Wednesday, May 29, 2019

#Book #Review...The Birthday by Carol Wyer...#Goodread



One hot summer's afternoon, five-year-old Ava Sawyer went to a party. She never came home ...

When five-year-old Ava Sawyer goes missing from a birthday party at a local garden centre, the police are bewildered by the lack of leads. That is until two years later, when Ava's body is found and another little girl, Audrey Briggs, goes missing. Audrey also attended that party...

Leading the investigation is Detective Natalie Ward. A mother of two teenagers, this case chills her to the bone, and is a disturbing reminder of the last job she worked on. One that ended very badly.

Natalie soon discovers that Ava's mother has some worrying gaps in her alibi and as she digs deeper, she's sure Ava's father is not telling the full story. And what did the owner of the garden centre Elsa see that day? Something that she's not telling Natalie ...

Just as Natalie is facing up to the grim possibility that Ava and Audrey were killed by someone close to home, another little girl from the party doesn't come home from her ballet lesson. Can Natalie find a way to stop this killer before more innocent lives are taken?


The Sexy Nerd ‘Revue’


Birthday parties are so much fun, especially when you're a kid. And that held true for one birthday girl, many years ago, named Sherry. Her mother put all the fixings on Sherry for her special day. A cute yellow dress with a bow. All Sherry's friends were invited to her party, with the exception of one person in particular. This was a 'girls' party and boys weren't permitted, but that didn't stop one young lad who had fixed his sights on the cute and vibrant, Sherry.

Fast forward to the year of 2015 wherein another little girl was celebrating her birthday, just like many before her. One of the party-goers decided that being at this party wasn't a place that she wanted to be, so instead of alerting an adult that she needed to use the bathroom, she decides to be a big girl and go there by herself. That would be the last time she would be heard from again. As time marched on, a few more girls who attended that party in 2015, ended up dead as well. Who on earth was murdering children for God's sake? What was the motive behind killing little girls in particular. Hmm? Detective Natalie Ward was in a real dilemma. She had had a previous case where a child was murdered and unfortunately, it didn't end the way she would have hoped. 

Detective Ward refused to have this happen on her watch again! She and her team would stop at nothing to find out who the monster was that murdered children. And as you read, you'll soon discover that everything you thought you knew, perhaps you really don't. 

This was a pretty decent read. One thing I found extremely frustrating, though, is the story dragged on and on and could have ended chapters ago, but I suppose the author wanted to leave her readers in suspense a bit longer than I would have liked. It got to the point that I almost didn't care who did it because that mystery carrot continued to dangle and I was tired of chasing it, but having said that, Wyer is a pretty darn good writer, which kept me interested enough to find out if I was right on who the killer was? She got me for a minute, but I had the character on my list.

Overall, this was a pretty good read. It is fast-paced, but drags a bit too long in the whodunit department for my reading tastes, but it doesn't take away from a great story line and very interesting characters. I'd definitely add this book on my to-read shelf.

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