This was an absolutely wonderful read that I would recommend to everyone who enjoys mysteries or thrillers.

Gytha Lodge has written an excellent 4th novel in the DCI Jonah Sheens series and I hope she has many more coming! Her characters are very well developed and the story pulled me in immediately.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for an ARC at my request. All thoughts are my own.

This was an Advanced Reader I received from NetGalley. Very good story Once I started, I had a hard time leaving it Young girl comes out of the forest covered in blood – she says she is fine but you had better find my sister – two sisters – one bad one good? – the sisters have been bounced around in foster care and the homes they were placed in were not the best or possible good places – the police department are trying very hard to find out what happened to them with the clues that she has given them and they must find the clues to find the other sister. Very good .story and I intend to look for more books by this author..

Name of Book: Little Sister
Series: DCI Jonah Sheens #4
Author: Gytha Lodge
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group ~ Random House
Pub Date: June 28, 2022
My Rating: 3.5 Stars!

DCI Jonah Sheens is enjoying his day off with baby Milly at a local pub. They are in the garden at a picnic table waiting for baby’s mother Michelle to arrive.
Since this is Book #4 in the series, I missed the earlier relationship of fifty year old Jonah with Michelle. Seems Jonah and his partner Jo Jo were a couple but broke up and he took out Michelle. They had a messy break up but when she found out that she was pregnant, she asked Jonah is he would help her raise the baby as she knew no way could she do it on her own.

Millie is now six is weeks old Jonah is enjoying fatherhood and finds that he is in love with both Millie and Michelle
While waiting, there is a young girl walking out of the woods wearing grubby clothes. Jonah discovers that the grubbiness is blood. He asks if she is all right but her sister Nina needs help.
Detectives fins out that these teenage sisters Keely Lennox age sixteen and Nina Lennox age fourteen disappeared five days ago from a children’s home.
Keely has some information about Nina but has a story she wants to tell before revealing information about Nina.

I was sure Keely was lying and then I wasn’t so sure so the story kept me interested.

Want to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group ~ Random House for this eGalley. This file has been made available to me before publication in an early form for an honest professional review.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for June 28, 2022.

I didn't realize that this was part of a series and I haven't read any of the others. The main story was stand alone but I was a bit confused with the missing backstory of other characters.

The main story was a thrill with the orphan keeley slowly telling the police what happened when she and her sister went missing a few days prior.

This was a wild ride! Firstly, I absolutely adore DCI Sheens and his team and it was so lovely to visit with them again. They are so wonderful and interesting. Secondly, this book kept me guessing! Keely & Nina were fascinating characters. There was a lot going on in the book and it definitely kept my attention.

Lodge become one of my favorite novelists. Her books are always original and always make me think. This book is a standard thriller but what makes it special is the fact that it really hasn’t impeccably told story.

Highly recommend!! My first book to read by this author but definitely not my last!! Uniquely and beautifully written, this story and its characters stay with you long after you finish the book.

[Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for an e-ARC of <i>Little Sister</i>, available everywhere on June 28th, 2022].

Unfortunately, I didn't think the latest novel in the DCI Jonah Sheens series was very good. I thought it was convoluted rather than a well-crafted cat and mouse game between Sheens and Keely. It was a struggle to stay interested. I will be continuing with the series but this one missed the mark for me.

Orphan Keely is picked up at a pub covered in blood. She is unwilling to tell the police where her also orphaned 14-year old sister Nina is as she has gone missing from foster care. So begins a complex and captivating page-turner.

Time is of the essence to find Nina, yet Keely sits calmly in the police station relating her story, using narrative clues instead of being forthright. So begins a race against the clock for the police to find Nina.

Keely’s character is brilliant, manipulative and wise beyond her years with a dark side. I was tempted to read ahead yet restrained myself. Glad I did as I would have missed out on so much along the way.

🌳👯‍♀️Little Sister👯‍♀️🌳

✍️: Gytha Lodge
✨: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
🗓: Pub Date June 28th!

Thank you so much @netgalley and @randomhouse for this e-ARC! What a ride it was!

Sisters Keely and Nina Have been missing for a few days, when Keely walks out of the woods, covered in blood and runs into DCI Jonah Sheens. While refusing to explain what happened, where she’s been or where her sister is, she begins to weave her backstory with a puzzle for the police team to follow and hopefully put the pieces together before it’s too late.

This was an interesting read! It’s the 4th in the series and it’s the first that I’ve read which was fine, the story definitely stands alone! But there were some backstories about the team that I didn’t really care about since I wasn’t invested from the past books. But the story was so crazy! It was fun to watch the team try to figure out the puzzle as I also tried to piece it together, which I did catch some things ‘before’ they did 😜 there were definitely some parts of the story that were confusing, it kept jumping in timelines from Keely telling her story to the detectives learning about her past through other avenues that made it hard to follow at times. It was hard to keep track of what info you knew from where and why. Overall this book was entertaining and I recommend if you like puzzling, mysterious, ‘what is a lie and what is the truth’ kind of stories!

What’s your favorite detective series?!

link to review on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CdOrKK_Ll0Z/

Gytha Lodge's Little Sister is a strong entry in the DCI Jonah Sheens ongoing series. I read the first book in this series for a mystery book group I am in and was happy to see this new book. I appreciate the chance to review it; thank you as always to Random House for the chance to review and support another one of your authors.

The story revolves around the main character, Sheens, encountering Keely who seems to possibly be in trouble (blood, a complicated persistence in telling a story of her still missing sister Nina).. Is the story believable? Is Sheens being used/manipulated? Is he being distracted from another crime or mystery? The only way to know is to go along with the story but then find a way to gain control and clues before it is too late.

I found this story riveting, an expansion of common mystery/thriller themes on unreliable narrators with a broader examination of themes on abuse and exploitation of youth within a possibly broken child care system. There is value in drawing consistent attention to vulnerable youth who may be or become invisible in systems of care and though there can be a tendency to create a narrative that is also exploitative of these themes and very real experiences for some, this book handles the material with care. I enjoyed as well being pulled into the narrative through Keely's storytelling, being part of the investigation in a way and going along with the pursuit of clues/information, it felt real time and kept me engaged as I read.

Little Sister is a captivating book By Gytha Lodge.
Two sister lost and abused in the foster care system. Where no one believes them, and they can only depend on one foster boy in the system with them to help them bring the truth to light; or can they?
This has all the makings of a Law and Order, SVU episode!

Little Sister is the latest story in the DCI Jonah Sheens series. In this book author Gytha Lodge has the police looking for two sisters that disappeared from a children's home. When the older sister appears in front of Sheens she is covered in blood, not her own. Back at the police station she will only tell the story in her own way, leaving them clues to follow. This story is fast paced and addictive. I want to thank NetGalley and Random House for an early copy to review.

Thank you Random House and NetGalley for the copy of Little Sister. This book was not for me. I never connected to the characters or the writing. The story was good though, even though it was convoluted and not really believable. People looking for a twisty book would like this one, but it just didn’t do it for me.

Why would you harm your little sister?

Keely and her sister were in foster care since their mother died and both left the care home they were in without permission, but Keely is the only one who makes it into the public eye and tells the police her story.

Where is her sister Nina?

Keely won’t tell the police why Nina wasn’t with her, but seeing Keely covered in blood made DCI Jonah Sheens and his team know it is urgent to find her as soon as possible.

The team was definitely challenged as Keely was hinting at clues to her sister's whereabouts as she told her story about their days in foster homes and as the team tried to interpret and figure out the clues they knew Keely was weaving into the story.

Her story is chilling, and her personality is frightening.

She grins when she sees the team thinking they have figured out a clue, and she enjoys seeing that her tricks worked to lead them in the wrong direction.

Keely is a tough one...manipulative, angry, unlikeable, brilliant, and cruel.

The reader is frustrated along with the police team as they try to figure things out and figure out where her sister is before it is too late.

Those readers who “really” enjoy guessing will not want to miss this twisty, creative read.

Ms. Lodge brilliantly kept us at bay and created another amazing thriller. 5/5

**Be aware that child abuse is part of the story line**

This book was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.

Little Sister, the fourth in the DCI Jonah Sheens series, is an eerie story, combining a psychological thriller with the standard police procedural. Jonah is out with his infant son when a young woman comes into the pub garden, covered in blood. She is one cool customer. He comes to find out she’s one of two sisters who have gone missing from their care home. But she refuses to say where her sister is. Instead, she insists on telling him her story on her own terms. She tells them there were three men that messed up her life.
The narrative alternates between Jonah, Juliette Hanson, a member of Jonah’s team and the young woman.
I was engaged in this story from the very beginning. Keely is manipulative, obviously very smart but chilling. It’s a match of personalities as Jonah tries the best way to suss out her sister Nina’s location and whether she is safe. The team isn’t sure whether to believe Keely, but are more open to her story than others have been. “If you’d been denied a voice, might you find a way of shouting?” I loved that Lodge has not just Jonah, but the reader vacillating back and forth trying to search out the truth.
Keely’s story includes body shaming, sexual grooming and manipulation. There are lots of twists and turns here and they are beautifully done. When I reached the “gotcha moment” it totally caught me off guard and I had to stop and think back through how everything had led up to that moment. Lately, I’ve been let down by too many thrillers but this one lives up to the hype.
My thanks to Netgalley and Random House for an advance copy of this book

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for an advance copy of Little Sister, the latest police procedural/ psychological thriller by Gytha Lodge. Having read all the previous books featuring DCI Jonah Sheens and his dedicated team, I have admired the details of the effort put forth in a solid police investigation: their interviews, the search for clues to determine the perpetrator and motivation, the boredom and the excitement of establishing proof, and the exhaustive work of a cooperative and determined police team.

DCI Jonah is relaxing at a bar while pondering his domestic problems. A young woman with blazing red hair stumbles out of the woods drenched with blood. She deliberately approaches the bar. Jonah is concerned, but she is not forthcoming in her answers. He learns that she is 16-year-old Keely Lennox and that she and her younger sister, Nina left an abusive care home five days earlier. She says she is alright, but the missing Nina should concern him. Whose blood is it? Is it Nina's? Did Keely injure or kill someone?

Keely presents an odd, cold affect, one lacking in emotional outbursts. She tells Jonah that she and her sister have been in a series of abusive care and foster homes since the death of their mother and were not believed when they complained to the police or caregivers. Jonah feels they must find Nina before time runs out, especially if she has been injured.

Keely seems to know where Nina is but tells Jonah that he must first listen to her long story relating to the sister's heartwrenching time in the Child Care system. She seems to have taken charge of the interview, and her story seems rehearsed. She appears to be playing games with Jonah and his team and behaves in an amused, condescending, disdainful manner towards them. Her speech resembles that of an older woman, not a teenager. She appears to take pleasure in manipulating the situation.

Her story, one of a series of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse while in foster care, is repellant and heartbreaking. It becomes evident that she is resentful of her sister. Jonah and his team are no closer to finding Nina's whereabouts, even if she is still alive. Is Keely stalling for time to keep them from rescuing her sister? She tells the detectives that she has inserted clues in her story to help them find Nina, if only they were clever enough to find and interpret them.

Her story is convoluted, and her motive for telling it is in question. Some team members are conflicted about the truth of her story. Maybe she is just playing games with them and enjoying the attention while giving herself a feeling of superiority. Others, like Jonah, are more inclined to believe her but fluctuate as to her reliability. She is bent on revenge on three men who abused them while in the system. Without proof, the girls were not believed when they reported this to authorities. The plot is straightforward except for Keely's puzzling and disturbing tale.

Eventually, Keely vanishes and may be in extreme danger. She leaves audio relating the rest of her story and some more clues. Now Jonah and his team are in a frantic rush to locate both girls. They fear they have possibly been abducted by one of the men accused of abusing them. Will they rescue them before their time runs out?

This was a well-written, gripping story that centres on child abuse and the difficulty of bringing the accused to justice without substantial proof and ignoring the children's pleas to be placed in a safer home. It emphasizes the lasting emotional damage to such children. Recommended!

I read "Little Sister" by Gytha Lodge as an early copy on NetGalley. This is the story of 2 sisters, Keely & Nina, who end up in foster care after their mother died. The book begins with Keely showing up at a pub covered in blood. And no one knows where Nina has been. And the police force is worried that Keely has hurt her. Slowly Keely reveals the story of the sisters, of the abuses they had been subjected to in their foster homes. This mystery keeps giving throughout the entire novel. And there is a big twist that you may or may not have seen coming.

I received a copy of Little Sister from NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group in exchange for a review.

Keely and Nina have been placed in the system after the abandonment of their father and the death of their mother. They move in and out of different foster homes and children's homes, until one day they both vanish. Keely reappears, her arms covered in blood, with no sign of her little sister, Nina.

***Trigger warnings for this book include child abuse, sexual abuse, abandonment, parental death, and psychological trauma.

If you are looking for a dark, psychological, police procedural, look no further. This book kept my attention, and for the last half, I struggled to put it down. I enjoyed the puzzle, and how the pieces all finally came together. I still can't fully wrap my mind around one of the twists

First of all: I admire Gytha Lodge’s extra ordinary story telling skills and her brilliant efforts to create this moving series!

The detective Jonah Sheens, Juliette Hanson seem like your old friends you want to catch up, having long chats to learn about how their lives are going. Even though it was a little exhausting to read their POVs in the meantime you also try to concentrate on Keely’s heart wrenching, blood freezing story which tears your heart apart and force you take deep breaths to digest the horrible and tragic things you’re reading.

The beginning of the book was strong,making you drawn into the mystery immediately.

DCI Jonah Sheens has a peaceful Sunday by drinking at pub, thinking about his living and custody situations with his ex who recently gave birth to their baby daughter. Then suddenly a girl walks out of the woods, moving toward the direction of the pub: a red headed girl, 16, deep blue eyes, drifting, covered in blood. Whose blood is this? Did she hurt herself? Did somebody do harm her? Or something worse: did she kill somebody?

She sits next to Jonah, telling she’s ran away from foster care along with her 14 years old Nina . When Jonah takes her to the station, she promises to tell what happened to Nina but she has a condition: Jonah has to listen to sisters’ story from the beginning without interrupting. Jonah reluctantly accepts.

The story is truly surprising and there are so many unexpected, definitely you’ve never see it coming twists!

I enjoyed mostly listening to Keely’s story even though things she’s told make my heart bleed. That’s what makes Gytha Lodge a perfect story teller. The resonating, powerful voices of her characters directly address to your soul. You live in their brains and hearts. Totally understand, ache, accept anything you read about them devotedly.

Normally I was planning to give five stars but I think I’m addict of the series so I decided to round up 4.5 stars to 5 creative writing, perfect characterization stars!

I’m looking forward to read the next book of the series!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.