This author and book have been in my to read list for nearly 5 years I am ashamed to say. What I am glad about is that I finally picked this up and am well on my way with catching up with this series and author. Lucy Harwin is a Detective who is pretty fiery and is instantly likeable who works alongside her friend and colleague Mattie. This first installment starts with the murder of somebody within the old Moore Asylum which now stands as a derelict building. It doesn't take them long to work out the identity of the victim as a Doctor who worked at the asylum many years before.


The story is split between now and the past but there is no interruption in the writing flow as you switch between the times. Plenty of suspects and lots of history unravels the further you travel into the book. It flowed well and certainly kept me interested and reading and I really enjoyed learning about Lucy as a character. We are introduced to elements of her personal life including her ex-husband and daughter. I particularly liked the past chapters which were told from the killers perspective and I thoroughly enjoyed this first book in this series. Like anything, I prefer to binge read and catch up on series I enjoy so was pleased that I could move swiftly onto book 2. A great first book in a series and another author to be added to my fast growing to read list.

Read this quite some time ago now so can’t remember it too clearly, but I do remember it being a very enjoyable read and that I have since read other books from the series. Would recommend to crime thriller readers.

Dear Publishers.

Firstly, thanks very much for the opportunity to read and review this title.

Unfortunately, I just wanted to let you know that I won't be reading and reviewing this title due to the large number of titles that I currently have on my shelf, and my inability to read them all. Also, I feel that a review at this late stage probably won't assist you or the author. For these reasons, I've decided to tidy up of my Netgalley shelf and I will be removing this one from my TBR pile.

I hope to be able to read and review further titles for you in the future.

Thanks and Regards
Kim

Loved this book gripping read in a day Helen style of written pulls u in yo plot great love yo hate characters a good plot just what you need

I'm in the minority on this one. I've read a lot of female lead police procedural stories and this one just didn't do it for me. The characters are flat and uninteresting. I did not like the main character, Lucy Harwin. Being a detective and catching bad guys is the highest priority in her life including her family. She goes by gut feelings instead of following evidence. Story was boring with no big twists.

Thank you to Netgalley, Bookouture and Helen Phifer for a copy of "The Lost Children" in exchange of an honest review.

The lost children by Helen Phifer.
This is book 1 of the Detective Inspector Lucy Harwin series.
Absolutely brilliant. I loved the story. What a surprise. I didn't expect that. What a twister of a read. I loved Lucy and Matthew. I hope there is more to come. 5*.

DI Lucy Harwin has a pleasant job in Brooklyn Bay. It's a quiet, somewhat run-down seaside town where little out of the ordinary seems to happen. That is until the asylum, which has been closed for years, makes an unwanted reappearance in the town conscience. The dead body of a former doctor at the asylum is found in the most gruesome of ways. It's time to reveal the darker side of life in Brooklyn Bay...

This was a delightful debut novel by Helen Phifer. Her real-life knowledge of life in the police and experience shines through in this gripping read. The characters are well written, especially Lucy, Mattie, Ellie and Browning. The relationship between Lucy and Ellie was my favourite and the development was perfect.

A thoroughly enjoyable and refreshing read. I look forward to reading more in this series!

Another book from my backlist challenge this year. Personal goal.

Oh boy what can I say. This book is creepy, it’s age of your seat amazing work.

I’m onto book 2

DI Lucy Harwin is returning to work after a horrid case resulting in two murders. With her best friend, DS Mattie Jackson cheering her on she arrives back on her first day to a grizzly murder victim. The case follows twists and turns and ultimately it’s too close to home!

What a cracking read this was. The chemistry between Lucy and mattie is believable and the way this is written is great. Can’t wait to start the second one! Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest review,

What a. Brilliant debut book for a new character! Immediately I was gripped with Luxy and this story. Lots of totally unexpected twists and turns in a book that doesn't hold back any punches keeping you on the edge of your seat. I loved this and as a result went through the back catalogue for other books by Helen.

I love a new crime series, especially when it’s published by Bookouture, so I went into The Lost Children with great excitement. I started it late one night and just wanted to read on and on because the opening was so strong. It’s atmospheric, sets the scene brilliantly and just hooks you right in.

Helen Phifer writes with real emotion in her words. The scenes within the old asylum back in 1975 are haunting. Compare that with the scene in the present day of one of the doctors killed inside the abandoned asylum and it becomes quite a creepy and eery read. The asylum in 1975 was on its way out, the last few patients being children. We, the reader, learns that some of the children witnessed a murder and a cover-up by the staff and it’s these staff members who are being killed in the present day.

As a reader knowing what these staff members did it made me not really feel any sympathy for them. Abusing your position as a nurse and doctor in this way deserves some kind of punishment. Is that punishment murder? Well... Either way I guess it could be said that it’s easy to understand why they would be killed. Unfortunately for Lucy Harwin she first views the victims as innocent old pensioners, shocked that someone could possibly want to kill them. One would assume as a hardened police officer she would know that people getting killed in such gruesome ways is always personal, regardless of age.

Lucy is a fantastic character. With so many crime series out there at the minute I think it can be hard for an author to create a character with real originality and somebody that stands out. Lucy does stand out despite having a wayward teenager and an ex-husband to contend with (this is fictional crime after all we can’t possibly have happily married characters) and a tiny drink problem, she was an enjoyable character to read about and I especially liked her relationship with her team, especially her partner Mattie. Who, Lucy’s daughter describes as looking like Tom Hardy when he was Reggie Kray in Legend (so, sexy AF then). Easy to see why Lucy has a bit of a soft spot for him. He was equally an interesting character and I’m excited to see the developments between this pairing in the future.

The plot moves at a nice enough pace. The murders are very gruesome which I always love in crime fiction and I felt that (most of the realism like paperwork etc pushed aside for the purposes of entertainment) that the team did a believable job and I enjoyed following along with the investigation. Unfortunately (for me at least) it was around the 65% mark when I worked out who the killer was going to be. It did detract from my enjoyment a little bit because it ruined the suspense for me and when the reveal arrived it wasn’t a surprise for me. Other than that I can’t find any faults with this story and it’s the start of what is looking to be a fantastic series. The setting of Brooklyn Bay is well-imagined and I am looking forward to seeing it utilised in future stories. There’s lots of room for development here and this is a series that we will hopefully be seeing for a few more books yet. The working out of the plot twist aside, I highly recommend The Lost Children and I am moving straight on to the second book because I loved my time with Lucy and Mattie and can’t wait to continue their story.

I can't give this book a good review because I had to dnf it. I just didn't like it. It wasn't for me. The main character was annoying and I was bored.

On her first day back to work after her last case ended in a devastating murder, Lucy Harwin is thrown into another case where a ruthless killer seems to be out to get everyone who did wrong back when The Moore Asylum was open. Past blends with the present as Lucy must figure out what had happened in the Asylum all those years ago and who would be responsible in committing such brutal murders before they strike again.

I don’t know how to feel about this book. It started out strong and interesting. I liked the flash back to the past and learning about the Asylum, even thought what they did to those kids made my stomach turn it was weaving to be an interesting ARC.

Half way through the flashbacks stopped prematurely I feel and I never got the feel scope of why the killer decided to avenge, I felt like we did not get the full story of what drove the killer and the author probably should have stuck with it.

On top of it, I did not really know how Lucy came to the conclusion of who the murderer is because I felt like it could have been a number of people from the flashbacks. This of course leads back to me feeling like that particular part was left undeveloped. There was also one clue that threw me off, because when we get the murders perspective, the second murder smelled aftershave, which you would assume is usually associated with a man?

I also wished the characters were more likable, but outside of Mattie – Lucy’s partner – who I tolerated, everyone else was really hard to like. Lucy in particular was hard to like. She is a workaholic who spends a lot of time focusing on her work, which is expected with the type of work she is doing. But Lucy also drinks a lot and has a really rocky relationship with her teenage daughter. There was one scene in particular that made me dislike Lucy more when she came home to a ransacked bedroom and automatically assumed that her teenage daughter was responsible for it. Based on what? Her daughter does not live with her. So she drives to her ex-husband’s house and lays into her daughter without bothering to give her even one brief benefit of a doubt.

Lucy started to become redeemable at the end as she did her best to fix her relationship with her daughter, but I wasn’t sure I was feeling her character anymore.

The story does feel like you are thrown into a middle of the series because Lucy is in the middle of a therapy session after her last case goes haywire. Unfortunately, we only get bits and pieces of this later on in the book.

Overall the plot could have been more interesting, a killer taking out revenge from the past? Sure. Flashback to the Asylum? Sure. But it all somehow fell flat in the end and a bit underdeveloped. I enjoyed myself when I wasn’t frustrated but it could have been so much more and it wasn’t.

Decent start to a series! Very captivating! If you like a book that keeps you flipping pages faster then your eyes can handle then this book is for you. Loved!

For decades, The Moore, housed the children who were disabled, had mental problems, some were just unwanted by their parents. Horrendous experiments were carried out on some of theses youngsters ... you'd have to count the cemetery stones behind the hospital to know just how many. Thankfully, the hospital was closed down 40 -some years ago.

Closed .. but not forgotten by everyone.

Detective Lucy Harwin has been on medical leave after a case went terribly wrong. Today is her first day back and she's immediately thrust into an investigation. An older man has been found in the long abandoned hospital. He's dead with what looks like an ice pick stuck in one of his eyes, very much reminiscent of having a lobotomy.

*Together with her partner, Detective Mattie Jackson, Lucy begins to unearth the hospital's terrible history, and soon finds herself on the trail of a killer ruthlessly fixated on avenging the crimes of the past.*

New series ... new author for me. This is an extremely well written crime thriller. The story line is a brutal one as it involves the horrors inflicted on young children. It's actually a piece of history that we would all like to forget. This fictional story shows what could happen to the children who survive this kind of treatment.

The characters are not cardboard cutouts. They come across as very human and extremely credible. Lucy is flawed and she has issues, but she is also a lot stronger than she realizes. Her partner is younger, lighter, but just as dedicated to seeing justice done for all victims.

Personal Note of Interest: I found a blurb about this author stating that she is a fan of Stephen King. Sure enough, one of the characters in this book is named Dr. Stephen King.

I look forward to following this author .. and this series.

Many thanks to the author / Bookouture / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime thriller, Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

“ ‘Alice? Alice?’ Lizzy Hissed.”
Ward thirteen was unusually quiet. In fact it was too quiet, and this was what had disturbed Lizzy… Alice who had been there much longer than Lizzy…was asleep.”
“Lizzy noticed that Tommy’s bed was empty. This afternoon he had gone berserk and he’d been taken away for treatment…Treatment-the very word struck fear into Lizzy’s heart. She was only nine years old, but she knew well enough that if you didn’t behave they would inject all sorts of poison into your veins and call it medicine.”
With such mind numbing fearful words we open the book Lost Children by Helen Phifer.

• My thoughts:- In a nutshell this is a story of a child thrown into a mental institution(known as The Moore) for unknowingly killing her baby brother where she had seen and experienced enough trauma to become bitter in her adult life and avenging those who had harmed her. Our fearless Detective Inspector Lucy Harwin takes up the job of solving the murder mysteries and catching the criminal red handed.

• The story showed me a part of surgeries of mental illnesses called Lobotomy. I didn’t know anything about it. But as I Googled about it, I realized I had jumped into a hellhole. How such a brutal procedure can be a cure for an illness?
Also it seems that mostly women were the patients to undergo lobotomy. According to the Wikipedia, “The majority of lobotomies were performed on women; a 1951 study of American hospitals found nearly 60% of lobotomy patients were women.” Seriously??

Although it says that in the 1950s lobotomies were almost eradicated this book’s timeline shoes 1975 and that means the institution were performing it illegally.

• Anyway coming back to the book again, it is a well constructed plot. The authoress has run the past and present events very skillfully, without making her readers confused which actually happens to many books with such plots.

• Another amazing thriller with strong back-boned lady detective. Lucy Harwin is the oxygen of this novel. A woman of blood and flesh, trying to balance the work and family together and failing, Lucy can be interpreted as any working woman. She intakes alcohol too much to keep the nightmares of her job at bay.

The story is same in India now as more and more women are now educated and trying to be financially independent yet have to suffer.

Her husband should have been more supportive not leaving and having an affair. That was disappointing of him. Her daughter was better than him. Well this is entirely my opinion.
Also I am not at all distressed about the doctor and abusive nurse’s death. They deserved it.

• Diction is not very catchy or compelling yet has enough aura to suck you in. Well suited for such a plot.

• Cover is stunning. Blue and black with the silhouettes of two girl children shows something ominous will happen to the innocence.

Drawbacks and ratings:- Only drawback I felt that the authoress has left many loose ends for us in the earlier chapters to grasp on who is the real killer. Although Lucy is one amazing woman and she has intuition of a detective still it felt as if all the things she guessed about the murders (which were actually right) were too good to be true. How can you grasp all things right at once?

However, those are not enough for me to not enjoy book. It was truly one great experience. 4 stars truly deserved. I will be waiting for more Lucy Harwin books in future.

Thanksgiving:- Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and the authoress Helen Phifer for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

Back in April, I put my auto-approval with Bookouture to good use, and downloaded this on Netgalley... and it sat for months waiting for me to read it while I read other books instead. I finally opened it up last week, and just like that, I've found a new series and author to love!

In my opinion, some of the best books (regardless of genre and sub-genre) use an old, abandoned asylum as a backdrop for the action. You can't pick a creepier setting that than... your imagination sparks images of sorts of things that might have happened there before you even crack open the book. They give books an ambience that can't be achieved in other settings, and is used to particularly chilling effect in crime thrillers.

Helen Phifer puts all of this to use in The Lost Children, creating a story about a place—the Moore Asylum—whose past is as horrifying as the murder that takes place there decades after its closure. It's the first of several murders connected to the asylum, and it's up to Detective Inspector Lucy Harwin to figure out who the killer is and put an end to the bloodshed.

Lucy Harwin is fabulously flawed. Her relationship with her daughter is rocky, and she's a workaholic with a tendency to drink too much at times in order to forget the horrific things she sees on the job. She struggles with the guilt she feels over victims she was unable to save, holding herself responsible whether she is or not. The woman has issues, but she's tough as nails when it comes to her job, and fiercely protective of the people she loves.

There are occasional flashbacks to the mid-1970s, which are told through one of three point of view: children who were patients in the asylum, a doctor at the asylum, and a nurse who worked on Ward 13—the children's ward. It was fascinating to see the asylum through the eyes of people who worked, or were patients, there. The abandoned asylum of the present day is creepy, but what happened before the asylum closed is the stuff of nightmares.

I was able to figure out a couple of things before they were revealed in the story, but it didn't affect the rating I've chosen to give this book because there were a couple of things I didn't see coming that were fantastic and really added to the story.

I can't wait to read more about Lucy Harwin!

The Lost Children is a debut detective novel by Helen Phifer , featuring DI Lucy Harwin

On DI Lucy first day back from work she comes across a heinous murder committed in an asylum that has been closed down for many years. The asylum was a place for troubled children and horrible crimes were committed against them . It finally shut down after a scandal but somebody is bent on taking revenge against the people who ran that place .DI Lucy and her team are on the case and piece by piece the horrors that the kids went through in the asylum are slowly revealed.

It’s a great start to the police procedural series with believable characters. A few twists , fast read and will definitely look forward to more in the series.

Many thanks to Bookouture & NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest and fair review.

This and more reviews at https://chloesbooksblog.wordpress.com/

First in the Lucy Harwin series. A great book that I read too fast and was gutted when I had finished it! Roll on Book 2
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

The Lost Children by Helen Phifer is a dark, creepy police procedural that had me hooked from the very first page. After a devastating case that ended in the murder of a mother and her child, Detective Lucy Harwin returns to the police force to investigate a murder at an abandoned asylum. What secrets lie behind the walls of The Moore Asylum? The further Lucy and her partner Mattie investigate the murder, the more that is revealed of the horrors and abuse that occurred in the past. This is a fast paced, action packed thriller with well-developed and very believable characters. I look forward to reading the next in the series!