As enjoyable as this book was, it was nothing new and read like a look of Detective Inspector trying to solve the mystery of a missing/murdered child, and for that reason it did not impress me that much.

Omg wow this book is amazing it's full of twists and turns it will keep you up all night I really enjoyed this book

I am tired.
Shattered.
Anyone got matchsticks to keep my eyes open?

I read this book from my -catch up- challenge I set myself this year.
Oh man, why didn’t I read this before!

This is a two edged sword of a book.

I had been getting fed up of “police procedures/detectives so I put some aside. This was one of them.

Boy I wish I had read this sooner.

We have a DI who is returning to work after a medical procedure which we find is a man becoming what he feels he supposed to be, a woman. So all those emotions and surgeries, hormones and problems that come with peoples reactions to diversity.

Then we have her trying to solve a case of a missing child.

This is so insightful and cleverly written I couldn’t stop reading

This is a police procedural from a whole new angle, I never would have thought of it and if I’m honest I’m quite impressed. Alex Clare the author is leading the way with a DI who suffers from gender dysphoria and I for one am happy to follow her.

DI Roger Bailey returns to work as DI Robyn Bailey, not only does she have to deal with prejudice and negativity at work, it’s there on her first day back and her very first case looking for missing child, Ben Chivers that she realises just how difficult this transition is going to be. When all she wants to do is what she loves and does best, be a police officer.
We see her difficulties in being a woman, getting her make up right and her bra rubbing at the back, welcome to my world. Bens mother Melissa can’t hide her disgust when she meets Robyn, her attitude towards Robyn is unhelpful to say the least. It isn’t long before she lodges an official complaint against her.
It’s a busy and stressful time for her, becoming a woman, looking for missing Ben and trying to solve a spree of burglaries amongst other things.
I really hope that we see more of DI Robyn Bailey, I will be watching for her.

Read for an honest review. Thank you Netgalley and Impress Books.
I must apologise for a very late review on this novel.

He's Gone

I was really drawn to the cover of this book and what I found when I read it was amazing.

He's Gone is so much more than 'just another' police procedural about an abducted child (which weirdly is one of my favourite genres), it's potentially ground breaking in that it covers gender dysphoria when Roger returns to work as Robyn. This is another subject that fascinates me and I feel Robyn has the potential to become a strong role model.

Overall, a fast paced, addictive read that I couldn't put down!! 4.5* from me.

What a thriller of a book. Couldnt put it down. It was everything i imagined it to be from reading the description.

A well thought out and researched story. Robyn is written about sensitively and and compassionately. I would have liked the book to have been longer and there to have been more detail about the case and other police procedures. Still a good book and I would read another one.

HE'S GONE ... an intriguing title which drew me secondary to the cover of this book. What I found was not what I had expected.

HE'S GONE ... refers to the very young boy who disappears while shopping at a mall with his nanny. Ben is very bright for his age, but no match for any adult with horrible thoughts in their head. In this instance, the camera shows Ben being lead out by the hand of a woman.

HE'S GONE ... can also refer to the lead investigator, Robyn Bailley, who is just returning from a medical leave. Before her leave, she was known as Roger Bailley. Now that she is divorced and has been for years, Robyn has decided now is the time to do something for herself. She has always felt uncomfortable being a man.

She must live and work as a woman for a year before further surgical, hormonal changes can be done. So on her first day back, she is handed the case of the missing toddler. Facing her co-workers is hard. Most are very accepting of her changes, some not so much. By the end of the day, though, the 5:00 shadow is showing and she looks a mess. She's learning that it's not as easy being a woman as she thought it might be.

This is a two prong book ..... it is certainly a crime fiction and the investigation leads into many roads to determine what happened to baby Ben, especially as Ben's mother is acting nonchalant and unworried about the child. The police are not even sure that Ben is still alive...days after his kidnapping there have been no sightings. There has also been no ransom demand ...so who would want to take Ben? and Why?

And then there is the actions/reactions of not only his superiors, but members of his team, his teenage daughter who definitely doesn't understand and even the media, to deal with. The author has certainly done her research on those who wish to transform from man to woman. The book is very well written, conversations were realistic as were reactions. The title is spot on.

Many thanks to the author / Impress Books / Netgalley for the digital copy of this unique books. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

Alex Clare wrote a great novel that actually makes police procedurals interesting and brings something new to the genre by featuring a transgendered detective. What really made this good is that Clare didn’t just jump on the bandwagon by incorporating gender dysphoria into her work to get views, she wrote a storyline that is actually worth reading. It was to see the topic treated with respect and not cheapened into an attention grabbing plot device.

Clare has you jumping into the action from the beginning so you immediately get hooked and won’t want to put the book down. Then she threw in a plot twist you won’t see coming and adds to the unpredictability of the story.

I liked her character work as she created some amiable people you can root for along with the endearing Robyn who was still trying to navigate her journey from life as Roger. Along with trying to learn to outwardly be the woman she’s always felt she was inside, she has to deal with colleagues who always knew her as a man and she gets thrown into the case of a missing child. Of course there was the requisite bitchy character I would ‘accidentally’ knock into moving traffic due to her treatment of Robyn.

I’m hoping this is the first in a decently long series so we get to learn more about Robyn and watch her evolve.