Susan Lewis – In The Lost Hours

‘In The Lost Hours’ by Susan Lewis we see the successful Crayce’s family life crumbling at their feet when three members of the family, father Dickie and brothers David and Henry are under suspicion for a terrible crime twenty years ago.

The perfect world of Annie, David and their three children, with their beautiful old New England style villa on the edge of Exmoor and a thriving business is broken in one moment. The moment her husband is taken away in handcuffs suspected of murdering 17-year-old Karen Lomax. The police say that new evidence has been found that links David to the crime. It really doesn’t help that none of the people involved don’t have clear memories as they were all out drinking on the said day.

Annie believes David innocent and embarks on her own investigation. As she digs into the past and discovers things along with the police evidence and the fact that she feels Davids family is not being straight with her throws her into a maelstrom of doubt, confusion and worry. She is sure her husband could not be capable of killing or even being a party to killing a girl one year older than their own daughter… or is he?

In the beginning, there was no love lost for me with this family. All I could see was privilege and being so upper class, with their penchant for blood sports and quaint words. As the story develops I began to see how each person reacted to one of their own being accused of such a horrible crime…and from so long ago. Annie and Davids three children really suffer from their dad’s arrest. They are subject to terrible bullying at school when details are released of his arrest. I felt for them, it wasn’t their doing, even if David did do it.
The murder investigation has its own chapters in the story and we follow D.S Natalie Rundle in the investigation and see her commitment to getting this proven so Karen’s parents can have closure.

Even though her murder was 20 years old the police still plough on and want it solving. I felt very sure about the police in this case. Maybe because most of the other characters are holding back and keeping secrets, made me feel unsure of them.

A story that just proves you can have everything one day and nothing the next full of the twists and turns you always expect with police investigations. Susan Lewis is a master at weaving a story, her plotting is always spot on and she knows how to hold a reader and keep them there rooted to that book.

Thank you to Anne Cater from Random Things Tours, Harper Collins and NetGalley for the copy of the book.