Twisting her hands together, she bites back a sob. She only turned her back for a second, and then her daughter was gone. Every mother in town would be hugging their children tighter tonight.

Lara is baking cupcakes when her six-year-old daughter Ava runs to catch the school bus just one block away. Chasing after her, Lara sees the bus tumbling past, and waves. But Ava never turns up at school.

Detective Ellie Reeves is in a race against time to find her––in missing child cases, every second counts. Searching the small town of Crooked Creek, she finds the girl’s bunny in the local park, the toy Ava carried around everywhere. Did Ava ever get on the bus?

While Ellie works around the clock, a local reporter gets a message: There are other missing girls out there. Digging into previous cases, Ellie discovers that another girl went missing on the same day the previous year. How many more could there be?

Ellie is certain that the date means something––and that the person who sent the message is the key. But the community is up in arms, everyone worried that their daughter will be next, and blaming Ellie. The pressure is mounting, and time is running out to bring little Ava home. Can Ellie solve the toughest case of her career––and save Ava––before it’s too late?

Titles in the Detective Ellie Reeves series include — The Silent Dolls —♦— Wildflower Graves —♦— The Burning Girls —♦— Frozen Souls —♦— Stolen Angels —♦— Hidden Bones —♦— The Girl in the River —♦— Widow Lake —♦—

This is an adult 18+ story that may contain language, possible violence, and/or sexual situations geared to an adult audience.

Title:  Stolen Angels
Series:  Detective Ellie Reeves #5
Author:  Rita Herron
Genre:  Mystery/Thriller
Published:  January 27, 2022
Publisher:  Bookouture
My Rating:  4 stars

Stolen Angels is the fifth title in the Detective Ellie Reeves series, and while I jumped into the series at this point I didn’t feel lost at all.  I definitely would suggest starting this series from the beginning if at all possible, but for me, I was able to step into this world with no trouble in following the current story without background information on the previous cases.

As with any Mystery/Thriller that I review I’m not going to go into details about the plot – that is best discovered by each reader firsthand.  Everything you’d want to know before deciding to pick up this title can be found in the Cover Description… and if that doesn’t send a chill down your spine with a desire to know more, then I don’t know what would.

Stolen Angels is a well-written story with a tight plot, a building sense of urgency, with believable characters in unusual situations.  It’s very easy to feel the emotions coming from Lara, the growing frustrations from Ellie, the anger of the mob mentality (those who fear for their own children and don’t see any progress in solving the case), and the growing feeling of danger in each chapter.  This one had me flipping pages and staying up far too late to finish it in one sitting.  I enjoyed the story and would definitely come back for more from this author.

*I received an e-ARC of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley. That does not change what I think of this story. It is my choice to leave a review giving my personal opinion about this book.*

Available for the Kindle as this title and series are currently in KU