Lost and Gone Forever by Alex Grecian – Review & Giveaway

LOST AND GONE FOREVER
Scotland Yard’s Murder Squad #5
by Alex Grecian
Release Date: May 17, 2016
Genre: murder, mystery

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Description:
Many changes have happened to the Murder Squad. Rash actions have cost Sergeant Nevil Hammersmith his job, and in response he has set up his own private detective agency. Inspector Walter Day has been missing for a year, and no one knows where he is—though there is a strong suspicion that Saucy Jack has him. Hammersmith has made finding Day his primary case, and he has company—a pair of bounty hunters, a man and a woman. It is only gradually that he has come to realize that they are not what they seem . . .

Review:

Lost and Gone Forever by Alex Grecian is the 5^th book in his Scotland Yard’s Murder Squad series.  I have not read the earlier books in this series, and it did read somewhat well as a standalone. However, I was at a disadvantage not knowing the characters, and what had happened in previous books. Because of this, if I was rating the story, I would not give it the proper rating it probably would deserve. I will recommend that if you decide to read this series, start with the first book.

Nevil Hammersmith, a sergeant on Scotland Yard’s Murder Squad,  left his job at the end of the last book to open a detective agency.  Nevil’s only client was Claire Day, who is the wife of Walter Day, a police inspector who has been missing for a year.  This was the main reason Nevil is no longer with Scotland Yard, as he refuses to give up on Walter, spending all his spare time trying to find him.  It is suspected that Saucy Jack (Jack the Ripper), has kidnapped Walter.

The story does start early on with Walter Day waking up in his cell, and finding the door open.  Walter manages to escape, or did Jack purposely leave the door open?  After a year in captivity, Walter is not himself.  He remembers little of who he is, and only knows and fears Jack.  He slowly begins to find things in town, including learning from young boys how to make money in the street, a lady whom he will begin to work for, and eventually Jack, who encourages him to go back home.  But Walter is afraid to go home, as he doesn’t remember his wife or anyone.

Jack is still a killer, but can be very charming. He has an ulterior motive, which he wants Walter to help him with.  Walter doesn’t know this, but Jack has left something for him that will flash his memory. 

While Walter continues to live quietly in hiding, Nevil is trying to find his friend, and soon some sightings of Walter will encourage him and Claire to keep looking.  Nevil’s assistant, Hattie works on other cases to help take in some money to the agency.  It is Hattie, working on her own, who will find a dead client that will be another victim of Jack the Ripper, bringing her into Nevil’s case.  There is also the addition of a weird couple that will prove dangerous to all those involved with looking for Walter and Jack. 

There are many characters in this book, as Grecian’s story moves at along at a steady pace, and also gives us a nice picture about those characters, who have been in the previous books.  Without that I might have been lost.  What follows is an interesting, and at times exciting story that will have some twists, as we race to the tense finish. I did enjoy this book, but did find myself a bit confused with the different characters being part of this overall story.  If you like a mystery thriller, in old time Victorian England and with Scotland Yard, Jack the Ripper as the background, you will enjoy this book.  Once again, it is best if you start from the beginning.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher

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