Thrillers & Suspense
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Little Sister: A Novel (Jonah Sheens Detective Series)
Two girls went into the woods. Only one came back. . . .
Detective Chief Inspector Jonah Sheens is on the trail in this "riveting" (Publishers Weekly) crime novel from the acclaimed author of She Lies in Wait, Watching from the Dark, and Lie Beside Me
Jonah Sheens is enjoying a moment of peace in a pub garden on his day off when a teenage girl wanders out of the woods. She's striking, with flame-red hair and a pale complexion. She's also covered in blood.
When Jonah races to help, the girl insists she's fine. Then she smiles. It's her sister he needs to worry about. Keely and her sister, Nina, disappeared from a children's home a week ago. Now Keely is here-but Nina's still missing. Jonah is sure Keely knows where her sister is-but before she tells him anything, she insists, he has to listen to her story from the beginning.
Is she witness, victim, or killer? And if Jonah follows the trail of clues in her story, will they lead him to the missing girl-or distract him until it's too late?
Detective Chief Inspector Jonah Sheens is on the trail in this "riveting" (Publishers Weekly) crime novel from the acclaimed author of She Lies in Wait, Watching from the Dark, and Lie Beside Me
Jonah Sheens is enjoying a moment of peace in a pub garden on his day off when a teenage girl wanders out of the woods. She's striking, with flame-red hair and a pale complexion. She's also covered in blood.
When Jonah races to help, the girl insists she's fine. Then she smiles. It's her sister he needs to worry about. Keely and her sister, Nina, disappeared from a children's home a week ago. Now Keely is here-but Nina's still missing. Jonah is sure Keely knows where her sister is-but before she tells him anything, she insists, he has to listen to her story from the beginning.
Is she witness, victim, or killer? And if Jonah follows the trail of clues in her story, will they lead him to the missing girl-or distract him until it's too late?
Editorial Reviews
"Riveting . . . This clever mystery will keep readers guessing to the very end."-Publishers Weekly
Readers Top Reviews
beverleyt5
Wow wow I loved this book so sad that this is so sad that this is a sad fact that this really does happen
ukstern
I've read this author's previous novels and absolutely devoured them all in a couple of days. This was no exception. A story with endless twists and turns that really keeps you guessing. Characters and interesting, likeable and well developed. Highly recommended.
Dale Logan
Loved this book. When you first meet the mesmerising Keely, you immediately fear for the safety of her sister, and the tension quickly racks up: Why is Keely playing games with her sister's safety? What's her agenda? Can you trust anything she says? The tension in Jonah Sheens' team is palpable. Lodge leads you on with an expert, if tantalising, hand, and your feelings change from fear, to confusion, to anger, and then to a fierce desire for fundamental justice - revenge, even. It's not a comfortable, pretty, story, but it's one that needs to be told, and Lodge tells it so well.
Liz Fletcher
Every one of Gytha’s books are impossible to put down but somehow this one had me even more obsessed! The fourth book in the series but as other reviewers have mentioned it would make an easy first read too. It’s really lovely as a regular fan of her books to read about the characters lives so far too. The actual storyline this time though is just amazing. Very clever with some fabulous clues hidden everywhere for the reader to find. Once the clues start to appear you will be spotting them all over the place and it’s an added thrill above and beyond the main storyline revealing itself. I smashed out reading this book in two days because I literally couldn’t stop. I binged it like a Netflix series and I would love them to make it into one! Thanks for a fab read Gytha!
Bookmadjo
Little Sister is the fourth book in the DCI Jonah Sheens series by Gytha Lodge, but I think it would still work well as a standalone. This psychological thriller/police procedural will have you turning detective yourself as you follow the trail of clues through the story. The police procedural element is very well done, and provides an accurate insight into interview techniques and the lengths that the police need to go to in order to solve crimes. This story centres around two sisters living within the care system. When the older sister Keely turns up in front of Jonah Sheens, he is not sure whether she is a killer or a victim, but Keely is not about to tell him the truth. She was possibly the most unreliable witness to whatever had happened to her younger sister Nina, but in addition to the mystery of where Nina was, Keely was intent on playing a game of cat and mouse with Jonah, challenging him to work out from her story, exactly what had happened to the sisters. As the central character, Keely was unlikeable and came across as supercilious, toying with Jonah and his team as they tried to work out what was going on. She frustrated me, I have no idea how they kept so calm in the face of her gamesmanship, I certainly couldn’t! I loved the way in which there were clues within her unreliable testimony, but you have to read with care or you will miss them. I had so much fun trying to work out what they were, and trying to find them. I have to admit I was kicking myself when I missed a clue! Gytha Lodge has such a wonderful way of writing that you are instantly immersed in a tense storyline. I find it a kind of escapism from my own life when I read one of the books in this series because I found myself captivated by the storytelling, and the twists and turns of an exceptional thriller. I also like that the entire team under Jonah Sheens are all multidimensional and with each book we get a greater insight into their lives at work and in their home lives. Little Sister is a rollercoaster ride of twists and turns that will make you want to turn detective and solve the mystery yourself!
Short Excerpt Teaser
1
Juliette Hanson was already in the station when the DCI called. She felt caught out, being found there late on a sunny Sunday afternoon. The chief knew perfectly well that there were no pressing cases on their books. Nothing that required overtime.
"Oh, that's useful" was all he said, but she thought she could hear the slight surprise. The unspoken question about her personal life.
"I need you on something." There was the brief sound of a passing car, and Hanson wondered where he was. "I want to know if there's a missing persons report on a Keely Lennox, and her sister, Nina. Lennox with two n's." Hanson scribbled it down on the big pad on her desk. "I'll be there in about half an hour, once the uniforms come to assist."
Hanson paused, her pen in the air. "Assist with what?"
"With the older sister," he said quietly. "I'm bringing her to the station. I'll explain once I'm on my own in the car."
Hanson felt a fizz of keen curiosity as she rang off. Detective Chief Inspector Sheens rarely came in on Sundays, and it hadn't happened at all since his daughter had been born.
She opened the database and typed in the name "Keely Lennox." She was immediately rewarded with a missing persons report, filed on Wednesday morning. Clicking on it showed her two redheaded teenagers, one smiling at the camera, her green-blue eyes warm, and the other, older-looking one, giving it an ice-blue, dead-eyed stare.
There were a couple of brief paragraphs of information below, stating that sixteen-year-old Keely Lennox had absconded from a children's home with her younger sister, fourteen-year-old Nina. They'd last been seen at bedtime on Tuesday night. Almost five days ago.
There was little else beyond that information and a description. No particular concerns were registered over either of the sisters. Which, she thought glumly, was probably because they were in care.
So the chief has Keely, Hanson thought. What about the little sister?
As they lived in Southampton, the misper investigation was being handled by one of Yvonne Heerden's uniformed constables. Hanson decided to put a call through to Heerden's team on the second floor. There should be someone around who could tell her what they'd found out so far. After fourteen months as a detective constable, Hanson knew the drill well enough to get moving without the chief.
As she waited for someone to pick up, she dragged her holdall out from under the desk. She was wearing sports gear, her blond hair tied back in a sweat-flattened ponytail. If she ended up interviewing anyone, she was going to need her backup clothes, which she kept stashed under here for emergency use.
"Alan Jones," said a voice on the other end. Hanson managed to drag a shirt and jacket out of her bag while straightening up. They were both a little crumpled, but they were clean.
"This is DC Hanson," she told him. "My DCI needs some info on a missing persons from last week. Keely and Nina Lennox, on Wednesday the third. The report was filed by a Constable Alsana Meek."
"OK, hold on," he said, and she could hear him typing in the background. "I've got the investigation itself here. I'll send it over, but if you want a quick summary, I can give it to you."
"Great," Hanson said. "I'd like to check what's been done. Were their phones tracked?"
"Yes, on Thursday the fourth of September," Alan told her, after a pause. "They'd most recently pinged a cell tower not far from the children's home in Southampton, on the Tuesday night, but nothing since."
"Did they check again later?" she asked.
"No, that was the one check."
Hanson wrote that down with a feeling of slight frustration. It was an unfortunate and inescapable fact that, with stretched resources, a lot of cases simply didn't get the time spent on them that they should. It was a situation that was only worsening as cuts to mental health and social care services left officers dealing with people who really needed other forms of help but couldn't get it.
But even allowing for that, she was disappointed to learn that two probably vulnerable missing girls hadn't been more thoroughly searched for. Particularly when their phones being switched off might be evidence of something more sinister than a desire not to be found.
"Anything useful from the children's home staff?"
Another pause, and Alan said, "They interviewed the manager there, who didn't have any ideas." There was a momentary silence, and then he said, "She expressed concern for their safety, particularly for the younger sister, Nina."
"Did she say why?" Hanson asked.
"Er . . . she said Nina is very impressionable, and would...
Juliette Hanson was already in the station when the DCI called. She felt caught out, being found there late on a sunny Sunday afternoon. The chief knew perfectly well that there were no pressing cases on their books. Nothing that required overtime.
"Oh, that's useful" was all he said, but she thought she could hear the slight surprise. The unspoken question about her personal life.
"I need you on something." There was the brief sound of a passing car, and Hanson wondered where he was. "I want to know if there's a missing persons report on a Keely Lennox, and her sister, Nina. Lennox with two n's." Hanson scribbled it down on the big pad on her desk. "I'll be there in about half an hour, once the uniforms come to assist."
Hanson paused, her pen in the air. "Assist with what?"
"With the older sister," he said quietly. "I'm bringing her to the station. I'll explain once I'm on my own in the car."
Hanson felt a fizz of keen curiosity as she rang off. Detective Chief Inspector Sheens rarely came in on Sundays, and it hadn't happened at all since his daughter had been born.
She opened the database and typed in the name "Keely Lennox." She was immediately rewarded with a missing persons report, filed on Wednesday morning. Clicking on it showed her two redheaded teenagers, one smiling at the camera, her green-blue eyes warm, and the other, older-looking one, giving it an ice-blue, dead-eyed stare.
There were a couple of brief paragraphs of information below, stating that sixteen-year-old Keely Lennox had absconded from a children's home with her younger sister, fourteen-year-old Nina. They'd last been seen at bedtime on Tuesday night. Almost five days ago.
There was little else beyond that information and a description. No particular concerns were registered over either of the sisters. Which, she thought glumly, was probably because they were in care.
So the chief has Keely, Hanson thought. What about the little sister?
As they lived in Southampton, the misper investigation was being handled by one of Yvonne Heerden's uniformed constables. Hanson decided to put a call through to Heerden's team on the second floor. There should be someone around who could tell her what they'd found out so far. After fourteen months as a detective constable, Hanson knew the drill well enough to get moving without the chief.
As she waited for someone to pick up, she dragged her holdall out from under the desk. She was wearing sports gear, her blond hair tied back in a sweat-flattened ponytail. If she ended up interviewing anyone, she was going to need her backup clothes, which she kept stashed under here for emergency use.
"Alan Jones," said a voice on the other end. Hanson managed to drag a shirt and jacket out of her bag while straightening up. They were both a little crumpled, but they were clean.
"This is DC Hanson," she told him. "My DCI needs some info on a missing persons from last week. Keely and Nina Lennox, on Wednesday the third. The report was filed by a Constable Alsana Meek."
"OK, hold on," he said, and she could hear him typing in the background. "I've got the investigation itself here. I'll send it over, but if you want a quick summary, I can give it to you."
"Great," Hanson said. "I'd like to check what's been done. Were their phones tracked?"
"Yes, on Thursday the fourth of September," Alan told her, after a pause. "They'd most recently pinged a cell tower not far from the children's home in Southampton, on the Tuesday night, but nothing since."
"Did they check again later?" she asked.
"No, that was the one check."
Hanson wrote that down with a feeling of slight frustration. It was an unfortunate and inescapable fact that, with stretched resources, a lot of cases simply didn't get the time spent on them that they should. It was a situation that was only worsening as cuts to mental health and social care services left officers dealing with people who really needed other forms of help but couldn't get it.
But even allowing for that, she was disappointed to learn that two probably vulnerable missing girls hadn't been more thoroughly searched for. Particularly when their phones being switched off might be evidence of something more sinister than a desire not to be found.
"Anything useful from the children's home staff?"
Another pause, and Alan said, "They interviewed the manager there, who didn't have any ideas." There was a momentary silence, and then he said, "She expressed concern for their safety, particularly for the younger sister, Nina."
"Did she say why?" Hanson asked.
"Er . . . she said Nina is very impressionable, and would...
