Title: Every Waking Hour
Author: Joanna Schaffhausen
Series: Ellery Hathaway, #4
Published: January 2021, Minotaur Books
Format: ARC E-copy, 336 pages
Source: Publisher
Summary:
After surviving a
serial killer’s abduction as a young teenager, Ellery Hathaway is
finally attempting a normal life. She has a new job as a rookie Boston
detective and a fledgling relationship with Reed Markham, the FBI agent
who rescued her years ago. But when a twelve-year-old girl disappears on
Ellery’s watch, the troubling case opens deep wounds that never fully
healed.
Chloe Lockhart walked away from a busy street fair and
vanished into the crowd. Maybe she was fleeing the suffocating
surveillance her parents put on her from the time she was born, or maybe
the evil from her parents’ past finally caught up to her. For Chloe, as
Ellery learns, is not the first child Teresa Lockhart has lost.
Ellery
knows what it’s like to have the past stalk you, to hold your breath
around every corner. Sending one kidnapped girl to find another could be
Chloe’s only hope or an unmitigated disaster that dooms them both.
Ellery must untangle the labyrinth of secrets inside the Lockhart
household—secrets that have already murdered one child. Each second that
ticks by reminds her of her own lost hours, how close she came to
death, and how near it still remains.
My thoughts: This is the fourth book in Joanna Schaffhausen’s Ellery Hathaway series and one that I just cannot read fast enough! I only discovered this series last year when the third book came out and I’m so glad I did…it really has become one of my favorite series.
I will say that while each of these books do stand on their own and contain a case that is self-contained, I highly recommend reading the series in order. The character development and backstory that builds from book one will really help you to understand the relationship between Ellery and Reed and why there is such a strong bond between them. There are also some threads that are carried through and you will appreciate them all the more for having read all the previous books. If you do pick this one up first, perhaps it will entice you to go back.
This latest installment finds Ellery and Reed in the right place at the right time when young Chloe goes missing. Of course, this case brings up lots of memories for Ellery but her sole focus is on bringing Chloe home safely. And as the two start digging into the case, it seems there is more to Chloe’s disappearance than meets the eye.
I love this series because as much as it’s about whatever case Ellery and Reed find themselves involved in, we also get just as much character development on them. They are ready to take their relationship to the next step, but of course there are some obstacles in the way.
This book keeps you flipping the pages wondering just what is going to happen next, both in terms of the case and with Ellery and Reed. I love that there were plenty of twists and turns, but not too many and that the case ended up being so much more than everyone first believed it to be because of all the secrets that the family kept hidden.
I really enjoy this series and I am already eager to see what happens in the next book, especially as that ending leaves us!
Books in this series:
- The Vanishing Season
- No Mercy
- All the Best Lies
- Every Waking Hour
