The Birthday marks the beginning of a new series based around Detective Inspector Natalie Ward. You might be like me and be worrying slightly that nothing could be better than Detective Inspector Robyn Carter in this author’s previous series of stories. Well, I’ll tell you this now, I had absolutely nothing to worry about. This book was fantastic and Natalie is certainly going to give Robyn a run for her money.

The first of this series begins 2 years previously when 5 year old Ava Sawyer disappears from a birthday party at a local garden centre. There are no obvious leads at the time and Ava was never found. That is until 2 years later when building works are taking place on land behind the garden centre and Ava’s body is discovered. Detective Inspector Natalie Ward is leading the investigation. As this is now a murder investigation, she gets her team to start at the beginning but they still face the same dead ends that the original investigating team did. Whilst investigating, a second girl, Audrey Briggs, goes missing. Audrey also attended the same birthday party as Ava 2 years earlier. Who is behind the killings of these girls and what are Natalie and her team missing?

I loved the new character of Natalie Ward. She has an interesting back story! She has issues at home and also at work, stemming back from her previous case which obviously didn’t end well. Due to this previous case she wants to work hard at this case, not just to make sure the killer is found but also to make sure the same mistakes made on her previous case aren’t made again. These long hours away from home adds tension to an already fragile relationship with her husband and children. I have to admit I didn’t like her husband at all – why she just hasn’t told him to do one by now is beyond me! He obviously has his own issues, but gives Natalie no support whatsoever! Perhaps as the series progresses she will show him the door – I shall cheer when she does!!

Without revealing too many spoilers, the story had me hooked from page one. It is told from two perspectives – present day following Natalie and her team and much earlier in the childhood of an unknown child. Dealing with difficult subjects of child abduction and murder, the topic is handled absolutely perfectly and had me crying with sadness for half of the book and frightened to death for the other half. The storyline was cleverly written with no big reveal of the killer until right near the very end, but with plenty of clues, red herrings and wrong turns to get the reader going round in circles trying to work out what was going on. I genuinely didn’t guess who it was until very late in the book and to be honest the killer could have been one of many - there were that many suspects!

I thought this book was absolutely brilliant! It was cleverly written, well thought out, action packed, nerve wrackingly, nail bitingly good. I never thought I would hear myself say it but “bye bye Robyn, hello Natalie”!! Actually, no I didn’t just say that – I love Robyn just as much as Natalie, but they are both brilliant in their own different ways! This is one highly recommended thumbs up from me and I cannot wait for the next book!!!

In The Birthday, Book One of an exciting new series, Detective Natalie Ward has the unenviable task of trying to solve the murder of 5-year-old Ava Sawyer. Ava went missing at a birthday party two years ago. Her body was just discovered at a building site. Soon after, the body of another little girl is found. Natalie and her dedicated team must act quickly to stop any more of these heinous crimes. It doesn't take Natalie long to discover the links between the two murders, although they are two years apart.

Natalie has a lot on her plate. She is haunted by a previous similar crime which only ratchets her desire to act as quickly as possible in solving these murders. She is truly hoping that her team will catch the killer before any more young lives are lost. While very involved in the job at hand, Natalie is struggling with issues at home and is also facing a moral dilemma.

Reading how Natalie engages in her excellent crime-solving is exciting and tragic at the same time. Along with excellent character development, this story is full of surprising twists and turns. This was a truly thrilling book, albeit chilling at times. It certainly was no average read for me. I read The Birthday so fast that I was actually surprised. This excellent pacing, along with superb writing, is indicative of Carol Wyer's talent. This promises to be an excellent series and I look forward to reading the books to follow.

Many thanks to Bookuture and to NetGalley for this ARC to review in exchange for my honest opinion.

So ... let's start by being honest. Who, when they heard that this wasn't going to be the next in the Robyn Carter series paused and thought, awww... but I like Robyn? I'll admit I did - for about a nanosecond because that's all the time it took me to realise that this could be something special and that I am always happy to read a book from Carol Wyer, no matter the subject. Her writing is excellent.
I am happy to report that second me - the excitedly anticipating the new book me - was absolutely one hundred percent right. This book truly is excellent.
The opening on this book will lull you into a false sense of security. You know something will be amiss as the blurb gives you the greatest hint of all, but it is a fairly tame beginning. Just kids (noisy ones - yak) at a birthday party at a petting zoo and garden/craft centre. Nothing wrong with that (apart from aforementioned kids). That is until the business owner who is looking after the party takes her eye off the ball for one moment and it all descends into chaos, the kind that will change people's lives forever ... Fast forward two years and a grim discovery in the garden centres grounds brings new DI, Natalie Ward, front and centre in an investigation which is going to rick the local community to it's core.
Gah - I cannot begin to express how overwhelmingly sad, creepy, tense, and heart-thumpingly good this book is. Okay - so maybe I can begin, I'm just not sure I can do it justice. Now there are truly heartbreaking moments in this book, and any parent who has mislaid their child for even five minutes will understand the overwhelming sense of dread this instills in them. But if your child was not found and reunited with you? How would that make you feel? This is exactly the kind of emotion Carol Wyer has captured in this book. The emotional toll that the loss of Ava has on her parents is perfectly captured on the page but it also adds a layer of doubt when the new investigations begins. Are they victims like Ava - or suspects?
I don't want to go too far into the story - it goes far beyond the disappearance of a five year old girl believe me - but I will say that there are scenes in the book which made my skin crawl and moments that will truly have you on the edge of your seat. It is a dual timeline story and we move seamlessly between the central investigation and the story of a young boy, but as to how these two stories intersect, you'll have to read for yourself but believe me it is most excellent. Both stories have the ability to surprise, shock, pull at your heart-strings and have you chomping on your nails in equal measure.
I really liked the character of Natalie Ward. She is a woman haunted by a case from her past, one in which results were not overwhelmingly positive and she is determined that she will not allow that to happen again here. A family woman, all at home is not entirely harmonious and I will be intrigued to see how that plays out in books to come. Her team are all excellent, well rounded and diverse and I am looking forward to seeing more of all of them, especially Lucy Carmichael who is keen to impress, determined, and trying to emulate Natalie who she sees as a role model, and Murray Anderson, a no nonsense Sergeant who I really grew to like quite quickly. This is a team who work well together, and along with the Crime Scene techs, especially Mike Sullivan, will fast become firm favourites of fans of the crime genre, I'm certain of it.

If you are looking for a well paced, heart-wrenching, pulse racing, edge of your seat kind of book and a crime fighting team who you can genuinely root for then look no further as this could genuinely be your next favourite read. I tore through it and I cannot wait for the next book in the series. Bravo Carol Wyer. Another cracking series here and no mistake.

Having been a massive fan of Carol Wyer's other series centred around Robin Carter, I was slightly wary about her tackling a new crime fiction police procedural. Not because of her writing, which I knew would be brilliant, but because of meeting new characters and wondering if I'd even like them after becoming so invested in Robin and her team.

Silly me.

Five year old Ava Sawyer goes missing from a birthday party at a garden centre. Despite an intensive investigation, Ava is not found. Two years later, builders find her body. DI Natalie Ward and her team are given the case but just when they think they are dealing with a cold case, another girl who attended that same birthday party goes missing. Coincidence? If so, why now? Is the same person responsible? Are these two events connected in any way or not?

Natalie Ward is a wife, a mother and a detective inspector. With so many balls to juggle, it's easy to see why not everything is all sunshine and flowers in her life. Leading an investigation into missing children is always hard but for Natalie even more so, as she's still suffering effects from a previous investigation that ended badly. Determined not to make the same mistakes again, she's incredibly meticulous and working long hours to stop another child from being taken. But the culprit is on a mission and the clock is ticking.

A new team of detectives to get acquainted with then and I must say, this one works really well again. There's enough diversity, determination and banter to give you a good feel of the team dynamics. These characters completely won me over and I really look forward to getting to know them all better.

With The Birthday, Carol Wyer once again delivers all the goodness I've come to expect from her. There are a few chapters delving into the background of the culprit that lead you to that point of almost, but not quite, sympathising with them. Chapters that will have you looking for clues, trying to figure things out before the big reveal. The investigation is incredibly gripping, albeit frustrating for the detectives, and I was left guessing until the end as to the identity of Ava's killer. Not that I didn't have a list of suspects as long as my arm but I was hit with dead end after dead end and true to form, got it utterly wrong. On top of that, the heartbreaking moments when families need to be informed. The devastation, the various ways people deal with the grief ... it almost made me quite emotional.

It seems everything Carol Wyer touches turns to gold. She most definitely knows how to write an addictive and tense page-turner and this one is no different. Compelling from the first page, this will have you hooked in a heartbeat. The DI Natalie Ward is a fantastic start to what I'm sure will be an exciting new series. Will Natalie ever find the perfect balance between her job and her private life? And what other crimes will be coming her way? I can't wait to find out!