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3.5 Stars • "The Taken Ones" by Jess Lourey introduces detectives Reed and Steinbeck in Edina, Minnesota. Two women vanish during a snowstorm, leading to an investigation that uncovers a link to historical disappearances. The duo navigates community secrets and personal histories, confronting a possible serial abductor. The novel blends thriller elements with themes of trust, past trauma, and small-town secrets.

I ended up loving this, immediately purchased the next book in the series. I still stand by my earlier statement that the dialogue is very cartoonishly stilted initially, but it grows on you. But the case they were solving was compelling, &I wanted to know more about Agent Reed‘s past, the secrets she is keeping from her partner… &what he may be keeping from her.

Let me preface with by saying, I am enjoying this book, I‘m 1/3 of the way into it after just starting last night… but it‘s very similar in nature to The Last Party which I just loved… …and the cringy dialogue/internal monologue reminds me of this (I haven‘t seen Mare of Easttown)

Great page turner. Van Reed, cult survivor, detective, vigilante-she‘s one hell of a protagonist. The cold case she‘s investigating is compelling. My TBR is huge, but I might jump straight into The Reaping on audiobook!

I genuinely couldn‘t stop listening to this start of a new series by Lourey. Cold-case detective Evangeline “Van” has a dark history, plenty of current secrets & a key to solving crimes that may be hard to believe. When the body of a woman who‘d been buried alive but not found in time turns out to be tied to a missing children case from over 40 years earlier, Van & forensic detective Harry are pulled in to solve this fast-paced & thrilling case!

My pick for November!!

How I am ending November, I apparently had a month of reading off the list lol. The tagged book is my favorite of the month and it was a book for a book club I am in📚📚📚📚

This was another very good thriller/mystery by Jess Lourey.

Steinbeck and Reed together are a force to be reckoned with. I absolutely adore Steinbeck. He sounds almost too perfect. Reed is broken but fixable and such a good detective. She takes her job seriously and does not shrink in the face of adversity.

Full review: https://tinyurl.com/4cnxhpy6

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This is a story that pulls you in immediately &never lets up. It starts w/the abduction of 2 girls in 1980. Then in 2022 a woman is found buried alive, possibly related to the 1980‘s case. Van must work with Harry, a forensic scientist, & her team while battling her past and suffering through lucid dreams. Add in a detective at the PD hellbent on making things difficult for her, and it‘s a race against the clock to solve a decades old case.