City of the lost by Kelley Armstrong

Detective Casey Duncan is a fighter - for herself and the people she loves.  When she was in college she was left permanently scarred when her boyfriend was arrogant enough to deal drugs on someone else's turf, and cowardly enough to rabbit when they came to teach him a lesson - leaving Casey to take the beating that should have been his.  She got her revenge, but that left her with a different kind of scar and a secret that she can't seem to keep.  The one person who gets the complicated package that is Casey Duncan is her best friend Diana, who can't seem to avoid making bad life decisions and has terrible taste in men. 

When Diana tells Casey about a hidden town where people go to disappear it seems too good to be true, and Casey is highly suspicious, but it turns out the stories are true.  When Diana is badly beaten by her ex Casey and Diana find themselves in the small settlement of Rockton, where everyone is someone else and everyone is keeping secrets.  Sheriff Eric Dalton was desperate for a detective to join his team because a killer is hunting in Rockton, but he would happily take anyone other than Casey.  As the killer strikes again Casey has to overcome a lot of obstacles, including fending off the local residents where she is seen as an attractive prize - not hard in a town where the men out number the women.  Casey has a very short time to track down a killer, and in a town where no one is who or what they seem, that is no easy feat.  Rockton is a place to disappear and be someone else - or at least pretend to be someone else.

City of the lost was originally published as a six-part e-book series and I am very glad that I didn't discover the story until it was crammed into one addictive volume.  I did not want to put down the book once I started, I just had to read the next page to find out what happens next, and then read the next chapter, and the next chapter.  Some reviewers have been harsh on this book, saying not so complimentary things about the characters and the way they have been written (especially Sheriff Eric Dalton) but I found that they were a perfect fit for themselves and each other.  All of the characters are damaged in one way or another, and that complexity of character works for this book.  It didn't feel like a book of more than 460 pages, it read easily and kept me fully engaged from start to finish (resenting every moment I had to put the book down to do things like work or sleep). 

There is a chance that this could be the start of a new series, but it could also be a standalone read which is also fine.  A great read - enjoy!

If you like this book then try:

• Omens by Kelley Armstrong
• Pop goes the weasel by M.J. Arlidge
• City of fear by Alafair Burke
• The edge of normal by Carla Norton
• Darkly dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
• Vodka doesn't freeze by Leah Giarratano
• The Postcard killers by James Patterson and Liza Marklund
• One step too far by Tina Seskis
• The basement by Stephen Leather
• The surgeon by Tess Gerritsen
• Now you see her by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge
• Level 26: Dark origins by Anthony E. Zuiker and Duane Swierczynski

Reviewed by Brilla