Excellent read. Hard to put the book down. Right from the start you were sucked in and new this was going to be a good one. The storyline was wicked. Not quite knowing where it was going next. There was lots of twists and turns in the road.

I love starting a new series, something to sink your teeth into, this book lived up to all my expectations.

26 years ago 6 teenagers are kidnapped and kept hostage at The Bad Place, only 5 are rescued. Years later they still meet up every year, the only thing they have in common was the terrible ordeal they went through together. Each has been affected differently but all hide their psychological scars from the outside world.

Told over 2 timelines the story goes back to the kidnapping and present time where a similar crime takes place. Are the 2 incidents connected?

D.I Sasha Dawson is running the investigation, she is a real woman trying to balance a career with bringing up 2 children.

A book that is hard to put down, I wanted to just read 1 more chapter before bed but soon found myself finishing this in the early hours of the morning.

Looking forward to the next book in this series.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review.

I absolutely loved this book and an hugely excited to hear it is going to be the first in a series!

As my usual reads are American based thrillers it was refreshing to come across not only an English based story, but one with such a fabulous female based lead character. DI Sasha Watson, with her chaotic home life, was easy to like from the very start, and the other main characters were likeable too.

I really liked the way the book was comprised of two smaller threads which combined into one in the second half of the story, which kept me guessing until the very end.

All in all a highly recommend, fast paced police procedural story that has left me wanting more!

Thank you to the author MK Hill, to the publisher Head of Zeus, and finally to Netgalley for allowing me to read such a fabulous book.

Loved this. Fast paced, amazing characters & the first of a series! I can’t wait to read more. I would recommend this to anyone.

What an amazing novel! The character development was incredible, the story line flowed seamlessly and I was captivated the whole time. Highly recommended!

Detective Inspector Sasha Dawson leads a hectic life. With two teenage children and a currently disgruntled husband she leaves chaos behind most mornings to do her stressful job to the best of her ability. Then a child is kidnapped while waiting for her friends and everything comes under scrutiny as she works to return the girl to her parents unharmed.

Twenty years earlier six other children were taken, it was a case that changed the lives of everyone concerned, the victims, their families, the police, the town itself and Sasha knows she can't allow that to happen again. Her team works against the clock but they can't change history and inevitably the past collides with the present increasing the pressure on everyone involved.

This book is as chaotic as Sasha's life but that only adds to the need to keep reading. The action either moves at breakneck speed or crawls as leads are investigated, followed  up or discarded and I enjoyed every word. The Dawson family were great, an ordinary family who live around Sasha's job and the long hours she has to work. The procedural aspects were also well written and believable. Put the two together and this first book in a new series was a very good beginning indeed.

I was able to read an advanced copy of this book thanks to NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an unbiased review and would recommend it as a very good, intricately woven crime novel which holds great promise for book two.

The Bad Place is a novel about 6 teenagers kidnapped 26 years ago and again one by one, someone is taking kids connected to the survivors of the bad place. This story was exciting and filled with tension. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

Loved this one! It was a fast paced thriller that keeps you guessing till the end.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book

Absolutely amazing book! The bad place tells how an incident for a group of children causes a ripple affect later on in their adult lives. The bad place is an enthralling read and had a few surprising twists that wasn’t expected! Couldn’t put it down and was gripped from the start. Would definitely recommend this book!

Some books are very straightforward, this one is all over the place. I think I had, by the denoument, decided that everyone - one after another - was guilty. Except most of the police personnel. I say most as one or two seemed a litlle suspicious.

Loved it, so much so that I sat up late last night to finish it.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Bad Place, it was perfectly paced, an addictive crime thriller with some engaging, often divisive characters and one of those past/present storylines that I’m particularly fond of.

There’s a cleverly obfuscated group dynamic that keeps things unpredictable and main protagonist Sasha Dawson is one of those detectives you really relate to, juggling family and job through challenging times. The mystery element is intriguing and there’s a healthy dose of realism to the whole thing backed up by great writing.

Yes. Very good. I will definitely look forward to more Sasha Dawson adventures.

Recommended.

** spoiler alert ** First in a series I believe,which I'd good news,as I enjoyed the characters in the police.
Sasha mostly,with her messy home life,involving kids,parents and annoying neighbours.
I enjoyed the story of a group of survivors from a kidnap twenty years before.. how it marked them and how they moved forward.
The big reveal on what actually happened the night they escaped was good too.
However,I did find Karin more than a bit irritating,and that she would even entertain the idea Becky was still alive and texting her just a bit far fetched.
Overall,decent idea,and good pace.

Interesting, fast-paced read that you have to finish to see what happens!

Thank you #netgalley and #HeadofZeus for the eARC.

I really enjoyed the premise of this book and once I read it the story line did not disappoint. With links back to a crime that happened in the past but is being relived in the present. Who is to blame and why are they doing what they are doing now are the questions to be answered in this first, in what I imagine will soon be a series. Yes it was a little far fetched in places but that doesn't particularly bother me given this is fiction after all. The only thing I struggled with was that I didn't really gel with Sasha and her family. Despite the tragedy they have been through it was really difficult to feel empathy for them and I wonder whether this is because these characters and their stories were discussed at a more of a superficial level? Anyway I would be happy to read further books and see how they develop.

"Twenty-six years ago, six teenagers from a local youth club were sitting in a minibus on the sea front, waiting to be taken home after a day trip. The youth worker who accompanied them jumped out of the vehicle to go to the toilet. When he returned less than five minutes later, the vehicle was gone. There was a nationwide hunt for the six: Karin, Michelle, Becky, Paul, Simon, Lydia. Six children were taken that day... But only five came back."
This book was phenomenal. It was good through the points of view of DI Sasha Dawson and Karin McCarthy, alternating between present and what happened back at the Bad Place. This book was fast paced with such well developed characters, and original plot line and very well written. It was full of so many twists and turns that every time I caught my breath from one, bam!, I was hit with another. Everyone has something to hide and some are willing to do anything to keep those secrets hidden. I really can't wait to see what Hill does next with this series. Absolutely loved it!
I want to thank netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I loved this book from the first page to the last. The story unfolds really quickly and keeps you enthralled. What was the real story of the events that happened 20years ago. All will be revealed by the last page. Must read.

This story had a great fast paced story line that took us back and forth in time until we found out what happened that night and how its connected to the girl missing now. The characters were well developed and this book was easy to get right into. It was appropriately suspenseful and the ending was very well done. I recommend this book.

Twenty years ago, six children were kidnapped and held against their will at a farm on the Thames. All but one escaped. Now the farm is known as The Bad Place and the survivors, now adults, meet once a year to remember the friend who was killed. One thing they will not discuss, are the events that occurred to the night they escaped. During this year’s vigil, one of the survivors sees a little girl taken right off the street. DI Sasha Dawson believes to finding the missing child lies in the events that happened on that long ago night twenty years earlier, but can she convince any of the survivors to talk? A dark and brooding mystery that had me reaching for my quilt and hot water bottle.

This is a gripping, fast-paced story that's incredibly hard to put down. The cover and title initially caught my attention, and I expected this to be a general thriller, however it's so much more. A dark, intriguing mix of psychological thriller and police procedural, The Bad Place focuses on a group of adults who were, as children, the victims of Jerry Swann, who imprisoned them in his basement before they managed to escape...all of them besides one. Becky was killed by Swann before the police could save her.

Now history seems to be repeating itself and DI Sasha Dawson has to figure out who is behind the kidnapping of teenage girl Sammi.

The Bad Place is a great book; it's addictive, thrilling, with well-developed characters. Sure, it seemed a little far-fetched in places, but it was still an overall brilliant read. I'm now going to check out M.K. Hill's other books, because this is exactly the kind of read I'm looking for at the moment.

This was the first time reading a book by M.K. Hill, and it will not be my last. I am hope this is start of a series. The story starts with a heartbreaking scene which pulls you in and never lets up the entire book. The story plot was gripping and the characters are so beautifully flawed, you can't helped feel for them. How people survive difficult circumstances can change people in ways you can never be able to understand. It was addictive crime thriller, and I was most shocked in the last few chapters. Great summer reading!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.
#netgalley
#thebadplace