This is a brilliant debut novel.

It’s a good old fashioned Who Dunnit? Full of Red Herrings.

A body if found on a campsite identified as Aurora, a teenager missing for 30 years. Following a dual timeline between past in present the mystery of what happened to Aurora slowly unfolds.

I genuinely did not guess the culprit and was gobsmacked at the reveal.

Fantastic read, definitely recommend.

Thank you to Netgalley and Michael Joseph publisher, for the review copy. This is an unbiased review of the author's work and style. If you want spoilers please see the publishers blurb and other reviewers' reports.

When will author's learn that their own fixation on technical equipment will date their text and it justs looks pretentious. I'd only got to page 4 when I had to look up Cannondale thinking it was important - turns out as I am sure you all know, it is a a very expensive bicycle and I have still to find out what a technical top is!
So, it didn't bode well - here is a book that will age as quickly as the fashion in over expensive bicycles and the sweaty riding gear that goes with them.

Then there is the genre - a little over done these days, maybe the author writes slowly but it is certainly not the best in a crowded field. The mystery is hardly a mystery and the characters lack depth.

Have been critical up to now I need to add that once one has got over the lack of new tunes on an old fiddle that story does bob along and I enjoyed the overall read if not the old style of time splitting the chapters. I have given a fair assessment and suggest if you want to read it take on holiday where it is too hot to sleep it will keep you occupied until the cool of dawn and help you out on the beach once the tedium of sunbathing gets too boring.

When bones are found in the woods and they are assesed to have been there around 3 0 years DCI Jonah Sheen knows straight away who they belong to., it seems they are part of a cold case that has haunted him throughout the years. Six friends went to the woods to camp out one hot night 30 years ago and one of them didn't return, Aurora was nowhere to be found and the intensive search for her didn't uncover what had happened to her and this book is written on two time lines so we can not only keep up with the investigation but also find out about Aurora's last hours and the way the others dealt with her disappearance. It seems everyone has something to hide and it kept me guessing right up to the end.
I was surprised to find out that this is a debut book for Miss Lodge and look forward to getting to know the characters more.
Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of the book.

An enjoyable read that kept me awake to finish it. I thought the flashback was going to annoy me, but it worked well in the end without giving the game away. Not sure that the police characters were entirely believable, but I'll be looking out for any new ones in this series.

Although i enjoyed this novel, i couldnt connect with any of the remaining six. I did not find them to be likeable characters and this seemed to spoil the novel for me. I tried to keep up with the novel, but i did find myself becoming confused and somewhat disinterested. However, the writing was very good and i think if the characters had been "likeable" then i would have rated the novel more highly.

I don't mind a police procedural - if it's well done and has interesting investigators, it can be so good. Also, She Lies In Wait has a lot of flashbacks to 1983 when the group went to camping and Aurora died so it is part mystery thriller and part police procedural. However, here comes the biggest problem I had with this book - lack of well fleshed characters, who are engaging and interesting. There's a wide cast of characters, from the four investigators to the six friends and everyone else involved in the mystery, but none are particularly well developed. Everyone has two or three defining characteristics - Connor's from abusive home and jealous, Topaz is ashamed of her sister and craves attention, Jonah Sheens is loner and apparently brilliant. It never really dives deeper and more importantly, Sheens is rather bland and boring for a lead investigator.

The mystery is as flat as the characters. Sure, there's a pool of suspects and for a while it seems like anyone could have done it. However, there isn't that many twists and what there is, well, I could see them coming a mile away. Nothing really surprising happened and since the characters felt so distant, I didn't really care when things started to get dangerous. There's also a bit pacing problem: it's very slow for a long time and then everything happens within the last few chapters. Not to mention, the ending is disappointing. I can't go into it without spoilers, but it is a frustrating ending.

Overall, She Lies In Wait is alright. It's flat and lukewarm at best, and I struggled to be interested in it. There's certainly potential, but the characters aren't fleshed out enough and the mystery a bit too distant and unoriginal.

Firstly my apologies for not reading this book sooner as it is a great read. I thoroughly enjoyed the well plotted and suspenseful story which had me guessing to the very end. I particularly like books set in England, which English characters with whom I can relate. I also enjoy a classic whodunnit with a relatively small pot of characters to decide between. Shades of Agatha Christie but brought into the modern world.

The body of Aurora, missing for 30 year, is found in the woods, where she was last seen camping by her friends and sister. The question is, who put her in the hole in the ground and why.
The story is told alternating between the present and the past and the reader gradually finds out what happened that night in the woods. I was drawn in from the beginning and kept guessing 'til the end. And when I find out who murdered Aurora and how it all happened it made me sick. Knowing that the person who did it was someone she trusted and initially liked.

DCI Jonah Sheens untangles a web of long-buried secrets in this debut novel and the first book in an exciting new detective series perfect for fans of Jane Harper, Ruth Ware and Tana French. It’s an intricately plotted page turner full of characters you’ll really root for, and we already can’t wait for the next instalment.

It’s 1983 and a group of teenagers set off into the woods for a night camping combined with some drinking and who knows what else. Aurora Jackson is the younger sister of the Queen Bee of the group, Topaz, and quickly feels out of her depth. The next morning one of the group is missing and despite an extensive search is never found. Fast forward to the present day and Detective Jonah Sheen is called to the discovery of remains in the woods. Could this be the missing member of the party and will the other members be willing to cough up the secrets they’ve kept for over 30 years?

This is a smartly plotted book which pulls off the two timelines device with great ease. There’s some interesting characters and dynamics and the author has aged her characters in original and clever ways making them more than just two dimensional teenagers, the chapters with Aurora’s viewpoint expertly capturing what it’s like to feel like a fish out of water with your more experienced peers. The mystery that runs at the heart of the book is a good one too and genuinely caught me by surprise. Jonah Sheen isn’t as dark and complex a character as some current detectives in crime fiction but I think he does have legs as a character.

All in all this is a really good book with engaging characters and plenty to say about small town life with all the expectations and prejudices it places on people. If you like a good solid mystery with some twists and turns then I would recommend this.

I received a ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for a fair review.

This was a great read in what seems to be an emerging genre of bodies/evidence appearing long after an incident occured.

Using a group of teenagers as protagonists echoed Donna Tartt's The Secret History and I was pleased that the author referenced this. It was interesting to see how each character had grown into adulthood and how their friend's disappearance had affected their adult life. It was enjoyable seeing each character examined to see if they what they knew and what they were hiding.

The ending was satisfying and respectful to the character who went missing. I will keep an eye out for this author in the future.

This was a great book - a group of teenagers go camping one summer, but the youngest of the group goes missing.
Fast forward 30 years and the group is still together, tormented by not knowing what happened to Aurora. Each claim not to know what happened that night.
DCI Sheens investigates the case, could one of them really be harbouring a terrible secret? Added to this, the DCI actually went to school with the group and has some secrets of his own.
Lots of great twists in this story.

An absolutely brilliant story from Gytha Lodge!
I have found myself glued to the pages of this book not wanting to put it down. Great character development and unexpected twists throughout the story to keep you guessing. I highly recommend this book.
Without giving anything away, you really feel for the now adult teenagers who were involved in this incident, trying to wrap their heads around what happened to the youngest of the group on the night of her disappearance, and eventual re-discovery. You also feel for the detective who is looking for answers but is also dealing with his own memories of the teenagers from back when he was in school with them. Quite a few puzzles are being slowly solved as the story unfolds. A thoroughly engaging story!

A group of teenagers go camping on a hot July night in 1983. By the next morning, the youngest of the group, Aurora, has disappeared. Thirty years later, her body is found. This book was a very good book by a new author. Her debut work shows lots of promise. It was a bit slow-paced at the beginning but is an excellent story overall. It kept me guessing right to the end. It seems as though this may be the beginning of a series, and I am looking forward to reading the next book.

If you’re looking for the perfect police procedural novel then stop right there and go grab a copy of She Lies in Wait by Gytha Lodge.

The story is told over two timelines; in the present with the discovery of Aurora Jackson’s body in the woods and thirty years earlier where Aurora, her sister and their friends are partying in the same location. Six teenagers entered the woods and only five left alive the following morning. DCI Jonah Sheen is in charge of the investigation but is holding back information of his own. As a fresh faced copper he was involved in the original investigation and he appears to know more about the group of friends than he is letting on.
This is a book where I was suspicious of everyone as they all had secrets to hide. Drugs, alcohol, sex – the six teenagers entered the woods on the promise of having a good time so what could possibly go wrong?

In the present they have just as much to lose. Having closed ranks to everyone after Aurora went missing, the group are extremely tight knit and adamant that it wasn’t one of their own that had carried out the terrible attack and murder of 14 year old Aurora. Having two teenage daughters of my own (and having attended my own parties in the woods as a teen!) this book really got under my skin. The group of friends aren’t particularly likeable and I really felt sorry for Aurora as more is revealed throughout.


I really enjoyed She Lies in Wait and look forward to reading more in the DCI Jonah Sheen series.

Thirty years ago a group of teenagers went away for a camping trip to the woods. One of the group never came back. Aurora was the youngest in the party & had been thrilled to be included as her glamorous older sister usually tried to forget she existed! After a night of sitting round the fire, drinking kissing in some cases, a bit of drug taking the group stagger out of their tents the next morning Aurora is nowhere to be found.

Jonah Sheens remembers this case well. It was one of his first as young PC. He also knew some of those involved as the attended the same school although he was a few years ahead of them. When Aurora's body is found in a hollow tree, along with a stash of drugs the case is reopened. Jonah is now a DCI & this case falls to him. He & his small team try to piece together the old story. Everyone seems to have something to hide & Juliette Hansen, the newbie on the team, wonders if that includes Jonah, her boss. The story switches from the present day back to Aurora's view of the trip. This works well.

For me this took a while to get going but gradually I became more intrigued. This was a good start to the series & I look forward to reading more about this team. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

She Lies in Wait is a classic whodunit with a touch of The Secret Story, thankfully without the long thoughts in non-translated ancient Greek. The writing is ok and the story is well paced, I was absolutely hooked for most of the book. I loved the characters as teenagers with all their flaws and their eagerness to grow up, I really didn’t want any of them to be the killer. Unfortunately, I didn’t like them as much as adults, probably because there’s absolutely no explanation about why they become the way they are now other than Aurora’s disappearance being hard on all of them, which I get, but it still felt very weak to me. There are also little snippets about the personal life of the detectives, which were very intriguing (I was particularly invested in Hanson’s story) but again there is little to no development in this sense, although after finishing the book I realised that this is going to be a series with DCI Sheens as a protagonist, so I assume we’ll learn more about them in future books. I didn’t figure out the identity of the killer until right before it was revealed, and I have to say I was disappointed about the sudden typical turn the story had taken – I think I didn’t see it coming because it was the most obvious choice from the very beginning, and I was hoping for something more original. Plus there is some stuff thrown around just for the sake of misleading the reader that is never explained in the end, and some other stuff that was a complete deus ex machina to tie up the story in a rather abrupt manner in my opinion. Although none of these things made the ending any less heartbreaking. Generally speaking, the book was quite enjoyable, and I’ll probably read the next book if only because I want to know more about Hanson’s story.

4 stars

The book is set in present day with flashbacks to the camping trip in 1983.

The story is set around the friendship of 7 teenagers who all go camping in the 1980’s. The evening turns from an innocent camping trip to something much darker and one of the friends disappears. Her disappearance will continue to haunt the other 6 friends for 30 years afterwards.

Jonah Sheens is a local cop who is still working in the New Forest, when a body is discovered Jonah guesses immediately that it is Aurora the young sister of Topaz who went missing after the camping trip. He was a young police officer when Aurora went missing and Jonah is also hiding some secrets of his own. Jonah wants to find out the truth.

The book is cleverly written with many twists that I really enjoyed uncovering, the dynamics of the group is really interesting and the author leads the reader to many different possibilities which really threw me off the scent of who the killer was.

I enjoyed the book and I liked Hanson the female detective who is new in her job and I could see the possibilities for this being a TV show and for there being other books in a series.

I enjoyed the setting the New Forest is an area I know well and I liked visualising the setting of story.

The book trotted along at a reasonable pace which perhaps was a little slower than I usually like but I would recommend to anyone who enjoys police procedural crime with the cold case element.

I enjoyed this book from beginning to end. It has the right amount of intrigue and tension to make it a worthwhile choice. The characters are convincing and well developed. The plot is not original, but that didn't matter, I wasn't able to guess whodunnit so I was pleased with the ending. Recommended.

An excellent read and a first for me from this author. Would definitely recommend this book with its twists and turns about what happens on what was supposed to be an ordinary friends camping trip.