Exciting Detective Mystery
- D S Butler
- Jun 7, 2022
- 3 min read
⭐⭐ ⭐⭐☆
What She Said by D.S Butler
The Blurb
Can DS Karen Hart rely on the word of a little girl to save the life of a woman in grave danger?
When a woman is abducted from a quiet suburban street and bundled into the back of a white van, the only witness to the crime is a child with a reputation for telling tall tales.
The police doubt the girl’s story, except for Detective Karen Hart, who is determined to follow her instincts—perhaps because the shy little girl reminds her of the daughter she’s still grieving.
When a playing card is found at the scene, Karen finds her first clue. And when a second card is found at the home of a missing woman, Tamara, Karen finds her victim. But before the team can catch their breath, another woman linked to Tamara is snatched. And then a body turns up in a farmer’s field.
With the crimes having escalated from kidnap to murder, Karen must unlock the killer’s calling-card code before any more victims are taken. But getting to the truth isn’t going to be easy when Tamara’s family has so much to hide…
About the Author
The author writes under the names D. S. Butler, Dani Oakley and Danica Britton. She writes mysteries in many different flavours — some grittier than others. She’s thus far written two standalone psychological thrillers: Lost Child and Her Missing Daughter. She also writes a detective series set in London.
The Review
This novel is a thoroughly brilliant Police mystery with intrigue from the very start when they are first alerted by a mother of a 4 year old girl who saw a woman being grabbed from a man in a white transit van. The detectives can’t be sure that this is a real abduction as even the child’s mother says she tends to make things up but the child, Molly is adamant and the Police get underway with their investigation.
I could really see this coming to the screen in a fast paced Netflix drama, all of the characters are rich in description and likeable especially Detective Karen Hart, who clearly has her own skeletons in the closet that she doesn’t want to open and a pressurised job coming up against harsher officers above her.
Interesting is the fact that when the Police check to see if anyone local has been reported missing, Tamara Lomax has and her husband, her sister and her boss could potentially all be trying to hide something important. The author has been very clever in creating a suspense of a victim that you know llittle about from anyone other than the potential perpetrators.
The only negative I have is that, though the author fleshes out in great length the characteristics of the Police team, I don’t feel that was enough about the loss of Karen Hart to really see her vulnerabilities. An exceptional cop nonetheless, but I wanted to know so much more about what had happened to her.
I didn’t see who was the person responsible until DS Hunt did which I loved and the ending is perfectly emotional and gives the feeling of closure to a good novel.
All in all, a good read that I would recommend.
Book available – release date – 24th May 2022:-
Date of review: 7th June 2022
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