Unfortunately I wasn't able to finish Gone By Midnight, the character of Amanda put me right off this one! Manic pixie dream girl involved in policing and solving crimes? Harry Potter was more believable. I don't think the author knows anything about police work, absolutely shocking attempt at being quirky and fun.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. This was a intense and addictive thriller and I absolutely loved it. Highly recommend

This book continues the story of Ted Conkaffey in the Crimson Lake series. His partner Amanda, never fails to make me laugh, she's a breath of fresh air. The police officers are so incompetent, it's almost too much, and I do desperately want Ted to get his life back on track. The past injustices seem too hard at times. The crime strand of the book is a fast paced page turner of a story, and the personal side of Ted's family life and his new relationship with the town vet, are quite heart warming. I absolutely love this series, and can't wait for the next book from Crimson Lake.

Not my usual genre but this book had me gripped throughout. Will be looking out for more of the same!

I didn't think Candice Fox could write another amazing, gripping, scary and twisted book, how wrong I was
This book stuns and amazes me dragging me back to Crimson Tide and it's strange investigation unit of Pharrell and Concaffey who are still the same with Pharell in a very open vendetta with Joanne Fischer a police officer whose partner died in the last novel.
Four little boys in a locked hotel room watching tv and videos whilst thier parents are downstairs having a meal, every hour a parent checks in on them, sleeping like angels.
Then Sara had gone into the room at some point during the early hours and started shouting 'Richie where's my Richie??'
And so it begins a man hunt for a little boy whom after local police forces and sniffer dogs search every part of the hotel, the hotel is on lockdown, no one in and no one out, a small boy can't just disappear.
Amanda watches the boys being interviewed and Concaffey watches cctv footage which covers all entrances and exits. No one goes into the hotel unless they work there so absolutely no way anyone could have got a boy out alive or dead
So many suspects spring out local convicted child killers ( close to Ted s own previous experience), people who work at the hotel , the parents of the missing child
Underneath there is the brewing storyline of Amanda and her ongoing run in with the police especially Joanne Fischer who is constantly following her
Or Ted's daughters first visit to him how will he manage looking after a little girl 24/7 when she probably doesn't even remember him how is going to cope?
And one of his precious geese is hurt and he loves them like family will his little daughter help him realise what having a family is really like ??

I read Redemption earlier on this year, so when Gone by Midnight came up for review with NetGalley, I knew that I wanted to read it. It rejoins Ted and Amanda not far from where Redemption left off. Ted is no longer a person of interest in the abuction and rape of a teenage girl and Amanda is....well her usual complicated and wonderful self.

Their strength is still present as is the character which made me love them so much last time. Gone by Midnight has just as much going on in it as Redemption did, if not more. There is a case to solve: this time a young boy who seems to have gone missing into thin air from his hotel room. There are relationships to complicate things: Ted's young daughter has come to stay and a new relationship seems to be developing for him, the bad thing being that she knows nothing about his past. Then of course there is added drama in the form of a cop who has a serious grudge against Amanda. All this makes for an action packed book filled with likable characters that come with a lot of drama. Fox is still the queen of bringing her sets to life as I was transported to the world of Crimson Lake and this time I loved the inclusion of the croc's.

Although I've still not gone back to read the first book in this series, it doesn't matter. Fox does a great job of ensuring she keep her readers with her as she takes her characters on a journey filled with questions, twists and turns.

Gone by midnight is the third book in Candice Fox’s Crimson Lake series but works well as a standalone thriller. You do not need to have read the others in the series although once you have read this you will want to.
It is every parent’s nightmare. Four sets of parents, 3 couples and a single mum each with a son, are on holiday together. They have booked into White Caps hotel near Crimson Lake for a break. So they can have a little peace they leave their boys together in the hotel room to entertain themselves while they have dinner. When they return at the end of the night one of the boys is missing. How could he escape from a room that was locked on the outside? Why did none of the other boys notice he was gone?
Sarah Farrow is the mother of the missing boy. She calls in detective partners Ted Conkaffey and Amanda Pharrell to help with the case, against the wishes of the local police.These partners both have a past. Ted is an ex-cop who was falsely accused of child murder. He now lives in the countryside with his flock of geese and his dog. Amanda is a convicted murderer who has served her time. They need to find the missing boy, Ritchie, before it is too late.


Gone by midnight is a gripping book that keeps you turning the pages to find out what has happened. The two detectives are insightful and are quick at discovering new leads. This keeps you on the edge of your seat.
The mother Sara seems to be hiding secrets. Her ex-husband Henry has issues with their custody arrangements. The hotel maintenance man is trying to keep a low profile and there is a known police paedophile not too far from the hotel.
It is a race against time for Ted and Amanda who are also trying to deal with personal issues. Ted has a sick goose and his ex wife has just left his child with him for the first time while she goes away. Amanda has a stalker. You need to keep turning the pages until you reach the ending which will leave you reeling.

I went through stages of both loving and not caring about this book. I loved it until about half way through and then stared to lose interest. I have no idea why. Maybe it's just me. I will say though, I loved Ted and Amanda, the bone lady (Val? I am useless with names) and Superfish. Really strong, lovable characters. I will be trying another of Candice's books

Gone By Midnight is another pacy, intense and addictive thriller in the “Crimson Lake” series and I’m a fan of the main characters, especially the spiky, mouthy Amanda who takes no prisoners with her acerbic irony and total impatience with humanity. 

In this instalment a child has vanished in a twisty take on a locked room mystery and our pair are called in by the mother, who believes herself under suspicion. 

This fairly rocks along- the mystery is intriguing and emotional, the author keeps things beautifully unpredictable plus we have a terrific finale. The ongoing saga within the series takes a dark turn which is sure to haunt the next novel and overall this was a genuinely terrific read that just solidified my attachment to the books.

Roll on the next is what I say. If you’ve not discovered these yet, Crimson Lake is where to start. 

Recommended.

A devilishly clever book. All you could want from a thriller with a whole lot more. The plot was beautifully twisty and never went quite where I anticipated, keeping me guessing right to the very unexpected and enjoyable conclusion. The characters were also wonderfully unexpected and completely atypical, with rich and colourful backgrounds adding a whole new dimension to the plot. One of the best crime novels I have read, I'll be looking out for more. Definitely one to add to your bookshelf, I'm sure I'll be reading this one again.

An enjoyable book, though took a little time to really get going. Some of the characters were a little quirky, OK if you like that, and not very believable. The first half, I felt was a little slow, but it did pick up pace. I felt that there was a little too much angst and there were times when I had to stop reading, because of the predicaments of the main characters. It did turn out to be a page turner and because of that I have given it four stars

What another fantastic book to read by Candice Fox. Given how the last book finished, I really didn't think we'd get another instalment of Ted and Amanda. What another fantastic read this was, great characters, a great storyline with twists you wouldn't see coming. I can't but highly recommend this book!

Wow ! Something of a roller coaster- I really took to Ted and Amanda as characters and I hope that they return- Amanda’s Sherlock Holmeslike deducting skills are impressive and kinda funny if it wasn’t so serious

A novel twist with an unusual setting all contributed to a great read. A new author for me and one I will be looking out for in future

This is a continuation of an earlier story and fits well with it. The idea of a missing child is not an original story line but it is well written and keeps the reader guessing about how it all happened. The two private detectives work well with the story even if their experiences sometimes overshadow the main plot. It is a good read and worth persisting with.

I really enjoyed this book, it drew me in immediately and I immediately felt sorry for Ted the lead character. I absolutely loved Amanda she's a hoot. The story itself was really interesting and had me guessing then changing my mind then thinking I had it again then changing my mind which is what I love in a good book. It's not very often I'll read a book where I pick the 'wrong baddie' but this time I was so far off the mark! This is a must read for fans of this genre!

A wonderful book with the different story lines skillfully unravelled as the plot progresses. Always keeps you wondering as a theory you assume to be correct is replaced with another quite feasible alternative. The investigative characters are ridiculously likeable - especially the socially inept investigator - for whom you can only raise a smile. The book is clearly part of a series but reads well as a standalone. This is how I came to it ..... but I have ordered the others in the series so I can spend longer with these characters !

When life gets a little stressful, this is exactly the type of book I am looking for. Fast paced, exciting and uncomplicated. I hadn't read the first two books in the series (I need to remedy this), but that in no way hindered my enjoyment of this book and I quickly picked up the gist of the two PI'S back story.
There's the mystery of what happened to the missing boy which instantly drew me in, the great relationship between Ted and Amanda and a slew of unreliable witnesses which all comes together in a book that the author clearly loved writing. Yes, there will be complaints that the book is unrealistic and the characters recognisable, but the sheer enthusiasm of the book won me over completely and I can't wait to read the next in the series.

My thanks go to the publishers and Net Galley for the advanced copy in retire for an honest review.

Well, this was certainly different from what i usually read. Ted Concaffey and Amanda Farrell aren't your run of the mill private investigators. Ted was unjustly accused of abducting and raping a child and Amanda did kill someone so they're a bit 'out there'. Ted gets the call from the police when 8 year old Richie goes missing from the hotel where he is staying with his mother, three other boys and their parents. Richie's mother is worried that she might be suspected because her baby daughter died from cot death years before and feels that Ted might understand and be able to help more than the police. Set in Cairns, Australia the book gives you a real feel for the place with the ever present menace of crocodiles.

This is the third in the Crimson Lake series. I hadn't read any of the others but will look out for them now. Gone by Midnight can be read as a stand alone novel. However ,as the author drops in little bits to help you know what has gone on before. There is a lot of tension throughout mainly coming from Amanda who is as unpredictable a character as I've come across. I suspect she may be meant to be on the autistic spectrum although something doesn't quite ring true about her behaviour and I wasn't clear whether she might have some other sort of problem. Her tactlessness can be quite funny at times though.

I enjoyed this book but I'm not sure if I would read another as I wasn't really drawn to the central characters but I would definitely recommend it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Four little boys left to their own devices in a hotel room while there parents eat dinner (in peace) in the restaurant downstairs. However, when one of the mother’s checks on the boys later she realises her son has gone! What ensues next is the police and two (hated) private investigators hired by the parents to find out what happened to the boy.

I found this book a bit of a slow burner but once I got further into it and was acquainted with who was who, it picked up the pace and I was as desperate to know what happened to little Richie as the characters in the book.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an read copy of the book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

For me there are 2 kinds of great mystery novel. There’s the Sherlock Holmes type, where the enigmatic detective gathers clues, retreats to his fortress of solitude and figures it all out, then confronts and defeats the villain. Then there’s the Ed McBain style police procedural, where believable cops methodically hunt down clues and eliminate suspects until only the killer is left.
‘Gone by Midnight’ is neither of these things. It occupies instead a kind of muddy, middle ground that’s neither one thing nor the other. The detectives bumble around doing things vaguely related to the case and then have sudden, poorly explained leaps of understanding that allow them to advance the investigation. Reading it straight after one of Agatha Christie’s masterful Poirot mysteries only served to highlight how poorly the mystery and investigative elements of the story are handled.
Like a lot of modern books, it starts with an obvious but effective hook. 4 young boys are left to entertain themselves in a hotel room while their 4 sets of parents have dinner together. When the parents go to the room at the end of the night, one of the boys is missing. It’s a scenario likely to set the hearts racing of any potential readers who are parents, and while the similarity to the Madeleine McCann case is obvious it isn’t overplayed in the book.
Detective partners Ted Conkaffey and Amanda Pharrell get called in by the mother of the missing boy to help with the investigation. Conkaffey is an ex-cop who has fled to the countryside after being falsely accused of a child murder. Pharrell is a convicted murderer who has served her time. They make an interesting pair, but not as interesting as author Candice Fox thinks they are. She falls into the trap of thinking her characters are fascinating and hilarious when really they aren’t. As a result she spends a lot of time writing about them as people rather than about what they’re actually doing. For me at least, it got tiresome quite quickly.
This is the third book featuring the duo, and I’ve not read either of the others. There are clearly some ongoing storylines about them and some other characters which probably had less impact than they would have if I already had two books worth of investment in the cast. That said, Fox does a good job of recapping, so I never felt like I didn’t know what was going on. Sub-plots about the detectives actually take up as much of the book as the main storyline. This isn’t a huge problem, as they were quite entertaining, but I can’t help wondering if the author’s motivation in doing this was partly to cover up the weaknesses in the main plot. There’s always something going on in ‘Gone by Midnight’ but a lot of it felt like misdirection. Every great crime novel needs a great plot at its heart and this one just doesn’t make it anywhere near the top tier. The investigation is sometimes ploddy, sometimes unbelievably intuitive and too often it left me scratching my head in disbelief.
Candice Fox has co-authored some books with super mega ultra author James Paterson and her style reminded me very much of his. It’s almost painfully descriptive, with no detail left out and no room for ambiguity or subtlety at all. Some people obviously like this (hence Paterson’s super mega ultra status) but I find it patronising and slightly dull.
All that sounds really negative and the truth is that, despite its many flaws, I did enjoy the book. It’s extremely readable, the last 20% or so is really gripping and has a couple of great twists, and it’s laugh out loud funny at times. It ended up feeling a lot like an episode of a TV detective show and that might not be a bad analogy for it. The plot, characters and storytelling aren’t strong enough for it to make it to the big screen, but if you happened across it when you were channel hopping and watched it while playing Candy Crush and checking Instagram you wouldn’t be too disappointed.