The Dare by Carol Wyer @bookouture @carolewyer

Book Description:

Jane’s daughter is a good girl. But what is she hiding?

When thirteen-year-old Savannah Hopkins doesn’t come straight home from school as she always does, her mother Jane immediately raises the alarm. With her blonde ponytail and red school jumper, someone must have spotted Savannah.

Detective Natalie Ward is determined to help the distraught mother – her own daughter is the same age as Savannah. But before Natalie and her team can get started, their worst fears are confirmed when the teenager’s broken body is found in nearby shrubland.

Evidence points towards a local recluse, but just as Natalie closes the net around him, one of Savannah’s friends, Harriet, is reported missing. Harriet might look grown up and sophisticated but she is only fourteen…

As Natalie delves into the lives of both girls, she soon discovers a sinister video on both their phones, daring the girls to disappear from their families for 48 hours. She’s sure this is the key to the case, but before she can act, Harriet’s body is found discarded on a roadside. 

Natalie’s superiors don’t have to put any extra pressure on Natalie. Devastated, she and her team work without sleep, watching that video over and over. But just as she thinks they’re getting close, the person Natalie loves more than anything goes missing.

Natalie is no stranger to loss. She is terrified and the clock is ticking. Can she push through her fear to catch this depraved killer, before her loved one becomes the next victim?

This gripping rollercoaster of a read will have you up in the small hours turning the pages. Fans of Angela Marsons, Rachel Caine and Robert Dugoni will love The Dare. 

My Thoughts:

One of a parents worst nightmares has to be realising your child is missing. That awful sense of dread where time seems to stand still. My heart really went out to the families in this story. The fact that they arn’t found safe and well just pulled on my heart strings even more.

Natalie is back with her team trying to solve this demanding case. Sadly things between her and her husband are still as taught and you can really feel the friction between them. The demands of Natalie’s job certainly don’t help but then she also has had cause to not trust her other half which puts constant doubt in her mind.

There are quite a few suspects in this story and I was doing my best to try and guess which of them it was but failing miserably. The author feeds you little bits of doubt so it could be any of them, making your head go into over drive but being gazumped at every turn.

From the first page this author demanded my attention and she got it, fully. The Dare made for a chilling and at times emotional read that I couldn’t get enough of. The tension that you feel from the opening chapter just keeps growing with each murder victim. A totally gripping crime thriller and a very clever one at that!

The Dare is available to purchase from Amazon. (Please note that link used is an affiliate link).