The Missing Ones (2017)

by Patricia Gibney

Series: Lottie Parker (1)

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Fiction. Mystery. HTML: The hole they dug was not deep. A white flour bag encased the little body. Three small faces watched from the window, eyes black with terror. The child in the middle spoke without turning his head. 'I wonder which one of us will be next?'When a woman's body is discovered in a cathedral and hours later a young man is found hanging from a tree outside his home, Detective Lottie Parker is called in to lead the investigation. Both bodies have the same distinctive tattoo clumsily inscribed on their legs. It's clear the pair are connected, but how? The trail leads Lottie to St Angela's, a former children's home, with a dark connection to her own family history. Suddenly the case just got personal. As Lottie begins to link the current victims to unsolved murders decades old, two teenage boys go missing. She must close in on the killer before they strike again, but in doing so is she putting her own children in terrifying danger? Lottie is about to come face to face with a twisted soul who has a very warped idea of justice. Fans of Rachel Abbott, Karin Slaughter and Robert Dugoni will be gripped by this page-turning serial killer thriller, guaranteed to keep you reading late into the night.The hole they dug was not deep. A white flour bag encased the little body. Three small faces watched from the window, eyes black with terror. The child in the middle spoke without turning his head. 'I wonder which one of us will be next?'When a woman's body is discovered in a cathedral and hours later a young man is found hanging from a tree outside his home, Detective Lottie Parker is called in to lead the investigation. Both bodies have the same distinctive tattoo clumsily inscribed on their legs. It's clear the pair are connected, but how? The trail leads Lottie to St Angela's, a former children's home, with a dark connection to her own family history. Suddenly the case just got personal. As Lottie begins to link the current victims to unsolved murders decades old, two teenage boys go missing. She must close in on the killer before they strike again, but in doing so is she putting her own children in terrifying danger? Lottie is about to come face to face with a twisted soul who has a very warped idea of justice. Fans of Rachel Abbott, Karin Slaughter and Robert Dugoni will be gripped by this page-turning serial killer thriller, guaranteed to keep you reading late into the night.The hole they dug was not deep. A white flour bag encased the little body. Three small faces watched from the window, eyes black with terror. The child in the middle spoke without turning his head. 'I wonder which one of us will be next?'When a woman's body is discovered in a cathedral and hours later a young man is found hanging from a tree outside his home, Detective Lottie Parker is called in to lead the investigation. Both bodies have the same distinctive tattoo clumsily inscribed on their legs. It's clear the pair are connected, but how? The trail leads Lottie to St Angela's, a former children's home, with a dark connection to her own family history. Suddenly the case just got personal. As Lottie begins to link the current victims to unsolved murders decades old, two teenage boys go missing. She must close in on the killer before they strike again, but in doing so is she putting her own children in terrifying danger? Lottie is about to come face to face with a twisted soul who has a very warped idea of justice. Fans of Rachel Abbott, Karin Slaughter and Robert Dugoni will be gripped by this page-turning serial killer thriller, guaranteed to keep you reading late into the night.The hole they dug was not deep. A white flour bag encased the little body. Three small faces watched from the window, eyes black with... .… (more)

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Showing 1-5 of 15 (next | show all)

I didn’t really take to the main character, (which isn’t a deal breaker, but it’s not quite as nice as if I had either). She’s immature and kinda above average unprofessional (and not brilliant at her job to help make up for it). And we didn’t get much to flesh out the other (likely) recurring characters, so the cast felt a bit flat. Her boss was absolute stereotype cardboard, and two out of the three detectives on her team were the faintest of shadows of characters. I suppose out of everyone I liked her semi-love interest partner and the pathologist best, but there wasn't very much to go on even with them. Almost every single character seemed to go daft at times, which isn’t ideal (I feel more empathetic for even minor characters who find themselves in danger when they hadn’t just ridiculously waltzed into it in the first place). And the whole book would have benefited from trimming out some of the unnecessary bits to tighten it up. (The ending especially really started to drag, but maybe I was feeling a little worn that events hadn't amounted to more by then). I've read the basic setup of 'long buried secrets about children and staff of an abusive institution come to light when a present-day killer starts picking them off' a few times in the past half year or so, but it's generally a solid premise so I can't resent that too much. I'm unsure if I will still try the next book.
Sometimes authors improve a fair amount as they go along, (and I would like to enjoy this series), but cranking out multiple books per year before you've entirely gotten a handle on things means there's potentially a lot to wade through to reach those improvements that come with time and reflection. And I see that the top negative reviews of the next few books are pointing out many of the same things I have here. =/. So this series may just not be for me. (

)

JorgeousJotts | Jan 8, 2025 |

A woman is murdered in a church. Not long after, a man is found hanging in his yard. It turns out there is a connection between the two people. Detective Lottie is in charge of the team trying to solve these murders. Despite her own family having troubles (she has three teenagers and her husband died a few years earlier), she does her best to sort out what’s going on, even as more murders pile up. In addition, there is a connection to a local former orphanage, St. Angela’s, but what is that connection, exactly?

There is a lot going on and a lot of characters, but it did make it trickier to figure out who might have done it (not that I ever – well, rarely, anyway – actually figure it out before it’s revealed, anyway!). I really liked it, though. There were short chapters that made it easy to keep going. Note that parts of this book are quite dark. This is the first in a series that I will definitely be continuing. (

)

LibraryCin | Nov 23, 2024 |

2.5 Stars

The hole they dug was not deep. A white flour bag encased the little body. Three small faces watched from the window, eyes black with terror.
The child in the middle spoke without turning his head. ‘I wonder which one of us will be next?’

I am not a fan of crime novels or police procedurals and picking up The Missing Ones by Patricia Gibney didn't really appeal to me, but a recommendation that this was entertaining and intriguing was my push to give this one a try. The story starts out strong, well fleshed out characters and a plot that was entertaining and well written and perhaps fans of this genre would appreciate it even more than me. I felt it dragged in places and was a little unbelievable and while I enjoyed the read it wouldn't be a book for my favourite shelf.

This is the first book in the Detective Lottie Parker Series and readers who enjoy this genre may well enjoy the series by this author.

An easy and entertaining read but because this isn't a genre I particularly enjoy I will not continue with the series but I think readers of crime novels might well enjoy this book. (

)

DemFen | Oct 31, 2024 |

It was pretty good for a first book but it suffered a little from too many crimes. The writing was good but I often had moments where the story went a little too far and made it hard for me to suspend my disbelief. Enjoyable enough to read the next book. (

)

cdaley | Nov 2, 2023 |

The Missing Ones is the first in the very readable D.I. Lottie Parker series located in Ireland. Parker, mother of 3 teens, has not gotten over the death of her husband, Adam. As Detective Inspector of Ragmullin's Garda Station it is up to her and her team to investigate the murder of a local woman. But before they can grasp the key elements of this brutal killing, another person, and then another are killed.

Slow going but after repeated interviews with co-workers, family, friends and neighbors of the victims, viable theories emerge.

Dealing with the stress of balancing work and personal life, her grief over Adam, she also has to cope with her boss, the obnoxious Superintendent Corrigan, and with an uninspired team.

Compelling and engaging.

Bookish59 | Aug 10, 2023 |

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Lottie Parker (1)

▾Awards and Honors

Awards

Irish Book Award (Nominee – Listener's Choice – 2018)

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Canonical title

The Missing Ones

Original title

The Missing Ones

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Original publication date

2017

People/Characters

Lottie Parker

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Important events

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Epigraph

Dedication

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Disambiguation notice

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Original language

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

PR6111.I69

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▾Book descriptions

Fiction. Mystery. HTML:

The hole they dug was not deep. A white flour bag encased the little body. Three small faces watched from the window, eyes black with terror. The child in the middle spoke without turning his head. 'I wonder which one of us will be next?'When a woman's body is discovered in a cathedral and hours later a young man is found hanging from a tree outside his home, Detective Lottie Parker is called in to lead the investigation. Both bodies have the same distinctive tattoo clumsily inscribed on their legs. It's clear the pair are connected, but how? The trail leads Lottie to St Angela's, a former children's home, with a dark connection to her own family history. Suddenly the case just got personal. As Lottie begins to link the current victims to unsolved murders decades old, two teenage boys go missing. She must close in on the killer before they strike again, but in doing so is she putting her own children in terrifying danger? Lottie is about to come face to face with a twisted soul who has a very warped idea of justice. Fans of Rachel Abbott, Karin Slaughter and Robert Dugoni will be gripped by this page-turning serial killer thriller, guaranteed to keep you reading late into the night.The hole they dug was not deep. A white flour bag encased the little body. Three small faces watched from the window, eyes black with terror. The child in the middle spoke without turning his head. 'I wonder which one of us will be next?'When a woman's body is discovered in a cathedral and hours later a young man is found hanging from a tree outside his home, Detective Lottie Parker is called in to lead the investigation. Both bodies have the same distinctive tattoo clumsily inscribed on their legs. It's clear the pair are connected, but how? The trail leads Lottie to St Angela's, a former children's home, with a dark connection to her own family history. Suddenly the case just got personal. As Lottie begins to link the current victims to unsolved murders decades old, two teenage boys go missing. She must close in on the killer before they strike again, but in doing so is she putting her own children in terrifying danger? Lottie is about to come face to face with a twisted soul who has a very warped idea of justice. Fans of Rachel Abbott, Karin Slaughter and Robert Dugoni will be gripped by this page-turning serial killer thriller, guaranteed to keep you reading late into the night.The hole they dug was not deep. A white flour bag encased the little body. Three small faces watched from the window, eyes black with terror. The child in the middle spoke without turning his head. 'I wonder which one of us will be next?'When a woman's body is discovered in a cathedral and hours later a young man is found hanging from a tree outside his home, Detective Lottie Parker is called in to lead the investigation. Both bodies have the same distinctive tattoo clumsily inscribed on their legs. It's clear the pair are connected, but how? The trail leads Lottie to St Angela's, a former children's home, with a dark connection to her own family history. Suddenly the case just got personal. As Lottie begins to link the current victims to unsolved murders decades old, two teenage boys go missing. She must close in on the killer before they strike again, but in doing so is she putting her own children in terrifying danger? Lottie is about to come face to face with a twisted soul who has a very warped idea of justice. Fans of Rachel Abbott, Karin Slaughter and Robert Dugoni will be gripped by this page-turning serial killer thriller, guaranteed to keep you reading late into the night.The hole they dug was not deep. A white flour bag encased the little body. Three small faces watched from the window, eyes black with...

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