This is the second book in the series featuring DI Siv Drummond.  I hadn’t read the first one but this read well as a stand-alone.  Siv, who recently lost her husband in a tragic accident and is still grieving, has left her high profile post with the London Met and has returned home to the seaside town of Berminster.  The book opens in 2013 with the disappearance of a young mother  Lyn Dumas.  Her 18 year old daughter was attending her school prom and she had left her 9 year old son Adam at home while she went to the shop, but she never returned.  Fast forward six years and Siv and her team are called out to investigate the finding of a mummified body of a young woman in a derelict building and she is soon identified as Lyn Dimas.  The family were torn apart when Lyn and husband separated, so he became a suspect alongside family, friends and colleagues,  all seem to have strong alibis but as the team start to unravel all the lies that surround Lynn’s murder family secrets re revealed.  This is a good detective story with plenty of twists and turns and an unexpected ending.  A recommended read.
Thanks to Netgalley and Joffe Books  for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

This is a brilliant read.
Wonderful well written plot and story line that had me engaged from the start.
Love the well fleshed out characters and found them believable.
Great suspense and found myself second guessing every thought I had continuously.
Can't wait to read what the author brings out next.
Recommend reading.

I was provided an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher.  This is my own honest voluntary review.

This is the second book of the DI Siv Drummond series, but it was my first Gretta Mulrooney book I've read.

The story follows the investigation of a cold case murder after builders find a mummified corpse tied to the back of a fridge in a derelict building. It is the body of Lyn Dimas who went missing years before. She had left her nine-year-old son home alone and her daughter was at a school prom.
This was quite a slow read for me. I did enjoy the characters but I found the pace of the investigation was too slow for me.
If you like a police/investigation focused thriller, this is the book for you!

Thanks to Joffe Books and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I struggled with this one. It's the first Gretta Mulrooney book I've read and I suspect it may be that I'm not familiar with her earlier work and needed to read the previous book in the series for context.

Thanks to NetGalley for the review copy.

The blurb for this one didn’t grab me, but since I’m usually open to testing out murder mysteries and crime novels I gave NEVER CAME HOME a go. Boy, was this a hidden gem! Complicated plot lines and a mix of characters you love and hate, a tightly knit investigation team, and lots of family drama pack this novel! And, I have found myself a new crime series!

If you enjoy crime/police procedurals or are a fan of Tempe Brennan and Manon Bradshaw, this one’s for you. Lyn Dimas went to the store one night, leaving her 9-year-old son Adam home alone. She never returned.  Six years later, her desiccated body is found in an abandoned building being prepped for demolition. Detective Siv Drummond and her team are called in to reopen this cold case and find out how Lyn ended up here. Through their questioning, we meet Lyn’s bratty daughter, bigoted father in law, “too good to be true” son in law, and “out of the closet” husband. We also get some insight to Siv’s own challenges at home, from her recently deceased husband to her neglectful self-absorbed mother. 

I loved how this book kept me guessing but didn’t just focus on the case. Siv, Ali, and Patrick became more human as you learn about their own life struggles and personalities. As the book was wrapping up, the team took a few leaps to find the killer and close the case. After all the drawn-out investigation throughout the book, it was a bit disappointing some assumptions were made to solve it. After the killer was identified, the book abruptly ended which also was a bit disappointing.  It’s like the author got tired and wanted to wrap it up!  In the end, I enjoyed it. Siv and her team are characters you will want to hang out with again in the future! This is part 2 in the series, so I will definitely be reading part 1.

Thanks to NetGalley and Joffe Books for an advanced copy to review. NEVER CAME HOME is available now on Amazon.

3 for neutral.  This book was not for me, will update if able to read and enjoy at a later date! It may be because it’s a series, and I’ve not read the prior books.

What a fantastic addition to the DI Siv Drummond series. The mystery kept me guessing until the end. The character portrayal is excellent. Musti, Siv's mum's, comes back and boy, oh boy, the drama Siv has to put up with!
Red herrings are plenty and the suspense is well-maintained throughout the story. The identity of the perp was a huge shocker. Totally unexpected.
Having read the first book of this series, I must say I am impressed the way the series is developing; be it the characters or the storyline. I am looking forward to reading the next book in this series.

RATED: 3.7/5

This was quite a slow read for me. I had to wade through the book (yes, wade) for many days due to a lack of very apparent action in almost half of the book. But the writing style is genuinely good, the plot was just underdeveloped and the transition slow in my opinion.

The characters were developed very greatly. I love Siv and Ali. The author really put thought into how these characters came about, their backstory, their characteristics and personalities.

This book let us understand the dynamics of family ties what with ample examples, primarily the relationship between Siv and Mutsi, along with the Dimas family. This along with family love. The Patrick-Noah tandem made me teary-eyed and realize so many things involving certain people in my life.

This is a puzzle, one perfect for thriller/mystery fans especially because the author has opened so many endgame possibilities! It literally pained me thinking about who is who and which is which! Agatha Christie fans, you might want to give this a try. 

Full of twists and turns, you will be amazed at how intricately Never Came Home was crafted: it will make the clogs of your brain whirr about very, very restlessly.

This was a great read, enjoyed it thoroughly, great storyline and loads of twists and turns , highly recommend this book x

ENJOYED this book with likable main characters involved  in a police procedural  investigating a cold case. Great storyline with lots of suspense as to who the murderer is.  First time reading this author but will definitely look for more.  RECOMMEND totally.  Thanks to NetGalley & Joffe Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Police thriller with lots of twists and turns. Complex tale which is not as simple as it first seems. Good characters and fast paced story..

Every year thousands of people walk out of their home and just disappear but not many turn up six years later hugging the back of a fridge as a mummy!! Twists and turns aplenty good read with plenty of sub plots before the killer is found.

Anyone that reads Tana French, Joseph Heywood, or Lisa Scottoline will instantly be hooked on Gretta! What an awesome read!

This is the second book of the DI Siv Drummond series. This story is based on a cold case mystery about a woman who has disappeared, six years ago and founded in an abandoned building about to be demolished. Her body was partially mummified and tie up to the back of an old fridge freezer. The body turned out to be a mother called 'Lyn' who has two children, with a troublesome marriage, reported as a missing person back at the time ruled out as a possible suicide.

upon finding the body, Detective Siv Drummond and the team immediately have been called and assigned to the case to solve the case. Six years ago the case turns into a potential suicide case, which is what the police thought could be the case given her dysfunctional family full of lies and secrets. Or could it be murder? Can they finally solve the case and get justice for Lyn? can Siv discover the story behind the mummified body?

This is my first reading from this author, and it was very interesting reading. The whole story is based on typical criminal investigation and police procedural. I love how the author builds the characters and turn and twist the plot. I could not see the ending and the story will keep you guessing through to the end. When I came to the last plot twist, it was a surprise and was pretty good though. 
On the other hand, the pace was slow-moving for me and there were a lot of characters. I found myself turning pages back and forth to remember who was and how they were connected. Also, I felt the side stories of Siv’s colleagues were unnecessary and make the main story complex and gone on sideways.

Overall, this is 3. 5 Star reading for me and I really enjoy the story and the characters Detective Siv and Ali. I'm recommending this book to anyone interested in reading a good detective/Crime solve/Mystery book and looking forward to reading more books from this author.

Thank you to Joffe Books and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this e-book in exchange for an honest review.
I Highly Appreciate it for giving me a chance to read, Never Came Home.

This series is really good. I was drawn into this book, and it was a real pageturner. A gripping cold case story, with flashbacks to the time of the crime. I really enjoyed this. Highly recommended.

If you like detective/police novels, you will love this book. Sensitive subjects need to be written in the right way, taken and understood, and portrayed as you would believe it feels, in real life. Gretta Mulrooney can do this, and she can do it very well. 

I haven't read book 1 in this series but I have to go back now and do just that!

This is a detective story which looks into the disappearance of a single mother. After the initial set-up, with perspectives from the daughter of the missing woman (an 18-year-old on her prom night) and her nine year old son, the story jumps ahead about seven years and focuses on the detectives looking into the re-opened case and the woman's family. We see how the dynamics have changed, how the daughter has married the boyfriend her mother didn't approve of, and the son who has become increasingly withdrawn.

There are a lot of characters in this story, some deliberately unlikable or odd and two-dimensional, while there are plenty of well-rounded ones. There are many perspectives as the story is told, often briefly, from their point of view. It is good that the central characters in the police investigation have rounded lives without being too intrusive into the story. My favourite is the weird teenaged son. His thoughts, actions and speech are very plausible.

This is a good detective story with new characters appearing throughout, making the whodunnit aspect intense. Maybe one or two descriptions could be cut, but this is a good read. Recommended.

The problem with the blurb for books is that it tells you where to look for the killer - a twist you'll never guess - tells you just who to ignore. Saying that,  this is a good story with several red herrings.  Siv and her mutsi  - mother- promise to be an interesting backdrop to the series. 

Loved it.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher I read a free advance review copy of the book.  This review is voluntary,  honest and my own opinion.

The second instalment in the Siv Drummond series , twists and turns that leave you scratching your head to try and work out what is happening but  a very very engrossing read

Gretta Mulrooney is a new author for me and I want to say I was impressed with her book I liked the characters but the pace of the storyline was too slow for me. 
A mummified body is discovered in a derelict building by the builders tasked with clearing out the debris before demolishing the building. It is quickly identified as a missing woman from 6 years ago. 
The story then branches out covering the dysfunctional family of the deceased woman, past work colleagues, old neighbours. At the same time DI Siv Drummond has her own family issues and is still struggling to keep her grief in check for her late husband. 
I did enjoy the characters but I found the pace of the investigation was too slow and the twist at the end a little hard to believe. 
Not my favourite book this year, sorry.