Lola Is Missing Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

When I first started reading Lola is Missing, I was prepared to give it 4 stars. The back story of the main character, DI Rachel Prince, was a little unbelievable and the characters were all a bit cliched and stereotyped, but the plot was moving quickly and I wanted to keep reading to find out what happened. Plus, I have to admit, I was excited to have a found a detective series with a female protagonist. I've ready many of the Ian Rankin's Rebus books over the years, and though they are excellent, this felt like a refreshing change. Then, less than a quarter of the way through, I realised I knew exactly how the book was going to end because it was almost identical to a real story in the news from about ten years ago. Not only did it mean the plot was entirely unoriginal (much like the characters) but the ending was now spoiled for me. I don't like to leave a book unfinished so I kept reading, but it just kept going downhill from there. I don't know which was worse - when the DI has an affair with a married man and then blames his wife for 'putting the idea in her head' or the way the book repeatedly dismisses her partner's sexual harassment and offensive behaviour as 'banter' and just silly 'Jack-the-lad' nonsense. I honestly found this book beyond infuriating and wouldn't dream of reading another book by Alison James.

This is a great start to a new series.I loved the chemistry between DI Rachel Prince and DS Brickall especially as it was made clear from the beginning that he wasn’t her type. They have a great working relationship and really help each other out when needed.This is a gripping story which has quite a lot of twists and turns.Lola Jade is reported missing from her home and DI Prince is asked to help Surrey police find her.The father starts off as the prime suspect but soon other people are questioned and the ending was just brilliant.This book has just the right amount of humour for a crime thriller and I loved it.I can’t wait for more books in this series.Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

As first book in a series go, I have to say that this one is a cracker. Brought into the case some months after the initial disappearance of Lola Jade, DI Rachel Prince and her Sergeant Mark Brickall of the Antional Crime Agency have a lot of secrets to plow through. With the girl's father missing and her mother making all manner of accusations against him, they first need to locate the missing man and to ascertain how much of the evidence gather so far is of use and how much a red herring.From the very off you can sense there is something a little off about this case. The prologue is ominous, the jeopardy for the young girl immediately apparent and yet the story which follows makes little sense. And so, as a reader, we partner with Rachel as she takes her investigation to Spain and Portugal and to the Surrey home of the missing girl. Thankfully Rachel, and even the slightly more prickly and procedure averse Brickall, are really great characters and I was more than happy to spedn time in their company. Brickall is a bit of an idiiot, making a serious error in judgment which could prove catastrophic for his career, but he is also really likeable and the camaraderie between the two makes for some great reading.Now the story has echoes of a real life case, maybe more than one, but there is one in particular which was highly publicised and quite a big scandal to boot. Nothing about the principal characters in this story quite adds up, strange anomalies  in statements and an internet troll who claims to know more than the rest of the world about Lola Jade's disapperance. But when another child goes missing, everything that you think you know so far will get thrown up in the air and coming craching back down at your feet.The dynamic in this book, the links of the National Crime Agency to Interpol and the international nature of the investigations is an intersting twist on your standard police procedural and I lok forward to seeing how this is developed in future books. It certainly has a lot of potential and after a start like this I am excited and hungry to read more. Not always the fastest paced book, we are coming to the investigation three months down the line after all, the sense of tension is always there as well as the little seedlings of doubt. A great start to the series.

I bought this book because I love a gripping crime thriller, and it was advertised as such on my kindle.It's the first in a series, and I found the main character, a female detective, and her male detective sergeant with whom she has a bantering relationship, convincing and likeable.The writing was good, although at times there was overuse of 'information dumping' - ie telling us exactly how to file for divorce online, rather than telling it as a normal person might tell their ex, but nothing unbearable.I am a sucker for 'sense of place' and I loved the brief descriptions of London's Bermondsey, an area I know well.The plot has many twists and turns, and is possibly based just a little too closely on a real-life case. However, I enjoyed the story enough to try the next in the series.There is humour, police procedural, realistic modern people and good research in this novel.