Loved this book was captivated from the start right until the end. Jo is a brilliant character and hope to see more of her, she's strong, feisty and determined. Trying to find three kidnapped girls and as the story evolves it appears they are linked to her but who it is and why they're targeting Jo keeps us in suspense right until the end.

I really enjoyed the first book in the series Hold My Hand which introduced us to DS Josie Masters so I was delighted to catch up with her six months later in Keep Her Close. In her personal life she now has a new boyfriend and she has a new colleague, DS Jack Pryce who has joined Thames Valley Police who has been fast tracked. A young woman has contacted the police after raising the alarm when her friend seems to have disappeared from her rooms in Oxford University. More women disappear as the plot unfolds and Josie and Jack are in the thick of the investigation. As always though, Josie is hampered by the police hierarchy and the powers that be. Not only does she have to manage the investigation but also the bureaucracy and her own private life and history.

I really, really enjoyed this book. I devoured it. I loved the characters and the plot is superb: l found it exciting and positively spiral it had so many twists. Top notch writing for avid detective thrillers.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing an ARC via my Kindle in return for an honest review.

#Keep her close# Netgalley
When students go missing in Oxford university from different colleges DS Josie Master and DS Pryce start the investigation. Yet Madters seems to be the main detective. This book is very good. Yet the pressure Masters and Pryce feel really under pressure to solve this crime. With all these girls going missing. The race against Tim’s to catch who’s responsible is paramount. It’s a fast paced and intense book, definitely recommend this book, a excellent read

This is the second book in the series.
It is an excellent read with a good twist. This book has a lot of contact and kept me captivated from beginning to end.
This book has a good style of writing.

This is a gripping thriller which you will want to keep reading. It has a number of apparently separate plots which are brought together very cleverly. It takes time to work out who is the target of the criminal and when it becomes evident it adds to the roller coaster effect. There is the usual dysfunctional personal life of the lead detective which seems to be a must these days and,more effectively,the internal hostility between detectives. When it becomes evident who the criminal mastermind is,that just adds to the excitement!

A very enjoyable read! I was very interested in getting my hands on this one after I read the blurb and I am pleased to say that I was not let down.

The story is written very well and the characters are interesting and jump off the page. I would recommend this read!

Wow, what a roller coaster of a ride this book is. Which character to trust and who not to trust! Plenty of red herrings in this twisty plot. I wish that I’d read the first in this series. I will definitely be reading them from now on. Great descriptions of police camaraderie and petty jealousies. Kept me up late until the finish. Loved it.

I really enjoyed this book. Great page turner which kept me guessing until the very end. Atmospheric and tense in places.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. I really enjoy Police Procedural books especially as my husband worked for Thames Vallley. This is a good read and had me hooked from the beginning.

Another one that was just OK. Sometimes the problem is that I've just read a book that I really liked, followed by one that wasn't nearly as good. Thanks for the opportunity.

Thank you netgalley and publisher for allowing me to read and review this book.
I was immediately grabbed by the description of this book and had no idea this was the second book in the series for Dc Jo Masters. It didn’t take anything away from the book and could be read as a stand-alone. I am however now desperate to read the first book as this one was so fantastic and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

The book is well written and has a great plot set within the beautiful colleges at Oxford. The main character DC Jo Masters is a force herself to be reckoned with and the story centres around d her solving a mysterious case of girls from the colleges going missing. She has to really battle her male counterparts in doing so, which along with the missing girls plot makes a good read.

The book gripped me throughout with an ending I didn’t see coming!

Top book!

After the events of her last case, DS Josie Masters just wants her life to return to normal. Josie gets the call to check on a missing girl from Oriel College and thinks it's exactly the case she needs to get back on track. Malin Sigurdsson, the daughter of an affluent family appears to have been taken from her dorm room but Josie feels that there is more to the case than an attempted ransom. When two more girls go missing from local colleges Josie soon realizes the kidnapper is trying to send her a very personal message. Josie and her new partner DS Pryce must act quickly if they want to catch him before he strikes again.

Keep her close is the second novel in the DS Josie Masters series. Although I had not read the previous novel, Hold My Hand, I felt that this novel still worked well as a standalone. That being said, I would still recommend reading the first novel as there was some information regarding her previous case and partner that tie into this novel. This was an enjoyable crime thriller/mystery centered on a kidnapper targeting young college women with a very specific agenda in mind. Josie, still recovering from the events of her previous case is paired with a new partner, a capable and handsome recruit with a impeccable record. Overall the plot was engaging and entertaining and the characters were likeable. I feel that this would be an enjoyable read for those who enjoy action packed whodunits with plenty of red herrings to keep you guessing.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Avon Books for an advance copy of Keep Her Close, the second novel to feature DS Jo Masters of Thames Valley Police.

Jo is called out to a possible disappearance at Oriel College, Oxford. Malin Sigurdssin has been reported missing and blood in her bathroom gives the team cause for suspicion. When the body of another young woman linked to the university is found the team try to uncover a link but it takes more disappearances for the message to become clear.

I thoroughly enjoyed Keep Her Close which is an exciting read with a great twist. There is so much going on I was hooked from start to finish. The novel is told in the third person from Jo’s point of view so the reader lives the events as they happen with her and gets no hint of the killer or motivation. This is my favourite approach to plotting as I like to be able to guess along with the detectives and be surprised when the reveals come. For me it makes for a more exciting read and I’m sick, fed up of wading through more fictional musings of text book psychopaths as there’s only so much a writer can say and it gets repetitive. This is much better as it gives the reader the chance to guess at both the perpetrator and the motive although I didn’t get near either as they are well concealed. The plot is well paced with happenings in every chapter, be it crime related or in Jo’s personal life.

Jo Masters is an interesting character. She has had a lot happen to her in the past and that doesn’t look like changing any time soon with her turbulent personal life and a difficult relationship with her boss. With the narrative entirely from her point of view it is difficult to be objective about her character, for example her boss has been excluding her from major investigations since the dramatic events of Hold My Hand and she sees it as a sign of his mistrust and dislike whereas he sees it as protection because she’s, well I’m not quite sure how to phrase it but I think emotion rather than logic driven might cover it. Not surprising given her history.

Keep Her Close is a good read which I have no hesitation in recommending.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Author M.J. Ford has brought us a second visit with DS Josie Masters whom we met in Hold My Hand. It was like going back and visiting with an old friend. Six months have passed since Jo's nephew was kidnapped by the killer clown. Some of her colleagues feel that she was a hero that night but others are jealous of her

As young college students go missing from different colleges in Oxford, Josie fights with her superiors as to the motives behind the disappearances. Only she sees that there is a deadly pattern to the disappearances and she is the link that they are all missing. The Thames Valley Police department has gained a brilliant new recruit, DS Jack Pryce.

This high action thriller brings a race against time ending that shocks you with how close to home evil can really lurk.

I wish I could give this book more than 5 stars as I feel it deserves it. I'm very much looking forward to more from Mr. Ford in the future.

This was a first time reading this author so I had no idea this was the second book in a series until I was full into reading. It can be read as a stand alone, but to know the characters a little better and what happened to her former partner you will have to read the first book. The jacket cover and other reviews give more than adequate detail of plot so I will not give a plot and character review except to say that she does go dangerously rogue on her policing to prove a point to the guys. The book is fast paced and holds your interest. An enjoyable read.
This book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley as an ARC for and honest review. The opinions expressed are my own. Thank you for allowing me to read this book.

Keep Her Close M.J Ford

This is the second in the series, but the first that I have read.

The first chapter sees DS Jo Masters at a meeting with the force Psychologist, and nicely fills in the story from the first book, so I was never left in the dark about back story.

Masters is a having the session following her last case and is eager to get back to investigating serious crimes.

When the Oxford Student step-daughter of a Member Parliament goes missing Jo is one of the first on the scene and starts the investigation. Unfortunately for her, her boss is not keen on her taking part in the investigation, let alone being the SIO, and only allows her a bit part.

Malin Siigursson outwardly shows the signs of being a perfect student but as the case begins to unfold it becomes obvious that there’s another side to her.

When the body of another woman is found, the apparent victim of a hit and run, Jo’s Boss finds it the ideal excuse to get her off the case of the missing student and teams her up with a newbie to the team.

As both investigations continue another woman goes missing. Can there be a connection.

This is a belter of a story which had me hooked from the beginning.

Jo Masters is a character that is easy to like. The struggles with her boss are balanced by the respect and camaraderie she find with her colleagues. But as much as she is likeable she is frustrating. I have to admit to a certain empathy with her boss.

The story looks at her return to work soon after a horrific incident.

From the start of the book there are some characters that raise suspicion. On more than one occasion I was sure I knew who the criminal was, then I changed my mind, again and again.

M.J Ford has written this book very cleverly. There are two or three people that keep putting themselves to the front of the suspect list but then get pulled back into the crowd.

It was this that kept me reading, and I mean kept me reading. This was very close to a one sitting read, but a man needs sleep, so it ended up being two sittings.

Pages: 400
Publishers: Avon
Publishing Date 7th March 2019

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

This is the sequel to a previous novel featuring Detective Sergeant Josie Masters, and we heard more than I think was ideal about the events of that book during the course of this story. Josie and her colleagues investigate the disappearance of an Oriel student, and then a member of Jesus College staff is found dead. After that a second student disappears and Josie wonders about the link between these events.

I found this a gripping and fast-paced read, although Josie did seem to get away with disobeying orders and going off on tangents to a surprising extent. I would be keen to read more by this author. The ending was satisfying, although I'm not sure I completely understood Anna's role in what happened.

I ARC received via NetGalley and in exchange for an honest review.

This was a well written story.

DS Josie Masters is still struggling with what happen to her and her family while investigating a young woman being missing from Oriel colkege as she work with a new police DS Pryce two other women disappered from other college's.

As her boss want her off the case he assigned her to a hit and run that she realize is connected to the missing women when she found out that it ties to her past because how each women who goes missing spells out her name Josie from the college they go to but when her partner Pryce goes to check up at one of the college he hears a fight and wind up in a fight with intruder and wind up killing him and it's turn out to be a criminal name Frank Tyndle that Jo put away and they believe he behind the missing women but Jo doesn't seem convince especially with what the profiler said.

As she deals with personal issues she taken off the case and when she get drunk and stay at her new partner Jack Pryce house one thing leads to another that when she realize something not right with him the next day when he said a remark about Frank that has her thinking on checking on something.

When it confirms what she thinking that her partner is one of the kidnappers it race to find the missing women and to find out why her new partner had it in for her.

I didn't really like her boss it's like he was piss at her I didn't read the first book but for what I understand her partner Ben who also was her lover was murder and her nephew kidnapped and if her boss would have listen to her Ben would still be alive I'm not sure that what in the first book going yo have to it read it but that what my understanding of it.