This was a strong start to the Rothbury Major Crimes series, it had that element that I was looking for and was engaged with what was happening. I enjoyed this as a opening chapter and am excited how it uses the suspenseful atmosphere in this world and how the genre was so well written. The characters had that overall feel that I was wanting and enjoyed the concept. Julianne Feher wrote this well and was engaged from the first page.

I’ll admit, I was a little skeptical to start this book since I couldn’t find any reviews on it, but I’m so glad I gave it a chance because I really enjoyed it. The story follows Detective Ethan Dumas, a cold case detective who takes pride in bringing families closure after years of unanswered questions. When four cases involving missing young girls from the 1980s land on his desk, Ethan and his partner Jason Verne quickly find themselves tangled in a web of politics, pressure, and a mother determined to prove the police got it wrong decades ago. The book kept me guessing with its mix of buried lies, family struggles, and the tension between truth and perception. It’s a well-paced, engaging read that I ended up not wanting to put down.

y’all know that one meme from its always sunny, the one with the crazy dude who looks like he’s trying to prove a theory? that was me the entire time i was reading this. julianne crafted her characters and her mystery so well and it had me on my toes consistently! she also did such a good job portraying the emotions of her characters and i actually cried a handful of times 😅 i so so hope we get more of ethan and verne in a next installment because i love the two of them so much and would love to see of the events of book one would affect a book two!

Five stars and an Oscar! As soon as I started reading, I was hooked. Ethan Dumas, the main character, and his partner Verne, are delightfully rich characters. Their investigation into a handful of cold cases was twisty and had me making theories like Charlie from It's Always Sunny (you know the gif, I promise you). I was reading it at the same time as a friend and we were sending messages back in forth in all caps for days. There was just enough tension to keep me hooked throughout the entire read, and enough dangling plot threads that I am ITCHING for book 2. Cannot wait to hype this up for everyone.

This was such a captivating read!
I loved the dynamic between the two cold case detectives a lot and hope that we will have them again in the next book. Also, I really enjoyed the plot twists because even when I had a feeling on how this could go, it did surprise me a lot on how it ended! A very good crime/mystery novel for the darker months!

i don't know how possible it is cost wise, but i imagine with the forward move and better tools at their disposal then there might be or should be a lot more cold cases coming back up for the police. right down to Dna imaging there has been so much progress in how people could perhaps process crime scenes. i was really interested in delving into this story and this detective who does just that. somehow in this story it also seems very current. are people to be trusted? is their a really sad, grieving mother unable to move on? or is she onto something that is being shut down?
Julianne really captured the characters within this book. you saw emotions and thoughts processes from many sides. be it the police, the people even higher up, or the family. i felt the rawness too, the emotion and loss. and it did make me a little emotional at times. Julianne sets the scenes so well they truly did come to life from the pages.
the team that we followed in this book were also brill. i liked getting to know them more personally too. it makes you care so much more about what's happening when you begin to care about the characters you are reading about.
i was kept guessing until the end but it was bought together in a really smart and clever way and it all indeed fit perfectly.