A teenager is found dead on the beach and when Detective Casey White gives the terrible news to her parents she discovers their other daughter is missing. Has the killer abducted the girl or is she already dead…?
The Lighthouse Girls is the sixth book to feature Casey and her team. I have previously reviewed other books in this series but there are no spoilers about events in previous books. However, there is the continuation of Casey’s personal life plotlines, in particular her abducted daughter.
The case is quite complicated as Casey uncovers information about the family of the dead and missing girls. The plot has many twists and turns which kept me guessing. I found the death and disappearance of such young girls to be hugely emotive and was willing Casey to succeed. The personal life of Casey plays a lesser role compared to other books.
There is a lot of forensic information in this book. However, the post mortem details are handled objectively so the emotion comes from Casey’s response to what she sees. Almost all of the book is written from Casey’s first person perspective which fully aligns us with her actions and emotions. The style of writing is easy to read and the plot develops at a reasonable pace.
The Lighthouse Girls is an enjoyable detective thriller.
The girl shivers in the boat, trying to hold back her sobs as the man silently rows them towards the lighthouse under a dark sky. She thinks desperately of her big sister, how they’d laughed just a few hours before as they rode the Ferris wheel at the funfair. Will she ever see her again?
When the body of a teenage girl is found abandoned on a beach by a lighthouse in North Carolina’s Outer Banks, Detective Casey White is first on the scene. Breaking the news to the heartbroken parents, Casey is distraught to learn of a second tragedy: the girl’s eight-year-old little sister Shawna is missing too.
Searching the lighthouse building, Casey soon finds traces that Shawna was kept there: her clothes, a teddy bear. Someone has been keeping her alive, but where have they taken her?
When she learns that the girls were together at a visiting funfair the night they were taken, Casey races to interview the workers, but is only met with silence and turned backs. Digging into old cases, Casey’s blood runs cold as she realises there’s been a murder in the same location as the travelling fair going back years.
Now the funfair has disappeared without trace. Thinking back to a shadowy figure she noticed by the hall of mirrors, Casey is certain when they find the fair, they will find the killer hiding in plain sight. But with the whole town terrified for their daughters, can Casey hunt them down before it’s too late for little Shawna?
An absolutely unputdownable thriller that will have you gasping at the twists and turns. Fans of Karin Slaughter, Lisa Gardner and Robert Dugoni will be completely addicted.
Author Bio
B.R. Spangler is a USA TODAY Bestselling Author of Mysteries and Crime Thrillers.
A resident of Virginia with a wonderful family, including five cats, two birds and a lizard. During the day, the hours are filled with engineering work. Off hours, time is spent writing, editing, and thinking up the next great story.
With too many stories to write, books are split across pen names, writing crime thrillers, science fiction, horrors, paranormal and contemporary fiction.
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