Sheriff Jax Turner is staring down the barrel of his broken past. On the brink of ending it all, he feels like a failure following his daughter’s tragic passing and his subsequent divorce. But when a schoolgirl vanishes and her backpack is found in a sex offender’s backseat, the weary lawman drags himself into action and vows to nail one last sociopath.
Shocked to discover the teen’s aunt had lost her life in an abduction years prior, the devastating outcome that he’s taken personally, Jax believes the killer has returned with a vengeance. But as the desperate cop frantically hunts down a mysterious relative in search of a suspect, the girl’s time keeps ticking away…
Can the jaded sheriff take down the culprit in time to bring the young girl home alive?
My Review
I chose to read this book after receiving a free e-copy from NetGalley. All opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased.
I hadn’t read any of Mary Keliikoa’s books, so I didn’t know what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised.
Sheriff Jax Turner is a mess, still grieving for his daughter who died of cancer. He has been ineffective in his role as sheriff for several years until Allison goes missing. She’s a 14-year-old, and suddenly he sees a way to redeem himself for a case he and his partner failed on years ago.
There are a lot of twists and many flawed characters (beyond the flaws of “normal” people), and I had to stay up last night to finish reading it. This is a real page turner! There are, however, some plot holes that can be difficult to just ignore.
I enjoyed Hidden Pieces despite the plot holes. How could I not when I couldn’t put the book down? And the author has a good writing style that’s easy to follow. I’ll be watching for the next Misty Pines Mystery.
About the Author
Mary Keliikoa is the author of the Shamus Finalist, and Lefty, Agatha and Anthony nominated PI Kelly Pruett mystery series. She has had short stories published in Woman’s World and in the anthology Peace, Love and Crime: Crime Fiction Inspired by Songs of the ’60s. Her new series set in the fictional Oregon coastal town of Misty Pines features a former Portland homicide detective turned small town sheriff and will be out October 2022.
A Pacific NW native, she spent the first years of her adult life working around lawyers. Combining her love of all things legal and books, she creates a twisting mystery where justice prevails. At home in Washington, she enjoys spending time with her family and her fur-kids. When not at home, you can find Mary on a beach on the Big Island where even under the palm trees and blazing sun she’s plotting her next murder—novel that is.
https://facebook.com/Mary.Keliikoa.Author
Bound 4 Escape