This is a brilliant follow up to book 1 of the DI Amy Winter series and just as good if not better. The writing is just superb and the plot lines complex, the characters continue from the first book and are well rounded and believable making it a book not to be missed. Amy continues being harassed by her past and the evil Lillian Grimes making her life as a DI at times very difficult but she continues to rise above it and do her job even though she is still finding it very difficult to come to terms with being the daughter of a serial killer.
If you haven’t read the first book I would urge you to do that and then read this one it’s a fabulous series and one not to missed if you love a good thriller.
My thanks to NetGalley, Amazon Publishing and Thomas and Mercer, not forgetting the wonderful Caroline Mitchell for giving me the chance to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

There is so much going on in this book which is the second in the Amy Winters series, it is a truly amazing read and I absolutely loved it. Having been a serving police officer you know that the author will make sure every little bit of the police procedural will be spot on which brings the book to life. I am the sort of reader who can't just pick a book up and read for a few minutes here and there, I throw myself into books especially ones of this caliber and everything around has to stop until I reach the end. It has a brilliant ending, not so much of a cliff hanger but one that leaves you wanting more.

Great book will be reading other books by this author.
Will also recommend this book to others.
Great work

Thank you to Netgalley, Amazon publishing UK and Author Caroline Mitchell for the digital ARC of this book in return for my honest review.

Here comes the blurb as they say it better than I ever could!

DI Amy Winter knows evil. She’s lived through it.

Four-year-old Ellen is snatched by a stranger in the dead of night. Her devastated mother, Nicole, receives four identical phials and a threatening note in a familiar scrawl that chills her to the bone. But she always knew this would happen. She’s been expecting it for years . . .

According to the note, one of the phials is poisoned. Nicole is given a deadly challenge: if she drinks one, the sadistic kidnapper will notify the police of Ellen’s location. The sender claims to be Luka Volkov but Luka is supposed to be dead, killed long ago in a fire that haunts all those involved.

DI Amy Winter is still reeling from the discovery that she is the daughter of a serial killer, and her childhood trauma only makes her more determined to bring Ellen home. When another child is taken, Amy finds herself in a race against time. To rescue the children, must she seek help from the one person she wants to forget?

This is the second DI Amy Winter story and I am now gutted that the first has never made it to my TBR list, trust me that has changed now!!

The Secret Child is a twisty, turny fast paced thriller with what I guess from the first DI Amy Winter story are a lots of familiar characters, plus some fantastically evil ones as well. Very much enjoyed! just wish i had read book 1 first!

Love this series! Love DI Amy Winters!

I was hooked with "Truth and Lies", the first in this series and couldn't wait to read "The Secret Child". Caroline Mitchell does not disappoint in this second installment featuring DI Amy Winter! I do highly suggest you read the first one first as there is so much background given on Amy that I feel cannot be missed!

The daughter of the notorious serial killers known as the "The Beasts of Brentwood", just how much did Amy witness when she was a child, how does it affect her today? This series is addictive and intriguing!

4 year old Ellen is kidnapped from her own home. Someone is seeking revenge. Treated like lab rats, Dr. Curtis shows no empathy towards the children he uses in his experiments and drug trials. 30 years later, he now has a child of his own. Childhood trauma, I think Amy may be able to relate to this one! DI Winter's will do everything in her power to save Ellen.

5 stars! Lilian adds to the intrigue of this series playing her mind games from jail while trying to get an appeal. What will happen if she is released?! Consider me fully hooked! Page turner, well written, full of suspense, cannot wait for the next one!

A huge thank you to Amazon Publishing and NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book!

I loved the first DI Winter book and I was prepared to be slightly let down by the sequel...am I glad to be wrong! The Secret Child is a whirlwind of evil thrills and chills and put the rest of my day on hold by the third chapter. A clear 5/5 and I eagerly await the third book!

This book was provided to me by #netgalley for an honest review.

I read the first DI Winter book in one day. It was the definition of page turner. I was disappointed that this instalment wasn't as gripping. We are back with DI Winter on another high profile case uncovering misdeeds. Her biological mother is still trying to pull her strings and her slimy ex makes an appearance. It's all very surface and I didn't feel as engaged as I did with the first instalment. Even the core who/why dunnit wasn't compelling. Further the middle third sagged and there was a pacing issue. It still gets 3 stars because it's a solid thriller just not as good as the first.

This book had a little bit of a Stephen King feel with it’s institute that runs tests on children. Add to that the suspense of the DI having to race against time to try and save the characters and you have a different twist. A strong second book in the series.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for allowing me to read this arc.
This is the second book in the series. Caroline Mitchell has surpassed herself once again! You think she can't but she just does it!!
A little girl is kidnapped and her kidnapping is linked to horrible, cruel testing done on children years previously by her father!
DI Amy Grant is on the case and is linked to the crime by events in her own childhood! These events are brought to light by the press!
Another kidnapping, and the race is on to solve this one!
Absolutely riveting!

DI Amy Winter has a lot on her plate in this the second DI Amy Winter Crime Thriller. It all starts when Ellen, only four years old, is snatched from her bed whilst her babysitter is distracted for a few moments. Her mother and father are out for the evening, but they are obviously holding something back when they first answer questions posed by the police. Her mother Nicole only just escapes death when she receives instructions from the kidnapper to choose and drink one of the four phials delivered by a mysterious motorcyclist. Just what is going on?
The kidnapper swiftly establishes contact with DI Amy Winter and so begins a dialogue where he claims to be Luka Volkov, a boy who was certified dead years ago whilst in the care of Ellen’s scientist father. He will only communicate with Amy, because he empathises with a recent press disclosure that Amy is in fact the product of two heinous murderers. He sees her as an outcast just the same as he is. The evidence points to a crime of revenge, and the theory is substantiated when another child is kidnapped in plain sight and with approval of a teacher. The links is established at last.
So the investigation gathers pace. The kidnapper is highly intelligent and enjoys playing mind games. He sends Amy on a wild goose chase, trying to locate and free the two young prisoners. Amy senses that time is running out and that she may not be able to reunite the two children with their parents. That they will die. This novel conforms to Caroline Mitchel’s tried and tested formulae; tense and terrifying, fabulous storytelling, tight and complex plot, a plethora of skilfully crafted characters for you to engage with and plenty of twists and turns that will keep you guessing right until the very end. With inside knowledge of police methods and procedure, gleaned during her career as a serving detective, and with meticulous research this novel is both authoritative and very enjoyable.
I received a complimentary copy of this novel from publisher Thomas & Mercer through my membership of NetGalley. Thank you for my copy sent in return for an honest and unbiased review. This story was absorbing and a real page-turner. I’m very glad that I had an opportunity to read it. It’s a 4.5* review from me.

4.5 stars. I have read the first book in the series and loved it so I was looking forward to this one. It kept me hooked from start to finish with some good twists. Great ending which left it open for the next in the series which I am definitely looking forward to reading

The first book set the background and my review was lukewarm, unfairly so I now believe having read this one. This is setting itself for one of the best crime series with an intriguing psychological background which will totally keep the readers interest

I am looking forward to reading further books in this series

With thanks to Netgalley, publishers & author for ARC in return for an honest review

The Secret Child is the second book involving D.I.Amy Winters and is another excellent read.
In Russia in the early 1980’s Luka is given the chance to come to London with his mother to attend an institute run by Dr Hugh Curtis, thinking it will lead to a better life they find the complete opposite being treated little better than laboratory animals as Dr Curtis performs terrible experiments on Luka in his drug trials.
Fast forward 30+years and Amy is on the case when the 4 year old daughter of Dr Curtis is kidnapped, then the son of a male worker at the institute is also kidnapped. Despite Luka and his mother being killed in a fire at the institute years previously all evidence points to Luka orchestrating these events.
Add to all this Amy’s evil mother a serial killer serving life in prison and an ex fiancé manipulating Amy’ life for their own rewards she has her work cut out for her, as she works tirelessly with her team to find these children.
A fast paced exciting thriller with a final twist I didn’t see coming, enjoyable and well written.
My thanks to net galley and publisher for the opportunity to review this book honestly.

I confess I could be accused of neglecting those nearest and dearest to me during the reading of The Secret Child, but I place the blame firmly on author Caroline Mitchell for producing such a riveting read in this, the second in the DI Amy Winter series!

This time around, the story deals with the distressing subject of experimentation on children. It primarily focuses on Luka Volkov, an intelligent and promising little boy, brought from his home in Russia to England in 1984 by doctor Hugh Curtis, on the promise of a first class education, food and board, and with the added bonus of numerous sightseeing trips thrown in - a dream come true for this inquisitive child. Luka is accompanied by his mother Sasha, but his father Ivan stays in Russia and warns his wife that the offer seems too good to be true. - his words will prove to be very prophetic!

The experiments, carried out in the name of medical science, would turn any child from a sweet and loving character into a vengeful adult. Fast forward to the present, and someone claiming to be Luka, is planning to make the staff at the Curtis Institute pay for their cruelty and indifference, and if it means hurting their families too, well, that’s no more than they deserve! Just one problem here - Luka was killed in a fire at the Curtis Institute!

When Doctor Curtis’s four year old daughter Ellen is snatched in the middle of the night, it’s only the beginning of the perpetrator’s highly sophisticated game of cat and mouse.

DI Amy Winter has an eclectic team supporting her, each of them bringing their own unique perspective to the table, but they will have reason to question her motives when they discover a secret that Amy has only recently discovered herself - that her parents are serial killers! With the mother of all cases to investigate they really need to pull together as they normally do, especially as time is of the essence. The clock is ticking!

This is a wonderfully balanced police procedural, featuring characters good, bad and innocent, where motivations vary from pure, to malicious, to bordering on insane. With Amy and her team in hot pursuit of the perpetrator, the action is truly relentless, with many twists and turns.

The narrative picks carefully at the scabs of fractured and damaged personalities, where old wounds are opened anew, and old hatreds spew forth into the present, creating a truly heart stopping and compelling read!

Can not recommend this book highly enough, what a rollercoaster of a book, this story takes you in from the first page and doesn't let go. Love Amy's character brilliantly written and amazing narration thank you Caroline Mitchell can't wait for more.

Caroline Mitchell does it again! Another outstanding novel with a fast paced storyline and complex characters, as always written with that rare authenticity that she does so well. A definite must read.

The Secret Child is Caroline Mitchell's second book in her DI Amy Winter series( the first being Truth & Lies). Amy has a special place in her heart for children, as before she was adopted, she was the daughter of a serial killer. She saw horrific things at an early age, but the love shown to her by her adoptive parents, made her the person and the DI she is today.
When four-year-old Ellen is kidnapped, DI Winter's will do everything in her power to save her. While Amy is still struggling to come to terms with her past, she is playing a game of cat and mouse with the kidnapper. Why does her mother think Ellen has been kidnapped by someone from her husband's past when everyone else believes he is dead? If he isn't the kidnapper, then who is and who would want to hurt Ellen? It is a very engaging mystery and one that takes you back to the past to see all the lies that lead up to the present. I think the author has a great new series( and heroine) in the form of DI Winters, as this was as engaging and fast-paced as the first. I flew through this as I wanted to know how this police procedural would end( and maybe find out a bit more about Amy's tragic past). If you like this type of book, I highly recommend it.

Loved this book, refreshingly different & do well written. Just wish I’d read the first book in the series first but that didn’t take anything away from this book. Would highly recommend. Amazing!

WOWSERS... this is the second book in the DI Amy Winters series and after the first one, I really didn't think it could get any better.... Boy was I wrong!!! I would recommend reading the first book before this one as there is a lot about the previous case where the personal life of Amy Winters came out, the daughter of notorious serial killers "the Beasts of Brentwood"!!!

Four year old Ellen Curtis is kidnapped from her home, who took her and why, will there be a ransom note. Her mother Nicole is beside herself and when a courier on a motorbike calls to the door with a box, she's terrified of what it might contain. Inside were four phials, three blue and one red, she must choose one and drink it to try save her daughter was the note attached..... it is signed "Luka" who apparently died in a fire in the Curtis Institute back in the 80s!

DI Amy Winter is called in as Dr. Curtis is a renowned in his profession and this case is to be handled with kit gloves! As the investigation moves along, all is not what it seems, what happened at the Curtis Institute, was he carrying out illegal drug testing on children?

Amy's ex Adam who is a reporter is granted an audience with Lillian Grimes, Winter's biological mother asking him to write a story about her in order to gain public empathy for when she appeals her case that she was a bystander while her husband was carried out the atrocities which put them both away! Adam ran the story on the front page, humiliating Amy, now hounded by the press, can Amy keep her inner turmoil under wraps to get the job done and find the children?

No matter what I say about this book, it won't do it justice, you have to read it, it will grip you from the getgo, its a fast paced police procedural thriller with a few twists along the way. Can't wait for the next one!!! Highly recommend it.

Thanks to Netgalley and Amazon Publishing UK for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion

One of the best book series this author has written. DI Amy Winter is a complex and compelling heroine. The ongoing plot involving Lilian is intriguing and full of suspense. This latest book involves a mystery full of action and twists. The solution is one you won't quite see coming. I can't wait for the next book! I really want to see how things are going to change now.