The Missings / Peg Brantley

Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Thriller/Police Procedural

Approximate word count: 70-75,000 words

Availability    

Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: NO  Smashwords: NO  Paper: YES

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

“A Colorado native, Peg Brantley is a member of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers and Sisters In Crime. She and her husband make their home southeast of Denver, and have shared it with the occasional pair of mallard ducks and their babies, snapping turtles, peacocks, assorted other birds, foxes, a deer named Cedric and a bichon named McKenzie.”

For more, visit the author’s blog.

Description:

“Aspen Falls, Colorado.

Secrets.

Secrets within a community.

Secrets within a family.

Detective Chase Waters finds himself working the most interesting case of his career—one that comes closer to home than he could ever imagine.

Are the mutilated bodies of young men and women the result of cult… or commerce?”

Appraisal:

A police procedural with some twists.

Don’t confuse the fictional Aspen Falls with Aspen, second home of the beautiful people. If it really existed, it wouldn’t be too far away geographically, but much different culturally. Populated largely by middle and working class families, Aspen Falls might be Anytown, Colorado.

When Chase Waters, a detective for the Aspen Falls police, realizes the mutilated bodies showing up around the area aren’t typical murders and are almost surely related, he starts digging, soon discovering there may be others not yet discovered. The main story kept me guessing and even when I was sure what was happening, I was invested enough in the characters to wonder how Water’s was going to figure it out. Meanwhile, a few secondary story threads added depth, both to the characters and the tale. By the time we get to the climax, the case has struck closer to home than Waters would have ever anticipated.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: **** Four Stars