Missing Before Daylight by Carolyn Arnold – a Review

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Description:
She wakes surrounded by an inky black darkness and can barely breathe. A sack is covering her head, and her hands are tied behind her back. She desperately tries to struggle free as she hears footsteps walking toward her. She silently starts to cry as a chilling voice whispers “It’s time to pay for what you did…”

When Detective Amanda Steele is called to the murder scene of a young gas station clerk just before dawn, she assumes it must be a robbery gone tragically wrong. But when she discovers nothing has been stolen, she knows the motive must be far more personal.

Watching the security footage, Amanda is shocked to witness the cold-blooded killer not only shoot the clerk dead but abduct a customer. And her heart stops when she recognizes the customer as her former colleague, Katherine Graves. As Amanda breaks the news to Katherine’s heartbroken Aunt May , she vows to do whatever it takes to bring her niece home alive.

Desperate for a lead, Amanda and her partner, Trent, search Katherine’s home. Soon, they discover that despite no longer being with the police department, Katherine has a long list of very dangerous enemies. Enemies who have been sending her anonymous letters promising revenge.

The more Amanda digs into Katherine’s past, the longer her list of suspects becomes. But when May is sent a ransom demand and a picture of Katherine close to death, Amanda knows time is running out. With only hours left to find Katherine alive, Amanda is prepared to risk everything to keep her promise to May, even her own life…

Review:

Missing Before Daylight by Carolyn Arnold is the 10^th book in her fantastic Detective Amanda Steele series. As I have noted previously, I am a big fan of Arnold, having read most of her books, and I love this series, which continues with another great addition.  Amanda Steele, our heroine, is a homicide detective in Dumfries, Virginia Police Department.

In the predawn hours, a young girl working in a convenience store, is shot dead, and a former colleague of Amanda is kidnapped.  When Amanda and Trent are called to the scene of the murder, they thought at first that it was a robbery, but watching the security footage, she recognizes the person who was abducted, was Katherine Graves, a former cop and colleague. Now it’s a race against time to find Katherine before she is killed.

Katherine, no longer a cop, had a tough reputation, handling a number of high-profile cases, and Amanda and Trent have to look into old cases and people who may have wanted revenge.  Katherine did have a long list of dangerous enemies, which makes it even harder to find the culprit. This is told in two POV’s, for both Amanda and Katherine.  In one of her Pov’s, the perpetrator tells Katherine “it’s time to pay for what you did.”

What follows is an exciting, suspenseful, intriguing, tense mystery, that kept me unable to put the book down, as this was a fantastic thriller. From the start, you become engrossed into the story. As Amanda continues to dig into Katherines past cases, the longer her list of suspects becomes.  To say too much more would be spoilers.

Missing Before Daylight was another fantastic crime thriller, that was another gripping addition to the Detective Amanda Steele series. It was a compelling intricate suspenseful plot, excellent police procedural, great characters, edge of your seat thriller, with a surprise reveal near the end.  Missing Before Daylight was once again so very well written by Carolyn Arnold, which is the norm for this author; as I am loving this series. If you like mystery thrillers, police procedural, then you need to be reading this series.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy supplied for review