank you Netgalley and Thomas and Mercer for an advance copy of this book to read and review

In a city divided and broken, this revelation will set it on fire…

I can see that this storyline might be more than a little controversial with some readers, a sentiment which seems to have been borne out by the comments I have received following the various promotional posts I have run for the book. These are either issues you are comfortable about confronting, or would rather not see committed to print in this way – no halfway measures here, I’m afraid!

Personally, I agree totally with the sentiments, which I am assuming are his own. expressed by the author, through his protagonists and have no quelms in recommending the book as an excellent read in the genre and as a social history record of the modern times in which we live. In fact my only criticism and personal opinion, might be that the book didn’t go far enough in highlighting the racial tensions caused by the discovery of more than one mass grave, where the bodies of young coloured childen were buried. The City and community reactions to these horrific discoveries were almost like ripples on a pond, when I would like to think that in real life they would have caused a tidal wave of public opinon, condemnation and outrage, not to mention a huge police investigation and manhunt.

Whilst I found J.D.’s writing style fluid, conversational and easy to read, I did find that it tended to meander off at a tangent quite readily and was sometimes a little more passive and not as full of tension, as I might have hoped for. However, the descriptive qualities of several passages within the story, more than made up for that, with the narrative being easy to follow, well constructed and rich in detail.

The charaters were generally multifaceted, although I didn’t find any of them particuarly engaging and there was little or no synergy between them – almost no sense of ‘belonging’. Justin is a very difficult and emotionally complex character to really get to know, but how much of that is due to his recent and tragic loss and how much his own inherent insecurity, I couldn’t really tell.

As a single parent Justin is clearly struggling to keep body and soul together for the sake of his mixed race daughter, Sammy, although given the nature of his current investigation and the political minefield which his politician brother is asking him to become a part of, the way in which he deals with her being bullied at school, is far from being reflective of the beliefs on which he will stake his public future. He caves in all too readily to the family request that Sammy be allowed to move schools, to a privately run establishment, at their expense, when perhaps in reality, he might have been better served by taking up the challenge of changing beliefs within the school.

The story line got off to a great start, and although well paced, multi aspected and with with new information being added at a steady rate, I felt that it lost some of its momentum along the way and I was waiting with baited breath for a stronger ending, which didn’t materialise. Unlike some of my fellow readers though, I didn’t see the identity of the master criminal coming and I felt that the police were portrayed as very complacent, almost complicit, in brushing the entire affair under the carpet.

The combination of traditional thriller, legal drama and political intrigue, whilst making this story line almost too far reaching in its complexity, brings to the fore, issues which are so inextricably linked that it would have taken several volumes to have dealt with each of them on an individual basis and in any substantial detail. Therefore I felt that a compromise balance between length of story and content value, was achieved quite nicely by the author.

My 4 star rating takes into account all the little quirks and niggles I had about the book, which when taken as a complete package, was very readable and most enjoyable. I also look forward to catching up with J.D’s ‘Michael Collins’ series, very soon.