Review: Tell Nobody by Patricia Gibney

Title: Tell Nobody

Author: Patricia Gibney

Series: Detective Lottie Parker, #5

Published: October 2018, Bookouture

Format: ARC E-copy, 458 pages

Source: Netgalley via Publisher

Summary: 

A killer close to home. A town full of secrets…

  

One hot summer evening, eleven-year-old Mikey Driscoll
is on the way home from playing with friends. Two days later, his
broken body is discovered on a bed of wild flowers by some local
teenagers.

The case is assigned to Detective Lottie Parker
and this time it’s personal. A close friend of her son Sean, Mikey was
from the run-down Munbally estate on the other side of town. Sean tells
his mother that Mikey was behaving normally before he died but Lottie
can’t help but feel that her son is keeping something from her … 

 Then days later, another boy is found dead, surrounded by wild flowers next to a beautiful lake.

  

On
the hunt for a twisted individual with a terrifying calling card,
Lottie must uncover the web of secrets within Mikey’s circle of friends.
Someone is keeping secrets but who are they protecting and can Lottie
find out before it’s too late? Lottie is desperate to catch the killer
before he strikes again because this time her own child could be in
terrible danger… 

 If you love Karin Slaughter, Robert Dugoni
and Rachel Abbott, you’ll love the latest heart-stopping thriller from
Patricia Gibney. Tell Nobody will keep you guessing until the very last page.  

My thoughts: This is the 5th book in Patricia Gibney’s Detective Lottie Parker series and I think it just gets better and better with every book! It is definitely a dark, creepy series and certainly not on for the faint of heart, but I sure do love my crime thrillers and this series is one heck of a good one!

As is typical in this series, right from the beginning you are pulled into the investigation and are not sure who is behind the gruesome murders.  As you meet potential suspects you wonder if they are the “one.” I had so many theories as I was reading, yet I never ended up guessing the right person. And even as we hear from the murderer’s point of view at times, I still couldn’t pinpoint who they were…and let me tell you, those chapters were quite chilling!

Besides all this going on, there is still the usual character development happening that is the hallmark of this series. Detective Lottie Parker and her children are now living with her mum because of developments that occurred in the previous book and things are not easy. Lottie’s temper is getting the best of her most days and she is running herself ragged trying to stay on top of work, keep track of her children and get their new place ready to move in yesterday. To say she is a “hot mess” is putting it mildly!

While this book can be read as a stand-alone, I really think – and strongly recommend!!! – that you read this series in order for the sole purpose of watching these characters develop as they were meant to. There are relationships that have been built, developments that have occurred and character development that has been developed over the course of this series that really is the foundation of this series. As much as it is a crime fiction series, it is also a character-driven series. 

There is a major development that occurs for Lottie’s team at the end of this book that is both devastating and horrific. It has implications not only on the team as a whole, but on a particular individual within the team and I am so anxious for the next book to come out to see how this development moves forward. There is also things going on in Lottie’s personal life that need to be addressed – concerning her mother as well as a visitor from the U.S. I am looking forward to seeing how that plays out, too. 

This series is one of my favorites and that next book cannot come out soon enough!!!

Books in this series: 

1. The Missing Ones
2. The Stolen Girls
3. The Lost Child
4. No Safe Place 
5. Tell Nobody