What happened to Lola Jade Harper? This book is really good! I can’t wait for the next one to read more about Rachel Prince and her next case! Lola Jade disappeared months ago and the case seems to be going cold. Gavin Harper the father swears Michelle Harper the mother did something to Lola Jade. Michelle says Gavin took her! Everyone is a suspect and no one wants to give any helpful information to Detective Rachel Prince. I really loved this book and was flipping through pages trying to figure out if Lola was alive or dead. If she was taken and by whom! It’s a really good whodunit book that will leave you on the edge of your seat!

Detective Rachel Prince is tasked with taking over the investigation into missing six-year-old Lola Jade Harper. Deducing that something is not quite right with the girl’s family, she must untangle the web of deceit if she has any chance of finding her. When the body of a woman is found, and connections are made to the missing girl, Rachel knows that the net is closing around the guilty party and she must move fast before they slip away forever…

Bookouture has this knack of producing must-read police procedural series and they have done it yet again! In Detective Rachel Prince, we have another strong female lead who is a hard-working and tenacious detective with a complicated personal life. She is a very good detective and her doggedness is shown when she has to travel to Europe alone to investigate a lead. Her work partner, DS Brickall, is another great character and the relationship between the two made each scene they were in together a joy to read.

The plot of a missing child is one that appears in many books, but I liked the twists that came with this one. The main suspects are all incredibly shifty and it was fun trying to work out which of their actions were linked to the disappearance of the child. Although it wasn’t too difficult to work out who the major player was here, the way in which it was carried out was very clever and was not something I saw coming at all.

This is not what I would call an action-packed book as a lot of time is given up to the actual investigation and we are privy to police interviews, stakeouts and the like. In some books, this can become tiresome but The Lying Kind is so well-written that each scene was fascinating and helped to build up a picture of Rachel, Brickall and the suspects.

It looks as though Bookouture has got me hooked on another crime series and I can’t wait to see what book two has in store for Rachel!

This is a great start to a new series.
I loved the chemistry between DI Rachel Prince and DS Brickall especially as it was made clear from the beginning that he wasn’t her type. They have a great working relationship and really help each other out when needed.
This is a gripping story which has quite a lot of twists and turns.
Lola Jade is reported missing from her home and DI Prince is asked to help Surrey police find her.
The father starts off as the prime suspect but soon other people are questioned and the ending was just brilliant.
This book has just the right amount of humour for a crime thriller and I loved it.
I can’t wait for more books in this series.
Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

Six year old Jade Harper is taken from her bedroom. Her mother is distraught. She is convinced her estranged husband, Gavin Harper, has abducted their daughter. Detective Rechel prince is leading the investigation but is soon out of her depth as she searches for the most high-profile missing child in the country. Rachel must untie the Harper families complicated web of secrets and lies. As the case progresses, the body of a local woman is found. Then another little girl is taken.....

This is the first book in the Detective Rachel Prince series. The case has been handed over to Rachel so that so that a fresh pair of eyes might find new clues. This is a well written book. The suspense starts right away and does not until near the end where it does up a gear. There is loads going on in the book, sometimes a little too much. The characters are likeable. Overall this is a very promising start to a new series. I'm looking forward to reading book 2.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Bookouture and the author Alison James for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Lying Kind by Alison James is the first book in the new police procedural thriller series, Detective Rachel Prince. The book introduces readers to a new detective in Rachel while she investigates a high profile case of a missing little girl. As the investigation goes on there is more and more to be uncovered and solved in this story.

This first look at Rachel and her colleagues was a pretty intense one knowing there was a child who had gone missing without a trace to her whereabouts. Of course the family is looked at closely with suspicion thrown on the father who was in the middle of divorce proceedings and custody battles.

The nice thing about this series to me seemed to be how the author portrays and investigation. Police works is not all action and adventure in a case like this but sometimes a lot of paperwork and tedious tasks to get anywhere. This was actually portrayed a bit more realistically than some books are.

I would say though I can see not all readers liking the main character in this series. Rachel is one that is on the gritty, no nonsense side of a detective and would often read more to me like a male than a female, not that it was bad to me. But there was also some things going on in the book that I can see as making her not come across as particularly likable but when finished and while I wasn’t oohing and aahing over her just yet I still didn’t mind her.

The thing that solidified my rating on this one though was the way the author wrapped up the story. The outcome was one that I wasn’t expecting because quite honestly I don’t think I’ve ever read or seen it done before. Of course that’s my own experience and perhaps it has been done but I’m always impressed by that twist that I haven’t seen or didn’t expect. So in the end a nice solid start to this series that I’d only take a slight bit off at 4.5 and hope Rachel wins me over more in the next installment.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

I wasn't sure whether I wanted to start another crime series, but I really got sucked into this one. The plot is fast paced and the character of Rachel engaging. Now I wish there were more books I could read to find out what happens next!

I enjoyed reading this book I liked the main character Rachel Prince and the interaction between her and her work colleagues was realistic. I also liked the background and the story was good.No spoilers from me but this book will keep your interest and keep you page turning..cracking book and nice writing style made it easy to read . I would read more by this author.Thanks to the publishers and netgalley for the ARC.

Rachel Prince is called in to take over an investigation of a missing child whose trail has gone cold. Six year old Lola Jade Harper was taken from her home months ago. Her parents are in the middle of a bitter divorce and child custody battle. Each blames the other. It sounds like a plot you've read before but this is a fresh take on it. Although it becomes apparent who did the dastardly deed, it's interesting to see how it unravels.

Prince has her own hang-ups. Her marriage is weird to say the least. She has very realistic relationships with her co-workers. I really liked the office interactions. Her personal like is rocky and she makes some choices that make you wince. Still it's the first novel and it gives the author lots of room to develop her character.

I really enjoyed it. It seemed fresh and it was quite interesting. I think this is a good debut novel and can't wait to read more in the series. Thanks to Net Galley for a copy of this book in exchange of a fair review.

Completely surprised! I started this book yesterday and stayed up until I finished it - I had to know what happened. Looking forward to more books in this series and watching how the main characters grow.

Yes, I place the book as my new favorite and tend to re-read it again. Let me say this first, -it's well written crime fiction, thankfully, there wasn't anything too explicit/ nothing gross - detailed explained - none of that style of writing, but I LOVED the book! Why? Because it was smooth, interesting, intriguing, I enjoyed both main detectives - Rachel and her co team pair - Brickall. They both made up a good team, each one of them having contrasting personalities, but they both shared similar analytical mind with different approaches to be used in practice. So it wasn't the team who always and always agree with each other - that one point as a start to why I enjoyed The Lying Kind.

So the book is about a detective, Rachel, dealing with a case which is handed to her from another team, the incident, well, the crime occur 5 months ago and she, together with her team pal is having "fresh eye" to what might have happened and continuing the investigation of a little girl being snapped from her bedroom while her mother has been sleeping. All leads to the little girl's dad who's also missing now, but something does not match up, although, it is very likely to be so, but first they must find him to find the girl...

The book's synopsis really tells it all, but it is much more than that, there are layers of interesting leads that is investigated through to get the agents somewhere, and how multiple layered case can be, how many dead ends and how bits by bits it is starting to make sense. Detective Rachel's personality is well build up, she tells a story and she matures through the time within the book, to deal with her own terrible past...Oo, that was completely unexpected and funny to imagine one in real life..

Excellent book. Brilliant story and I loved the main characters. I would highly recommend this book.

The Missing Child will have you guessing until the very end. Good thriller with lots of twists and turns.

This was a brilliant start to a great new series by Alison James (also a new author to me). She’s created a great detective who is leading a case looking into a crime committed a few months previously with no recent progress.
A little girl went missing from her own home whilst the parents were having a party without them realising that she had gone, initially. They look into the parents and what they might be hiding. The characters are really well drawn and interesting. When a murder and another missing child is reported they need to see if there is a connection and you are holding your breath wanting to know. It takes you in different directions and when I thought I might have guessed part of the storyline other threads come into play.
The detective is hiding secrets of her own and we wonder what we will discover about her past. There is definitely more to come in the next books in the series and I can’t wait to read more. I love finding a new thriller writer and look forward to adding her books to my tbr pile!

Well worth the read who has the means and the motive of taking little Lola jade from her home in the middle of the night. There are lots of twists and turns in this book which kept me hooked till the end. Looking forward to the next book

I read The Missing Child by Alison James in a couple of days. It’s one of those books where you just plan on reading a couple of chapters and the next thing you know a few hours have gone by.

I was totally immersed in the story and it was nice change that the main character worked for the National Crime Agency instead of the police as seems to be the norm these days. I though the lead character DI Rachel Prince was strong and had a good relationship with Brickall. The plot was pact evolved well. This is the first book on the DI Rachel Prince series and I’m really looking forward to book two.

Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture and the author for the chance to review.

The Missing Child by Alison James Is the first in the Detective Inspector Rachel Prince and what a great first instalment it is.
Six-year-old Lola Jade harper is abducted from her bedroom and her mother Michelle thinks that it’s her estranged soon to be ex-husband Gavin who has taken her. With no apparent leads been found. DI Rachel Prince who is part of the Major Crime Investigation support team of the National Crime Agency is been brought in to lead the investigation with Detective Sargent Mark Brickall to find anything missed from the previous investigation. She is determined to find out the truth. Where is Lola Jane Harper?
With the parents going through a messy divorce and mother Michelle not acting like a grieving mother. It stands to reason why, the investigation ends up with a lot of red herrings and Rachel having to go back on old leads. A new case arrives when a single mother has been found dead one morning by her son, living in the same neighbourhood. Rachel thinks that the two investigations are linked in some way.
I really enjoyed Missing Child and I can’t wait to see what Alison James has instore for the next instalment of this series. I was gripped from the very first page of this story. I thought it was an excellent debut novel. I loved both the characters of Rachel Prince and Mark Brickall and the camaraderie between them. And how the author made the story of police work realistic. Not every case turns in a bed of roses.
Thank you Netgalley and Bookouture for an honest review.

A well written debut.
An enticing plot, with plenty of secrets, lies and betrayals to get you guessing to the end.
Good characterization of each individual.
Loved the relationship between DI Rachel Prince and D.C. Mark Brickall.
A brilliant start to the series.

Thank you netgalley, Bookouture and Alison James for allowing me to read and review this book.

This is a detective crime thriller that is the first in a series about female investigator Rachel Prince. Prince and her partner are brought into help with the case of a missing child, who vanished from her home in the middle of the night. Prince ends up having to go back to the beginning of the crime to figure out what's really going on and who in the child's family is actually telling the truth.

So to get all the good things out of the way first (because there was more negative points in this story for me than good ones), I really liked the mystery and the police work in this novel. I liked that it wasn't all action, action, action, but demonstrated that sometimes with these investigations what is needed is hours of desk work and research before there's criminal showdowns and car chases. There did seem to be some gaping holes that hadn't been covered by the police before Rachel stepped in but I do think overall, this book seemed to portray a more realistic version of what solving crimes is actually like on a day-to-day basis. Not everything can be figured out in a few weeks - sometimes it takes months!

And now for the bad parts. Which to be honest is literally everything to do with the main character Rachel Prince. She was horrible, really horrible. I didn't like her at all, and she certainly wouldn't have liked me because I'm a woman. genuinely, this character appeared to hate women which really, really annoyed me. She has very few interactions with other female characters that aren't negative in some way.

On a side-note, in the first two pages we get the 'character looking at themselves in the mirror and describing what they see in a self-critical way' so we know what they look like which honestly I think i a lazy way to describe a character. She also 'clumsy' but trips up once.

From the get go, I didn't like how Rachel eyed up Lola Jade's mom. I honestly didn't see how noting what she looked like had anything to do with the crime. Who cares if she had bronzed skin, "collagen-pumped" lips and freshly blow-dried hair. It reminded me of how the mother in Little Deaths by Emma Flint was treated - with a lot of sexism and criticism of her looked-after appearance - but that book was set in the 1960s and all the detectives were misogynistic men, where in this one Prince is female so it's disappointing that she treated the mother in such a way.

Rachel also doesn't have any female friends, and in a conversation with her partner explains this being caused by her not being a "girly girl" growing up. She was bullied by other girls when young but I don't think this counts as an excuse for an almost 40-year-old woman to not have one female friend. You don't need to be a 'girly girl" to have a female friend. She shows disdain for almost every woman she meets in the book, except for those in her own profession. She immediately has a rivalry with her personal trainer's wife (who she lately sleeps with even though she knows he's married), and she doesn't have one good word to say about her sister and vice versa which honestly again is just disappointing for a book written about a female author about a female character in a male-driven workforce. She also shows huge contempt when she goes on a girls night with people she doesn't even like because they talk about their home lives and husbands which isn't something unusual considering they are a group of middle-aged women.

Many of the strapping men in the book all have flirtatious relationships with Rachel, which is such a huge contrast with the majority of female characters. She sleeps with her trainer, has a flirty but not handsy relationship with her partner (and also defends him when he's done for stalking, goes to the woman's work to tell her to pull the complaint and the women does so without one word of defiance, what?), a very flirty thing with the guy in charge of the children's cases in the police, and then obviously sleeps with her married trainer.

One thing as well which made zero sense to me was how fine her ex-husband was with her. She literally ran away from him 17 years previously without one word, never spoke to him again, runs away from him again when he comes to try and divorce her, and he speaks super jovially and happily with her when they actually meet. He doesn't show any frustration with her actions, which was totally unrealistic in my opinion as we never even got a reason to why she acted like that in the first place, and then he also helps her with something in the case AND invites her to his wedding at the end of the book? Seriously, wtf?

So the conclusion is, the crime itself was good, the main character was not and I'll most likely be avoiding the next book in this series.

What makes a winner in my book? One way I can tell is when life intervenes - like fixing dinner or putting laundry in the machine - I'll do whatever it takes to keep on reading, if only for a few more minutes. That certainly happened here. If you don't believe me, just ask my husband, who's rather hungry by now (on second thought, don't; my "Just one more chapter, hon" defense is starting to wear thin).

Not only is the book very well written, but it's reminiscent of another of my favorite series: J.D. Robb's "Death" series that features life-scarred Lt. Eve Dallas and her hunky Irish husband Roarke (the latter near the top of my all-time list of favorite book "heroes," BTW). Here, it's the debut of Detective Rachel Prince, with a hint of romance-to-be from another Irish hunk she works with on occasion from a neighboring law enforcement agency in England.

Rachel may not be as emotionally damaged as Eve, but she's every bit as irascible and dedicated to her job. She bristles when things don't go her way, banters with her partner Mark Brickell and fights on through injuries that would put me in a hospital for months. Here adventure begins with the disappearance of Lola Jade Harper, a 6-year-old whose mother insists was abducted by the girl's father (from whom she's estranged). Although he strongly denies any involvement, the belief that he's the culprit intensifies when he suddenly disappears.

As the investigation continues, though, Rachel's nose keeps twitching; clues just aren't adding up right. Then, a local woman with possible ties to the abduction is murdered - followed by the abduction of another young girl. In between, subplots of a drug ring investigation, career-threatening actions by Rachel's partner and the dogged appearance of a person of interest from Rachel's past are interspersed, adding to the interest.

As a devout champion of women's rights, I admit I was less than happy with Rachel's handling of the issue related to her partner's possible job loss. But that doesn't change my love of the book as a whole - nor my eagerness to read more in this series. Reportedly, next up is "Unlucky Ones" - and I'm hoping to see it soon!