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A review by noveldeelights
Alice Teale is Missing by Howard Linskey
4.0
One evening in Spring, seventeen year old Alice Teale leaves the school grounds around 9pm and is never seen again. What happened to her and why? The investigation gets off to quite a slow start until DS Lucas Black takes over with the help from DS Beth Winter.
The small mining town of Collemby hides quite a few secrets. Did Alice stumble upon something she shouldn’t have? Or did she simply run away from a far-from-perfect family home? Quite a few theories floated through my brain at one point or another but I could never quite decide on one to stick with. When someone starts sending the detectives excerpts from Alice’s journal, seemingly taunting them with information, the whole thing became even more complicated in my head and I stopped trying to figure things out. Which was a good thing too because it all turned out a whole lot more dark and disturbing than I bargained for.
I didn’t particularly like Alice, which seemed wrong somehow, considering the fact that she went missing and might possibly be in quite a lot of trouble or worse. But that didn’t stop me from becoming completely invested in her life, wanting to know what happened to her and even hoping for a positive outcome to it all. Her journal entries work really well into giving the reader an insight into the kind of girl Alice is and at the same time they act like pieces of a puzzle to try and fit together.
I did however instantly like both Lucas and Beth. This is Beth’s first big case so obviously she wants to do a good job and impress the powers that be. But Lucas is … well, he’s Lucas. You’ll have to find out more about that yourself. There’s a bit of a dark cloud hanging around him and he’s not exactly popular. Yet somehow, this rather odd pairing works like a charm and while it doesn’t look like this book is the first in a series, I’m kind of hoping that it is because I’d absolutely love to read more stories involving Lucas and Beth.
The pace is spot-on throughout and the plot is full of intrigue, mystery and a red herring or two. Alice Teale Is Missing had me hook, line and sinker from the very first page and didn’t let go. Tense, suspenseful and engrossing, I have no doubt this will appeal to crime fiction fans everywhere. I hadn’t read a Howard Linskey book before, despite seeing the name pass by often enough, but I already know it won’t be my last.
The small mining town of Collemby hides quite a few secrets. Did Alice stumble upon something she shouldn’t have? Or did she simply run away from a far-from-perfect family home? Quite a few theories floated through my brain at one point or another but I could never quite decide on one to stick with. When someone starts sending the detectives excerpts from Alice’s journal, seemingly taunting them with information, the whole thing became even more complicated in my head and I stopped trying to figure things out. Which was a good thing too because it all turned out a whole lot more dark and disturbing than I bargained for.
I didn’t particularly like Alice, which seemed wrong somehow, considering the fact that she went missing and might possibly be in quite a lot of trouble or worse. But that didn’t stop me from becoming completely invested in her life, wanting to know what happened to her and even hoping for a positive outcome to it all. Her journal entries work really well into giving the reader an insight into the kind of girl Alice is and at the same time they act like pieces of a puzzle to try and fit together.
I did however instantly like both Lucas and Beth. This is Beth’s first big case so obviously she wants to do a good job and impress the powers that be. But Lucas is … well, he’s Lucas. You’ll have to find out more about that yourself. There’s a bit of a dark cloud hanging around him and he’s not exactly popular. Yet somehow, this rather odd pairing works like a charm and while it doesn’t look like this book is the first in a series, I’m kind of hoping that it is because I’d absolutely love to read more stories involving Lucas and Beth.
The pace is spot-on throughout and the plot is full of intrigue, mystery and a red herring or two. Alice Teale Is Missing had me hook, line and sinker from the very first page and didn’t let go. Tense, suspenseful and engrossing, I have no doubt this will appeal to crime fiction fans everywhere. I hadn’t read a Howard Linskey book before, despite seeing the name pass by often enough, but I already know it won’t be my last.