Rachel Amphlett – The Lost Boy

‘The Lost Boy’ by Rachel Amphlett is a crime thriller that is the third book in the Detective Mark Turpin series. This is the first one I have read in the series and it reads as good as a standalone. A little bit of the back story is missing but it doesn’t cause any issues in the enjoyment of this book. Let’s have a look at what it’s about.

Run. Don’t look back.
When a young teenager is stabbed to death at a busy fairground, Detective Mark Turpin is assigned the task of finding the boy’s killer.
But this was no random murder.
Mark knows the victim, and the man who ordered his death.
As he sifts through the young victim’s final days, he uncovers a powerful crime syndicate that will do anything to protect its interests.
Then tragedy strikes, and suddenly Mark isn’t just trying to solve a murder – he’s fighting for his own survival.

Rachel Amphlett starts as she means to go on bringing the action straight from the first page this gripped me immediately. I really didn’t want to put this book down, but, obviously real life always gets in the way. I did spend every minute I could wrapped up in this investigation with Mark Turpin. A case that is a highly emotional one, being the murder of a child. I found myself feeling the emotions as much as the team investigating and feeling the need for justice as much as they did. I had to keep turning the pages to find out what happened. There were moments in the story that I felt like I had my heart in my mouth with the tension as the story developed.

Mark Turpin is a Detective who, even when things got personal, managed not to lose it while investigating. I did like this about him and am curious to read the preceding books to this one, so I can really get to know the characters even better.

Rachel Amphlett has again created an expertly written story. In every book I have read by her, the characters are so well drawn that I always connect with them and this is no exception. I definitely recommend this book for any crime thriller/police procedural fans.

Thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours and Rachel Amphlett for the copy of the book.