Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Lost by Jeffrey B Burton Series: Mace Reid K-9 Mysteries #3
Published by Minotaur Books on June 28, 2022
Genres: Mystery, Thriller
Pages: 288
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
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Glencoe, Illinois: A home invasion turned kidnapping at the mansion of billionaire financier Kenneth J. Druckman brings Mason “Mace” Reid and his cadaver dog, Vira, to this wealthy northern suburb of Chicago. Druckman was assaulted, left behind while his wife and young daughter were taken for ransom.
Brought to the scene by the FBI, Reid specializes in human remains detection, and Vira is the star of his pack of cadaver dogs he’s dubbed The Finders. After Vira finds the dead body of the mother, former supermodel Calley Kurtz, everyone is on high alert to find Druckman’s missing daughter before the five-year-old disappears forever. But the trail Vira finds on the property’s dense woodlands leads right back to Druckman himself.
I am a fan of K-9 books, so I discovered this Mace Reid K-9 Mystery series. The dogs here are mostly HRD or cadaver dogs. They mostly aren’t trained to take down bad guys or protect people. We see some of their personalities but Vira is the most often one to accompany Mace. He works with the FBI this time, although Kippy is also on the case. I enjoyed reading even with a few issues I had.
The mystery was kind of boring really. It was obvious who the bad guys were. There was more than one bad guy. The FBI / police were on to some of it but some was surprising to them. But what they knew, they needed evidence to prove. The kidnapping of a child did provide some suspense. The police procedures were pretty good but they weren’t quite good with their strategies.
The personal relationships and daily life of the main characters were also routine without much new or showing too much growth. So I felt overall The Lost needed more development of characters to add more interest and layers. In the three books I have read in the series, Mace is a nice guy, good with dogs, but his police skills are bumbling. Kippy has to up the bar when she is with him and luckily, she is competent.
I did enjoy Vira’s part. She was highly skilled and accurate. She also did some work to protect and provide comfort in her intuitive way without it being her trained skills. She’s a smart one.
About Jeffrey B Burton
Jeff was born in Long Beach, California, grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota, and received his BA in Journalism at the University of Minnesota.
Novels in Jeff’s Agent Drew Cady mystery series include: THE CHESSMAN, THE LYNCHPIN, and THE EULOGIST. His short stories have appeared in dozens of magazines.
Jeff is a member of the Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, and the Horror Writers Association. He lives in St. Paul with his wife, an irate Pomeranian named Lucy, and a goofball of a Beagle named Milo.
I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 22-COYER
Poor Vira looks like she just fell into the river😬 I haven’t read a dog/police story in a long time, I might check out this series.
I really enjoy K9 stories. I’ve listed many series on my SoS memes. It depends on what factors are important to you. Some series focus more on the dogs, some on the police, some on personal relationships even romance. When the do well with all of them it makes the best books.
I’m a big fan of K-9 books, too, and can’t wait to read this one! 🙂
I hope you enjoy it a lot!
That sounds like a good read for the most part.
It is. I enjoy all K9 series.
Sounds like Vira is the star of this book. I love the cover.
Well Vira doesn’t have that large a part but the dog always has my attention.
Too bad the character development isn’t on the level of the dog’s! Are you going to continue?
Good question. I will probably read another one because I love the genre and what I know of these characters and the dogs. Hopefully a new type of case will provide more development, so we will see. The books are enjoyable but I enjoy ones with more depth so I suppose it also depends on what other ARCs are available at the time the next one releases, tbh.
These books always catch my eye because the dog on the cover looks like my dog, lol. I’m sorry to hear that this one was just okay.
I did enjoy it. I just felt it could have been more.
I hate when the mystery is boring :/
It’s weird and I hate to say that but it just was. There were so many aspects which could have been great too.
I’ve read all 3 in this series as well and feel like they’ve each been less successful. I loved the first one and the relationship with Vira and quite a bit about the dogs. This 3rd installment hardly had any dog interaction – I missed that. And I also felt like the mystery was pretty lame. Hope he changes direction for the next one.
I can see your point and agree with it. I really wish there was more interaction with the dogs. It looks like it was a try for romance at the end of this one.