Lost by S. J. Bolton, a Mysterious Review.

Review: Someone tied a poster on the lamp post. Ten-year-old twin boys Jason and Joshua Barlow were missing. They looked much like thousands of other boys living in south London. Just like the two, possibly three, boys who had gone missing before them. Altogether, five young boys, all preteen, had been found dead along the banks of the Thames River, apparently the work of a serial killer. They all had the same bruising on their bodies and their throats have been cut, allowing them to bleed out before their bodies are dumped. There were no identifiable clues with any of the bodies for the police to follow in Lost, the third mystery in this series by S. J. Bolton.

Eleven-year-old Barney Roberts and his friends have become fixated with the news of the crimes. They go on a Facebook page under the name of “Missing Boys” every day to see the latest news on the police investigation. The person posting this material seems to have more inside information than the police do. Detective Constable Lacey Flint, now on leave following a very traumatic and hurtful case, lives next door to Barney and his single father. She realizes he is alone a few nights a week and with a killer capturing young boys, Lacey tries to look after Barney and sometimes keeps him company. Plus, she suspects that he knows something about the murders that he is not telling her for some reason. Even though she is not technically on the job she will go to any lengths to keep Barney safe.

Lost is a suspenseful, spine-chilling mystery that poses two "who"-type questions: the obvious one, who is the serial killer, but also who is posting information to Facebook? There are any number of suspects proffered, each with a reason why they might be one or the other. Even near the end, the answers to the "who" questions remain a mystery, the hallmark of a very well crafted and written story.

Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Lost.

Lost

A Lacey Flint Novella by S. J. Bolton