Josie treads gently, careful not to disturb the pile of perfect white bones laid out in the grass by her feet. Her voice is little more than a whisper.

“No! Not my sister…”

Detective Josie Quinn hasn’t heard from her sister since Trinity stormed out of the house in the heat of an argument three weeks ago. So, when human remains are found at the remote hunting cabin where Trinity was last seen, Josie can only assume the worst.

Gathering her team, Josie feels a surge of relief when the dental records match a different body – that of a missing single mother from a neighboring town. But now Josie’s is not the only broken family desperate for answers.

Dusting the crime scene for prints, a name smudged into the side of a nearby car is the first in a trail of clues Trinity left for Josie. In need of a big story to save her journalism career, it seems Josie’s sister was attempting to make contact with a dangerous serial killer known for creating sculptures with his victim’s bones. And Trinity won’t stop until she’s found him, even if it means becoming his next masterpiece…

Josie is certain there’s a critical clue in the ivory hair comb delivered to Trinity just days before she went missing. But as more bones surface, each set more likely to be Trinity’s than the last, time is running out to find her alive. Can Josie’s team trust her instincts in a case that is so deeply personal? Can she find her sister without putting other innocent lives in danger?

Paperback | 332 pages

Publisher: Bookouture (14 April 2020)

Target Audience: Adult.

 Back with one of my favourite authors and all-time favourite book series. Now that I’m not reading on kindle, I have to wait a little longer to get my hands on the paperbacks! Josie Quinn is a character that stays in your head. Even though it’s been a while since the 7^th book, everything came rushing back from the first page. My early thoughts were of how twisted this story would be. The chapters running alongside the main narrative are dark and haunting and filled with promises of an explosive ending.

This book was easy to read, as with the others in the series, the book is very detailed in book character and setting and there is a great compulsion on the reader to discover all the secrets on offer.

Josie Quinn wormed her way into my heart from the first book. I find her to be a very strong and resilient character. She gets through everything that life throws at her and never takes a step back or removes herself from a situation. She’s a strong reminder that good things can come from bad actions.

Josie can compartmentalise very effectively, and she talks about how her terrible past has allowed her to function in this way. It was especially obvious to me in this book because she managed to lock away her feelings and focus on her search for Trinity. Through the series I’ve seen Josie in many states of emotion, but here the calmer and subdued version of her made the biggest impact.

This book focuses on Trinity, Josie’s twin sister and Trinity was long overdue a deep and meaningful storyline and exploration. I really appreciate the way Regan writes focusing on one character taking the lead in each story. Trinity had a lot to share in this book and it was enlightening to read about her from a time where she didn’t know Josie and she what actions of her past shaped her future.

It was super easy to visualise this. I know the characters very well now and can picture them in a moments notice. It is easy to visualise any new aspects and with each book the clarity of what I visualise becomes clearer.

It was a good point in the series to focus on Trinity, because even though Josie and Trinity have known they were twins for 3 years now, there hadn’t been much of an exploration into how their relationships had progressed and what they had learnt from each other. It was good to get more of an impact from Shannon and Christian (Josie and Trinity’s parents), as well as their brother Patrick because it was a dynamic that was lacking in previous books.

I mentioned briefly that I enjoy the way Regan writes. The same collection of characters appear in each book and each book focuses on a story surrounding one of those characters. It’s an impressive way to write and I’m always looking forward to who I’ll learn from next.

The side-a-long narrative of the killer threw me a little here because it was decidedly more creative and twisted than I was expecting. I definitely got the chills a lot while I was reading. This is the only book in this series where I accurately guessed the conclusion before it happened and that was purely because I know a lot about the subject matter.

When people ask me for good crime books/series to start, this is always the number 1 series I recommend.

I enjoyed this. I started reading on a Sunday and finished it on a Monday. It was super helpful as a distraction because I’m currently on some antibiotics that cause headaches and make me feel super sick (not great, I know!), and reading this book and getting so into it definitely helped me forget those feelings. I learnt so much about the characters in this book, when I didn’t think there was anything left to learn about them. I’m constantly surprised by the character shifts and growths with this series and can clearly see the journey the characters have taken from the first book to this eighth book.

I know the ninth book is currently out on Kindle, but I’ll be waiting for the paperback edition before I read it!