Little Girl Gone by Gerry Schmitt – a Review
Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo / BAM / The Book Depository
Description:
In the first Afton Tangler thriller, the unforgiving cold of a Minnesota winter hides the truth behind an even more chilling crime…
On a frozen night in an affluent neighborhood of Minneapolis, a baby is abducted from her home after her teenage babysitter is violently assaulted. The parents are frantic, the police are baffled, and, with the perpetrator already in the wind, the trail is getting colder by the second.
As family liaison officer with the Minneapolis P.D., it’s Afton Tangler’s job to deal with the emotional aftermath of terrible crimes—but she’s never faced a case quite as brutal as this. Each development is more heartbreaking than the last and the only lead is a collection of seemingly unrelated clues.
But, most disturbing of all, Afton begins to suspect that this case is not isolated. Whoever did this has taken babies before—and if Afton doesn’t solve this crime soon, more children are sure to go missing . . .
Review:
Little Girl Gone by Gerry Schmitt is the first book in her new Afton Tangler series. This is a mystery thriller about a baby kidnapping, but it is not a whodunit. We know from early on who the kidnapper is. Little Girl Gone revolves around Afton Tangler, who is a family liaison for the Minneapolis police department. While she is out mountain climbing with her friends, she gets the call to help on this kidnapping. Afton will team with Max, the detective in charge of the case, as well as the FBI, who are also involved.
Besides watching them look for clues, as they race to find the baby alive; we also get an up close look at the baby’s parents, Susan and Richard Darden. All during the book we can see the Dardens life falling apart, as each blames the other. As in any investigation, everyone is suspect, but Afton doing a lot of research keeps coming back to the lady at a doll show, whom Susan Darden had met the day before the kidnapping. Afton will also discover similarities to other baby’s deaths.
What follows is an interesting and at times exciting and tense mystery thriller that will be a race against time. I felt the writer did a good job in showing us the emotional turmoil in those involved, as well as making the villains totally evil. I did think at times it was a bit slow early on, with some parts a bit unrealistic. But overall, it was a very good story. If you like mystery thrillers, with a lot of police procedurals, I suggest you read Little Girl Gone.
Reviewed by Barb
Copy provided by Publisher
