Carol Wyer has done it again! Absolutely fantastic! As good as her previous ones and I solid 4.5 stars.
When a body is found in a burnt out house we are soon involved in a huge family tin of worms! Who is lying, who is in danger, who knows...
Natalie is her excellent self as always, but please let her sack off her dead beat husband cos I cannot stand him! 
If I had to find a fault, and I am scraping the bottom of the barrel for this - it was a teeny bit long!
Roll on the next one! Xxxxx

Looking at other reviews, mine seems to be a unpopular opinion. I liked the book but I didn´t love it... 

The storyline is incredibly complex and since almost everyone is lying, it´s not easy to figure out what is going on and who is responsible, not only for Roxy´s death but also for those that occur later. It is only towards the end that it all comes together, which is great. 

However, when the case is solved, it doesn´t seem realistic or authentic to me. What has happened seems very unlikely, maybe the first crime, yes, but not the others. They are too calculated and cleverly planned for it being a spur of the moment/out of desperation kind of thing. 

I also don´t love the writing as much as I hoped. I enjoy books where things are described and I can imagine myself being present, but there is barely any descriptive language in this story. I have absolutely no idea what the surroundings or team look like (they may have been described in previous books however). Most sentences are short and simple and the writing therefore doesn´t flow as well. I also didn´t enjoy the "going back in time thing" to show the reader what happened exactly. I think it´s a shortcut. A storyline should unfold and what happened should established without the author relying on a change of perspective where the reader is transported back in time to a situation that then explains reasoning and motive. 

I think I will give this author another try however, because I loved the complexity of the story and the different characters in it and the last couple of pages make me want to find out more about Nat and her family (which was probably the point...).

I love Natalie Ward! She's been on my top favorite characters since the first book, but I found my interest in her to be waning in this book. From the beginning to the end I found myself dragging my feet to complete this one, which was definitely not the case in the previous books. 

When fourteen-year-old Roxy says she’s going for a sleepover at her best friend Ellie’s house, Cathy sees no reason to check her daughter’s story. The two families are neighbours, and the girls are in and out of each other’s homes every day. It is a decision she will regret. A day later, Roxy is found murdered in exclusive Linnet Lane, miles across town, in a house owned by two brothers with no apparent connection to Roxy. Detective Natalie Ward, called to lead the investigation, is determined to get to the bottom of why Roxy was in the basement of this grand Victorian mansion when she should have been eating chocolate in her pyjamas with her best friend.
Then Roxy’s mother Cathy disappears.
When Cathy’s body is discovered close to where her daughter was found, Natalie is forced to face the grim fact that the killer is just getting started. She is troubled by the reaction of Roxy’s brother Seth to the tragedies and when his alibi falls through she brings him in for questioning, certain she is making headway. But while Seth is in custody, one of Roxy’s school friends is found murdered and Natalie knows she must cast her net wider. Can Natalie work it out before another innocent life is taken?

I found the plot in this one to be repetitive - two disappearances and Nat keeps hauling in Gavin and Kirk to the station. The same questions asked, the same points highlighted and for the most part, I found them to be going around in circles - I don't think her team were in their best form in this one. Personally, I did not find the plot to be strong but very predictable. The characters, however, were good. We get a glimpse of a lot of Nat's personal life in this one and those were the good parts for me. I loved reading more about Josh and David. The ending of the book was great. Sadly, those were the only highlights of the book for me. Despite all this, I still think Nat is one of the best and will keep an eye out for her next.

Thank you, NatGalley, Bookouture and Carol Wyer for an arc!

Now here's an author I would give my Last Rolo to!!!! 

All Carol's books are an excellent read.

The Sleepover by Carol Wyer is the fourth book in the Detective Natalie Ward series. This series of books that just gets better and Better. I found its one of the best books in this fantastic series. It's full of twists and turns throughout, Its complex and will keep you guessing who the suspects are right till the end of the book. But, it does not end there!!!! 

If you love this kind of series of books that will also keep you awake at all hours. This is a series books for you. Each book you will read how Detective Natalie Ward character grows, how she works closely with her team and always gets results etc. Natalie is like an old friend and cares for others around her. However, you will learn about Natalie's past with her estranged sister and why she finds lies so hard to forgive. 

I highly Recommend The Sleepover and the other books in the brilliant Detective Natalie Ward series by  Carol Wyer.

Looking forward to Book Five......No Pressure Carol! 

Big Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for my advanced copy of this book to read. All opinions are my own and are no way biased.

I have not read the other books in this series but I will certainly look out for them now. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and not having read 1-3 did not hamper my enjoyment. It was an exciting rollercoaster with lots of suspects and kept me guessing until almost the very end. I liked the way Natalie ‘joined the dots’ in the investigation and the way  the perpetrator was finally uncovered.
I would, and have, recommended this book to my friends.
Thank you Carol Wyer, Bookouture and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to give my honest opinion.

This is the fourth book in the DI Natalie Ward series and I found it a fantastic read. It really had me hooked from the start. The book is set around Armston-on-Trent, Staffordshire way. The chapters are dated and have a rough time of day, ie late afternoon, morning, etc, so you can relate to the time of day the story is set in. 

We start with a little bit of background on Roxy and her family, their lifestyle, etc. Her relationship with her mum and her friends. That particular Saturday, Roxy and her mum had rowed about a boy that Roxy had wanted to see but her mum, Cathy, had said no. Instead, Roxy arranged a sleepover with her friend Ellie and left with her stuff in a carrier bag to go to her friend’s for the evening. Cathy caught a final ‘see you’ from Roxy as she settled onto the sofa to enjoy her cup of tea and watch a bit of tv, glad she had made up with her daughter before she left the house.

Later that night there was a fire in an old Victorian mansion on the other side of town. DI Natalie Ward was called when a badly burned body was found, as yet unidentified. The next day, the body was identified as Roxanne Curtis, fourteen years old. Why had the family not called to say she was missing? The team started working on amassing information on Roxanne and her family, they become suspicious of the amount of callouts by the police since Paul and Cathy have been together. Also, the amount of injuries that Roxanne had sustained and that she had gone missing before. Natalie and Lucy left to interview the family but they couldn’t tell them very much apart from she went to her friend Ellie’s for a sleepover the night before.

On Sunday evening Cathy went missing, her friend Megan and partner Paul were becoming more and more worried. The police were too but on Monday morning she was found, drowned in the canal with suspicious ligature marks around her neck so possibly not suicide. Just what was happening to that poor family. As the police enquiries progressed they wanted to speak to Ellie, Roxy’s friend, but she couldn’t be located. Her mobile was switched off and her mum didn’t know where she was. Lucy finally found her in a children’s park on the swing’s and she agreed to go to the station to speak to them. She was afraid she might be next on the killer’s list….after  she had heard about Habib being found hung in the field.

This book was very well written and drew you in from the start. The story is descriptive and you can see it happening in your mind’s eye as you are reading. Totally gripping and I found it hard to put down as I wanted to know what happened next! 5 out 5 stars from me. Roll on the next one.

Okay, this book is full of well developed suspicious characters who would all make excellent bad guys.  Carol Wyer has built a community full of suspects and slowly gives us clues to weed out which ones need to be arrested.  Natalie Ward returns in the 4th installment of this series.  Her character continues to develop in each book, giving us more thrills and tension to keep us reading.  The investigation into the murder of a young girl compounds when more young girls disappear and the murdered girl's mother disappears too.  Twists in the clues will keep you guessing.  Good luck solving the crime before the end.

The Sleepover by Carol Wyer is book four in the Detective Natalie Ward series. I haven't read any of the other books in the series, so starting with book 4 bothered me a bit. The book  has a lot of police talk in it which made the story drag a bit for me.  Although I do enjoy a good police procedural, this one was missing something for me. I can't pinpoint exactly what it was. I think the manner of Roxy's death just really bothered me.

The Sleepover by Carol Wyer is the fourth in the Detective Natalie Ward series.

First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Bookouture, and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

 
Series Background:    (Warning – May contain spoilers from previous books)
DI Natalie Ward is a strong female detective, but also a woman who is trying to juggle her job and her home life. Her husband has a gambling problem and lost all their savings. Then he lost his job, and he is now working from home. He is feeling inadequate, and Natalie finds herself constantly having to massage his fragile ego. Although she tries, she feels like she is neglecting her two children, even though they know that if she is on a murder investigation, it has to take precedence. She is often torn. Natalie’s team consists of: DS Lucy Carmichael, DS Murray Anderson and PC Ian Jarvis.



My Synopsis:   (No major reveals, but if concerned, skip to My Opinions)

A fire destroys a home, and the burnt body of 14-year old Roxy Curtis is found.  What was she doing in a home where the owners insist they don't know her, and when her mother thought she was at a sleepover at the home of her best friend.

Nathalie is sure that the home-owners, brothers that also own a nightclub and a tea room, are hiding something.  They don't seem too concerned that their home burnt to the ground, or that someone died in the fire.

Kids lie, but so do adults, and Natalie is not impressed.  It seems like everyone is hiding something, and when more people die, things seems to be getting more confusing than less.

On a personal level, Natalie is still struggling with the lies that her husband has told her, and she is worried about the changes in her teenage son.

 

My Opinions:  

I like most of the characters in this series.  They are flawed, but real.  Natalie has normal kids with normal teenage issues.  I dislike her gambling husband, but I also lost respect for Natalie in a previous book when she fooled around with Mike.  I'm hoping that whole situation gets corrected soon.  I think the author gives the right amount of attention to Natalie's family.

Overall, the plot, the pace and the writing is great.  There were a lot of twists, and the number of suspects surprisingly large, but nothing felt over-done.  It was just a really good mystery.

The topic of secrets and lies was prominent in this book.  Why people lie, even when it makes no sense to lie....

Anyway, I am looking forward to the next book!

Absolutely great book by Carol Wyer.  This book had everything with so many twists and all the characters are hiding their secrets. It had me glued from the first chapter and kept me guessing throughout.  If you are looking for a new book to read that will have you gripped, pick up this one.  You wont be disappointed.

14-year old Roxy tells her mom Cathy that she’s going to her best friend’s house for a sleepover. But when Roxy’s dead body is found inside an incinerated house the morning after, it’s clear Roxy wasn’t at a sleepover after all. 

Detective Natalie Ward is first on the scene to investigate Roxy’s death and how an expansive house in a ritzy part of town ended up in flames. The owners of the house—two brothers who co-own a nightclub together—claim to have no idea how the fire started, but Natalie doesn’t trust what either of them has to say. 

When Natalie starts questioning Roxy’s family, information from their past starts to surface. There’s evidence that possible physical abuse was taking place inside their household. Was someone in their home the real danger to Roxy?

The Sleepover by Carol Wyer is book four in the Detective Natalie Ward series. I really enjoyed the first two books in the series, but as the series has progressed, I’ve lost interest in Natalie Ward. The book is bogged down with a lot of police talk, which made the story drag. I wanted to see less of Natalie’s personal life and more action. I can appreciate a good police procedural, but this one left me wanting more. 2.5/5 stars. 

Thank you NetGalley, Bookouture and Carol Wyer for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was fast paced. Hard to put down. It flowed well and it was very well written. It caught hold of me and had me hooked from the start . I was literally on the edge of my seat reading this book.

Book 4 in the DI Natalie detective series. This was a good read but for me it lacked something.  It was a little bit slow paced and unfortunately I didn’t find it as good as the previous books in this series.  3.5 stars for me.

Fourteen year old Roxy tells her mother Cathy that she is going to a sleepover at her best friend and neighbor Ellie's house.
The next day a body is found in a house fire across town. The two brothers who own the house are strangers to the family. When the remains are identified as Roxy, Cathy and her family are thrown into different states of grief.
Then Cathy disappears.
As Detective Natalie Ward investigates, she keeps running into dead ends. It seems that all her suspects and witnesses have secrets and are hiding things.
Natalie becomes frustrated as she continues to dig for leads. When Cathy is found dead, not far from where Roxy died, she knows she has to discover the truth before there are more victims.
This was an excellent British police procedural.
Besides being a superb mystery, the characters are interesting and well rendered.
I really became involved with Natalie and her family, struggling with her husband David and his problems finding a job and his fight with an addiction to gambling.
This works well as a stand alone, but I recommend starting at the beginning for the exceptional character development.
This series just keeps getting better and better, I can't wait for the next one!
Thank you to Bookouture for the e-ARC via NetGalley.
4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for an advanced copy of "The Sleepover" by Carol Wyer in exchange for an honest review. 

I was intrigued by the premise of the novel: "Roxy had a secret. Now she’s gone. Then Roxy’s mother Cathy disappears. When Cathy’s body is discovered close to where her daughter was found, Natalie is forced to face the grim fact that the killer is just getting started. She is troubled by the reaction of Roxy’s brother Seth to the tragedies and when his alibi falls through she brings him in for questioning, certain she is making headway. 

But while Seth is in custody, one of Roxy’s school friends is found murdered and Natalie knows she must cast her net wider. Things take a more sinister turn when Ellie vanishes, her mobile phone switched off. What is Ellie hiding about the night Roxy died that could put her in terrible danger? And can Natalie work it out before another innocent life is taken? "

I struggled with the first few chapters but I am so glad I stuck with "The Sleepover" by Carol Wyer. There was plenty of suspense, mystery, twists, and turns to keep me on my toes. 

I didn't love all of the subplots, especially the one between Natalie and her husband. Perhaps that's a subplot that would be more interesting if I had read the previous books in the series. I'll certainly be checking them out along with any future stories in the Detective Natalie Wood series.

Another book where I like how the characters are progressing but found the story a bit predictable and struggled with it. I do like the books though and will continue to read this series #NetGalley#TheSleepover

The Detective Natalie Ward crime thriller series is a favorite of mine. I love how detailed the cases usually are. In this case, Roxy is found dead in a house that burned down. This was one case that was simply hard to crack. Roxy had no business being in that house. She has no connection with the owners of the house and lived in a totally different neighborhood. The premise had me scratching my head trying to figure it out.

The investigation was captivating and tense. Detective Natalie and her team started out in the dark but as always, pieces of the puzzle soon started falling into place. There were no dull moments since my mind was working fast as I tried to guess the culprit. With this series, I never really have any definite suspects. I just suspect whoever the detectives suspect as I follow the evidence with them. The unpredictability is one of my favorite things about these books.

I also enjoyed the character development. I like Detective Natalie and the fact that she is a wife and mom to 2 kids. She does remind me a lot of my mom who worked as a cop until her retirement. Her characterization is so relatable hence making her story even more enjoyable to read. I liked experiencing her vulnerability at home and toughness at work. The support characters are equally well developed, especially her family and team at work.

With stellar writing, a tough case to crack and an unpredictable outcome, this was an enjoyable, fast-paced, gripping read. I recommend the series to fans of crime thrillers.

Carol wyer is one of my fav authors and I always get excited to get my hands on her newest work.   I love her Natalie Ward series...this book was awesome.  Can’t wait for book 5.

This is the 4th instalment from the Detective Natalie Ward series. I have previously read and loved the previous books and this latest is just as good.  In all honesty it could be read as a stand-alone book but I do think you miss out on a bit of the history of the characters plus the previous titles are too good to be missed !!

A fire at a residential property starts off a series of events that will change the lives of several families.  Detective Natalie Ward is called to attend a house fire where a body is found in the remains of the house.  The owners were out at the time of the fire and deny all knowledge of knowing the person who died in their house.  The remains are those of a local teenager who was meant to be sleeping over at a friends house and had no links to the house where she was found.  The next day Natalie receives a call to say that the teenagers mother has gone missing.  Are the two linked ? Or had the mother taken herself away to get some space ?

Time is ticking and Natalie is under pressure to solve the case but she is also having to deal with distractions from home.  Will she discover the truth before anyone else comes to harm ?

This is a great mystery thriller and I absolutely love Detective Natalie Ward, as well as her colleagues.  If you haven’t read the previous books in the series then you are really missing out !! Can’t wait for book five in the series !!

Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for a digital copy of this book.

This is the first DI Natalie Ward book, there's a series of 4 books total, that I've read. And I absolutely loved it!  The characters are, for the most part, likable and entertaining.  The detectives worked well together, helping and supporting each other as they solved this case.  The setting was was vividly described and I could envision it as I read. The suspense started building from the beginning of the story and heightened until the shocking end. This book was enjoyable to read and I hope to read the rest of the series.  Thank-you to Netgalley, Bookoutre, and Carol Wyer for an ARC in exchange for a honest review.