Riveting Canadian mystery!

When Last Seen (Hunter and Tate #2) by Brenda Chapman  

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A three-year-old child’s disappeared! In the Crystal Beach neighbourhood near the banks of the Ottawa River. Anguish and pain! Charlie McGowan is the half brother to Roddy and Sara from a previous marriage. An AMBER alert is issued.

Charlie’s father David has a roving eye and seems to be unable to resist playing around.

Detective Liam Hunter and his partner Julie Quade are investigating this and an earlier disappearance of an Asian student, last seen partying at an escort’s party. Liam’s gut feeling is that  Charlie’s disappearance is personal.

Wouldn’t it be strange if the two were linked someone joked? It may or may not be beyond the realm of possibility.

Ella Tate is a podcaster and journalist. She’s known to Liam from a previous case.There’s an air, a current  of sympatico between them. Liam helps her occasionally and she aids him.

With this case Ella is soon deeply involved. She identifies with Sara, understands her. Ella interviews Sara’s father and step mother Ginger about their missing child, in part due to the number of followers her pod cast reaches.

There’s a lot happening here. Sara disappears for three days at one stage. Her reasons why are completely understandable. It’s hard to take on board how at risk she is. Where that risk is coming from is frightening.

Inside work, Liam has his suspicions about another officer, Kurt Auger, and his  work ethic. Auger, newly recruited from another department has his eyes on a top job. It turns out he’s a sleaze, although that hadn’t been picked up when we left.

Set in Ottawa, this is a slick and comprehensive police thriller. Fast moving and intriguing it all comes together with a move I didn’t see coming.

An Independent ARC via NetGalley.                                              

Many thanks to the author and publisher.