Six friends enter the woods for a teenage overnight. Aurora Jackson is the youngest of the group and just happy to be included. However, in the morning, Aurora is missing and none of the other teens claim to have any idea what happened to her. 30 years later, her body is unearthed and Jonah Sheen is put in charge of her cold case. 

This book was a fabulous psychological thriller that had lots of twists, turns and suspense! I loved Gytha Lodge's debut novel, and look forward to many more books in her future!

Thirty years ago six friends went camping and the next morning only five remained. What happened to 14 year old Aurora? That’s exactly what Detective Sheens hopes to uncover when Auroras remains are found yards from the camp site thirty years later.

Was it someone camping with them or someone else that killed her? This is a story of drugs, drinking and betrayal. The story flashes between the past and present putting together a puzzle. The end suprised me and I couldn’t put the book down, The characters are well thought out and the storyline flows nicely.

A very good suspense book!!

This book was a really solid combination of police procedural and suspense, with heaps of character development and long-buried secrets. I am being terrible as usual and reviewing this two months after reading it, but I can say I found it a compelling read. I feel like the case being solved was a bit sudden and sort of a letdown, but I would still jump at Lodge's next book because she has a gift for setting, character, and dialogue, so even though an otherwise strong plot got a bit mushy at the end, I didn't really care.

In July of 1983 Aurora Jackson went missing after she went on a camping trip with her older sister Topaz and Topaz’s friends. Now more than thirty years later a child later comes across some bones that belong to the missing Aurora. Detective Jonah Sheens is in charge of the case and determined to find out what happened back then when he was just a rookie on his first case.

She Lies in Wait is the first book in Detective Jonah’s series in which the chapters alternate between the current investigation and the past . A slow starter with characters that I fount difficult to connect with made it an Ok read for me .

I would like to thank Random House Publishing Group & NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest and fair review.

Overall, She Lies in Wait was an interesting read. I enjoyed trying to figure out who was responsible for the murder of 14 year old Aurora, and Cynthia Lodge does an excellent job of crafting a lot of possible suspects including an older sister, the school jock, the high school English teacher with a history of inappropriate student relationships. This read was fun and fast, and it kept me guessing until the very end. I liked the varying perspectives and the flashbacks, although at times I had a hard time keeping track of the characters. Overall, an enjoyable read!

This book started with an exciting bang !

I love a good, solid mystery. The kind with a fun cast of characters, a whodunit type. Give me anything like that and chances are I"ll love it. I would've loved this book, but instead it'll settle for a strong like.

My only real problem was, with most books like this, is that I just don't care about the police officers or detectives usually. The stories spend so much time with them and their lives and it just reads as so slow and boring for me. I just want the mystery, not so much updates on their love lives ect.

That being said, just basing it off of the mystery it was pretty solid! Creative and not that easy to guess, so I did enjoy it. It just seemed to lag a lot in some places.

Not going to lie, the first half of this book was a slow read for me. The premise of it sounded interesting, but I think there were sections that dragged on.

However, the last chunk of the book grabbed me, and I enjoyed the ending.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

<b> A Spellbinding Debut, with terrifying suspence from cover to cover! </b>

<I>She moved into the shadows under the bank, her eyes dazzled. There were blue patterns everywhere she looked. A spreading beech tree was above her, and roots arced out of the soil like flattened croquet hoops. Her foot caught on one. She stumbled, her heart jolting as she thought she might fall into the water. The river was dirty in the shadows under the tree, ominous. But she wasn’t really close enough to fall in, and she regained her balance.
In front of her was a scooped-out section of earth the shape of a hammock that made her want to nestle in it.
“Jessie!”
Great. It was her dad this time, and closer by. He was using the kind of voice that wanted an answer. But in front of her was the cool earth, and a hiding place.
She stretched one foot down into the hollow, and then the other. She felt immediately cooler, and took a seat on the slightly crumbly soil. She imagined herself as an early villager, sheltering in the woods while Vikings raided her home.
But it wasn’t as soft as she’d expected. Ridges of root pressed against her pelvis and back. She squirmed left and right, trying to find a comfortable spot. Her shorts snagged, and she felt a jab in her leg.
She pushed a hand down to disentangle the cloth from the root, and then felt it crumble in her hand.
She lifted it and saw not old wood but flakes of brown, and the bleach-white shapes of freshly exposed bone.
She didn’t need her GP father to tell her she was holding a human finger.</i>

********
<b>**Newly released! January 8, 2019!</b>

Debut novel She Lies in Wait by Gytha Lodge is a spellbinding, terrifying, and exciting beginning to a new series starring <i>DCI Jonah Sheens</I>!
Right from the start, I was intrigued and drawn in and the story held my full attention all the way through to the surprising conclusion!
The strong character development, unique storyline, and thrilling, fast paced, terrifying suspence made this debut a five star, highly enjoyable novel!
I look for very good things to come from this exciting new author, Gytha Lodge!

Thanks to NetGalley, Random House Publishing, and Gytha Lodge for an advanced, uncorrected digital proof for me to read and review.

**The quote above came from the final, published copy.

A group of teenagers enter the woods for a camping trip, one of them doesn’t come back out. Thirty years later the body of Aurora Jackson is found in a crevasse under a tree. Will detectives be able to unravel the events of that night and determine which person in the close knit group of friends has been lying all this time?

She Lies in Wait was a quick, entertaining read that kept me guessing until the end of the book. It is well written, suspenseful, and the characters and events are realistic. The events unfold both in the present time from the viewpoint of the detectives as well as in flashbacks from the night of the crime in Aurora’s viewpoint. I enjoyed the back and forth. If you like mysteries you’ll probably enjoy this book.

I noticed that this is listed as DCI Jonah Sheens #1 so it seems there will be a series of books involving his character. I will be sure to keep an eye out for those, if they’re anything like She Lies in Wait I’m sure they’ll be worth the read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for providing an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

6+ Stars! I loved this book. Hooked me right from the very beginning for sure! Hard to put down actually, especially when you have to work. I think this book is my favorite suspense/mystery/thriller I’ve read so far this year!
The writing is fabulous. Who doesn’t love a story about six friends going camping and one disappears? Thirty years later a body is found. Sign me up! I really loved this book! Well written and captivating for me. You aren’t sure who the murderer is until the end.
The characters are all interesting. I love the lead detective DCI Jonah Sheens. He is flawed and realistic. Great mix-up of characters. Lodge writes well, and the story is weaved perfectly from beginning to end. If this is her debut novel I can’t wait to read more! She is definitely a natural writer. I enjoyed this read and cannot wait for Gytha Lodge’s next book in this series! I also purchased the audible book so when I couldn’t read I could listen. Great narrators-each actor was cast PERFECTLY. So glad I could read and listen.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good written police procedure suspense-mystery/thriller.

*A very special thank you to Random House Publishing Group via NetGalley for the advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review*

The setup of this mystery is fantastic. A body is found of a young girl, Aurora, who has been missing for 30 years. The night Aurora disappeared, she was camping with her sister, Topaz, and her sister's friends: JoJo, Brett, Connor, Coralie and Benners. When Aurora's body is found, this group of friends returns to Southampton and the scene of the disappearance. As the police team, led by DCI Jonah Sheens, starts piecing together what occurred that night that led to Aurora's death, more questions and concerns arise. What role did drugs play in what occurred that night? What was Aurora's relationship with her teacher, who had been conveniently camping near Aurora that night she disappeared? Did JoJo's husband die from a climbing accident or was it murder?

Trigger warning for sexual assault. After analyzing Aurora's body, it is discovered that she had been sexually assaulted. After interviewing a former childhood friend of Aurora's, it was discovered that that friend had also been sexually assaulted just a few days before Aurora went missing.

There were so many pieces of this mystery, that by the end of the story, I had no clue what had actually happened to Aurora. The reader can also tell that this is the beginning of a series, because character side stories are mentioned that do not really support the movement of the plot. In some ways I think there may have been too many pieces of this story, but it definitely kept the mystery alive and the plot thrilling.

I enjoyed this book very much. The way the author successfully went from the present to the past made the book keep you interested from beginning to end. All the characters were well developed and I kept turning the pages to find out what they would do next. Since this is a #1 I hope there are many more stories to come. I received this ebook free from NetGalley for an honest review.

Gytha Lodge's She Lies in Wait is a fantastic start to the new DCI Jonah Sheens series. In the summer of 1983, when Jonah Sheens was still new to the force, a 14 year old goes missing while camping with her sister and friends. The last any of them saw of her was before they went to sleep for the night and by morning she was gone. 30 years later, her body is found by campers, dragging DCI Sheens back into the search for what happened that fateful night. I was provided an ARC by Random House Publishing Group via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

She Lies in Wait starts out running right from the beginning (pun intended) as we follow Jessie Martin racing through the woods. This scene on it's own shows one of Lodge greatest strengths, her characters. Jessie is no an important character in the story; she's the kid who finds the body at the beginning of any procedural TV show that we never see again. However, in only a couple of pages, Lodge has created a setting and a character that we completely understand. Each moment, Lodge succeeds at making developed and real, no matter what character through who's eyes we're viewing events.

The story flows back and forth between that night 30 years ago and the current day. Readers are given insight not only into the teenagers partying, but Aurora herself. We get to know her as a character in her own right, not just as the deceased, while following the actions taken to solve her murder. DCI Sheens' team are not just supporting characters, but part of strong ensemble. Were this a tv show, all the prerequisite details would be there for a compelling ongoing story.

Finally, the all important part of a mystery novel, the whodunit of it all. Through Lodge's created and intricate writing, we are taken back and forth between possible suspects with no true solid clues until right towards the end. Paired with such strong characters, it was impossible to not want to read to the very end.

I am so excited to see where Lodge takes this series and how she's going to follow up what becomes such a personal case for DCI Jonah Sheens.

She Lies in Wait is such a strong mystery. Seven teenagers go on a camping trip. One is killed. Thirty years later, the body is found. Filled with twists and turns, readers will be treated to an unpredictable mystery that goes back and forth between past and present. Highly recommended to readers who enjoy unique mysteries.

Thirty years ago 7 teenagers went on a camping trip in the woods and 14 year old Aurora Jackson disappeared, until her body turned up in the prologue of this book. If you read a lot of thrillers, or just look at their blurbs, you know that whenever a group of teenagers gets together someone winds up dead and the rest of the kids keep their secrets for decades. I think I read at least two books with this plot last year. This trope is not improved by repetition, and unless the author puts some creative twist on it the book just falls flat for me. Unfortunately, that was the case with this book. It wasn’t bad, but I felt like I had read it before.

I understand why authors follow this formula. It gives the police a closed loop of suspects who they can question repeatedly. The police heard a lot of revelations about sex and drugs. I gather that this book is to be the start of a new police procedural series featuring DCI Jonah Sheens. Having introduced him in this book, I hope that the next one contains less about his troubled childhood. I also don’t want to know any more about DC Juliette Hanson’s abusive ex boyfriend. It took the entire book for her to figure out that she could block his phone number, and do they not have restraining orders in England? This book was not terribly original but the writing showed enough promise that I might try the author’s next book.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

We all know that I love a suspenseful read! Winter is the best time to pick up a thriller and to try to reason out who the killer is. I was a bit worried that this one might really bother me since the victim is a teen, but I was okay as it was certainly troubling/disturbing/sad but not overly graphic. (see tags for possible triggers)
A great read while cuddled up in bed!
Thank you for my review e-copy!

(full review at drbethnolan.com)

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a 3.5 rounded up to a 4 for me.

I read some other reviews and did not think this was a rip off of Final Girls or Last Time I Lied. The only similarities I found would be: a good portion of the setting takes place in the woods, and the alternating time lines.

I loved the 1980s portion of the book with the group of friends and Aurora. I also did not guess the killer and didn’t find the story predictable. The story started slow for me, but picked up around the 30 percent mark and kept my attention until the end.

I did not enjoy the police procedural parts of the book. Which unfortunately did make up a good portion of the book which did bring my rating down to a 3.5.

Overall this was a solid read and I would recommend this book to others.

EXCELLENT CRIME MYSTERY!

WOW! I loved this book! This story captivated my attention from
page one and commanded.my attention until the last word on the final page. Now that is a feat not many books can achieve to that degree.

The book revolves around a tightly knit group of six friends from young teenagers in the year 1983 until the present thirty years later. There is another member of the group and they are the focus of this wonderful crime, mystery drama and who has their own unique story to tell and a character that I will long remember.

The story also delves deeply into the police department and detectives who are handling a possible murder, sexual promiscuity and drug activity that may have taken place in 1983. This story is so well-written that I can't wait to read another novel by Gytha Lodge!

I could not stop reading this book wanting to know.what each character was thinking and doing in the past and the present. This author had every transition from past to present flow so smoothly that I couldn't wait to fervently read each chapter which would keep going back and forth with such exquisite storytelling. I just loved this book and want to read more that are this on this level.

Well Done Gytha Lodge!

I want to thank Netgally and Random house Group Publishing for.the.opportunity.to read this ARC and.I have given my honest and unbiased opinion.

I highly recommend.this excellent book and have.given a rating of 5 Excellent 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 stars!!

Thirty years after going missing while on a camping trip with five other teenagers, a young girl’s body is discovered buried with a drug cache. What was a decades-old missing persons case has turned into a murder investigation in Gytha Lodge’s She Lies in Wait.

The story is told in alternating timelines, following the current investigation and revisiting the events that happened to each of the 6 teenagers during the camping trip. The problem with alternating timelines is they often disrupt continuity in narratives and it does so here. Jumping back and forth in time between so many characters made it hard for the story to gain any momentum.

Unfortunately, besides the victim in She Lies in Wait (digital galley, Random House), it was difficult to become invested in any one character and the resolution to the mystery, when it came, felt anticlimactic.

Random House and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of She Lies in Wait. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

30 years after Aurora Jackson disappeared from a camping trip with her sister and her group of friends, the case unexpectedly gets new life as evidence is uncovered. DCI Jonah Sheens is put in charge, despite having gone to school with the group. When the investigation takes a drastic turn, will the past have a way of catching up with Jonah and the ill-fated group?

She Lies in Wait is a good mystery suspense novel, with twists and turns provided by the 30 year old mystery of Aurora's disappearance and the police investigation that follows. The truth of what happened that night is parceled out in sections that are weaved throughout the book, heightening the suspense. I like how the investigation unfolds naturally, with the police uncovering new details and dismissing those that are not relevant. The biggest problem that I had with the novel was the sheer number of characters, who all had their own troubles. The other issue that bothered me was regarding DC Juliette Hanson. The inclusion of her personal story did nothing to enhance the plot and served mainly as a distraction.

Overall, She Lies in Wait was a successful debut novel with a good mystery premise and a strong investigative thread running throughout. I would recommend this novel to readers who like mystery suspense and police procedural thrillers.