I would like to thank Netgalley and Mirror Books for a review copy of Losing Leah, a police procedural featuring DS Mel Daley of the Mercia Police.

Chris and Leah Hills are on their way to their holiday cottage in Wales and stop at Hoden Gap service station. This is the last time Chris sees Leah. DI Baker and the team swing into action but nobody has seen her and there is no trace of her on CCTV so they begin to suspect that she was never there and focus their attention on Chris.

What a great read. I devoured this novel in one sitting, initially enjoying the procedural aspects of the hunt for a missing person but soon getting caught up in the plot. It's not a long read but it's absorbing with great plotting and pace. I thoroughly enjoyed the way the novel opens out from a "simple" missing persons case to something much darker and the way DI Baker slowly allows Chris Hills to reveal his thought processes.

The novel is split into a first person narrative from Mel Daley and a third person when she's not involved. It sounds clumsy but actually works extremely well, giving the reader a wider perspective of the investigation but still maintaining the intimacy of Mel's thoughts. Her voice is smart but inviting and natural, making the novel an easy read. I'm looking forward to meeting her again.

Chris Hills is a very well drawn character with his grief and creepy take on marriage but it's not a crime. I found myself fascinated and repulsed every time he opened his mouth but, again, what works for one couple doesn't work for everyone so who are we to judge? I also enjoyed the detectives' speculation on what he says as it seems very natural.

Losing Leah is a great read and the only thing preventing me from awarding it 5* is that I had a good idea about the main thrust of the plot from the start although there were plenty of other unexpected twists and turns along the way. I have no hesitation in recommending it.

It seems like every book like this is just a copy of the last one.

This book was a complete let down I was really looking forward to reading it but this was not for me.

The book was repetitive which made the book very dull in places.

Also the author seems to use to many different points of view it was really hard to keep following. A real let down because I felt that the book did not need it.

A really well written, engaging storyline. Cleverly written and will keep you guessing until the very last chapter. I'd be interested in a second instalment.

Now you see her, now you don't! Leah knows her husband is keeping secrets. She also knows he's not who he portrays himself to be.
An amazing cliff hanger if a read. Mr. Hills can't find his wife. They stopped to get coffee and hot chocolate on their way to Wales, now, she's disappeared. The police are searching and have not been able to find her. Everyone knows after a certain amount of time, they will be looking for a body.
Exciting, entertaining, grabs you and doesn't let go till the very end.
5 Stars

Losing Leah kept me guessing until the end. I was instantly drawn to the premise of this book, but the well written characters and their relationships are what made me stay. Sue Welfare did such a great job because this book is a great thriller. I honestly hope there's more Sergeant Daley to come.

Thrilling! This was a great mystery that kept me guessing until the very end! I hope there will be more books with Sergeant Daley.

Good book overall, Well written and enjoyed the characters and the relationships between them. I usually do not prefer books written in the first person but did not mind the aspects of this book that were written this way. I did guess the ending but that did not detract from the overall enjoyment of the book.

Chris and Leah Hills are on their way to their holiday cottage in Wales, when they stop at a motorway service station and Leah goes missing. DI Baker and DS Daley are called in to determine what has happened to Leah.

Upon first investigation, Chris Hills looks like an upstanding member of the community and he insists that Leah would never have left without him as they have a very happy marriage but slowly things come to light which have the police looking into his past and discovering he is not what he seems. In the meantime the hunt for Leah goes on with the police no closer to finding her. Has she walked away from her life? Did he murder her? Was she abducted?

A good book which looks into the way the police deal with a missing persons investigation, it has several twists which leave you wondering whether Leah is still alive. An intriguing thriller with a well thought out ending.

Entertaining police procedural...no twists or surprises really, or character development, but it was short and fast paced and kept me engaged.

A little slow to start but once it got going I couldn't put it down. Well written. Just when I thought I had it figured out I was wrong. Keeps you guessing even in the end. Ending was definitely not what I was thinking it was going to be

t was just a stop to get coffee at a gas station near the Welsh Borders, but Leah never came back out of the shop. Her partner, Chris is terrified when he can’t find her and immediately contacts police. Did Leah leave with someone else? Or,as detectives Mel Daley and Harry baker wonder, was she ever really there at all? Is this some sort of elaborate hoax set up by Chris? Has he, in fact, dome away with Leah? This is a tense, nail biter, as police try to work out what really happened to Leah Hill

I read Losing Leah today in two sittings – highly addictive and a clever crime drama in the way it played out, some well layered characters and a different vibe to the construction that made it difficult to put down once started.

I don’t think I ever had any doubt about what had happened to Leah – which was confirmed by the ultimate resolution – but that really wasn’t what intrigued me. Hence I loved it. An intelligent take on a crime thriller, an enigmatic puzzle of character rather than of happenstance with some engaging police characters and a hugely compelling psychological element.

Another huge strength was in fact the more procedural elements – an investigation playing out in front of your eyes in a highly authentic feeling way, the setting is also well described (and I actually know the small market town in Norfolk mentioned, I stayed there one year so that made it all the more fun to read) – so the addictive quality is there, the storytelling is brilliant and you’ve really got everything you could want from a crime novel right here within this read.

I’ve not read Sue Welfare’s other novels as yet – but if she writes more crime you can be certain I’ll be at the front of the queue.

Recommended.

DI Harry Baker and Sergeant Mel Daley are called to investigate a missing woman, Leah Hills. She and her husband stop at a service station for a rest stop and Chris never sees his wife again.

Chris Hills is adamant that Leah would never just walk off. She was his soul mate. They had a perfect marriage. She couldn't live without him to guide her through life. But those that are investigating are finding that Chris' story just isn't adding up. And then they stumble onto some deep dark secrets that Chris hasn't shared with them.

So where is Leah?

This debut crime thriller realistically walks the reader through a missing persons investigation. It's not particularly exciting, it gets downright repetitive at times ... but this is one of the most honest looks at this side of law enforcement that I've seen in quite a while.

The first part of this book is a bit slow going .. no shoot em ups, no wild car chases. Just a determined group of people doing their jobs. There is suspense, though .... and about halfway through the book, the suspense becomes palpable. I loved the surprise ending!

All in all this is a well-written thriller with realistic tones. I look forward to more of the same by this author.

Many thanks to the author / Mirror Books / #LosingLeah #NetGalley for the digital copy of this crime thriller. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

Well, this did not work at all for me. The writing is really amateurish, made it hard to take the story seriously. The changes in POV were not well done and therefore confusing, and some of the dialogues made me cringe.

Also, I could not buy the initial plot; why would the police engage in this case with so little evidence? It was just an adult woman probably leaving at her own accord. All they had was the husband's very poor account of events to really think it was a disappearance worth of investigating. And not only they investigated but a whole team with forensics and all? It did not sound believable.

Then the story dragged on and on making any possibility of enjoyment die. I finished it because I had nothing else to read at the moment but even so it was a struggle. The end was not surprising and has been done many times before--and much better.

I'd like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this novel in exchange of my honest review.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

Chris Hills reports his wife Leah has gone missing from the motorway service station they have stopped at on their way to Wales. DI Baker and DS Daley have to determine if Leah has left of her own accord, been abducted, is still at the service station somewhere, or was never there at all.

This was a solid police procedural, with the investigation uncovering more and more details calling Chris' story into doubt. The first two-thirds were quite exciting and had momentum. However, once we got to the bit where months and months later DS Daley is flicking through the file for old time's sake, the momentum was lost really. I had kind of seen where things were going, <spoiler>but the idea that the CCTV specialist, who seemed to have watched every minute of the footage of the service station since time began, would have missed the fact that the camera only covered three out of the four entry doors was hard for me to accept.</spoiler>

I also had issues, particularly initially, with the way the narrative switched between the first person perspective of DS Daley and third person narrative mainly following DI Baker, often without any warning. It was confusing and jarring. There were also, again mainly at the beginning, mini-lectures on police procedure, which slowed things down and read oddly. Finally, there was no merit to inclusion of the Mel/Kathy/Jimmy drama - it made them all look bad and took away from the main plot.

Overall very good though - I'd look out for more books by this author.