Girl, 11

Elle Castillo, a former social worker is now the host of a popular true crime podcast that focuses on the cold cases of missing children in her hometown of Twin Cities. After two seasons, she decides to tackle the “The Countdown Killer” or TCK.

The TCK had a pattern of killing three girls over seven days but stopped with his eleventh victim over twenty years ago. When Elle receives a phone call with a tip, she agrees the meet the man but instead discovers his dead body. Shortly thereafter, a child is abducted.

Elle wants to help the officers find his killer and of course find the missing child. But will doing so put her in danger? Is the TCK killer still around? Was Elle correct in assuming he was still alive? Will she outsmart the killer, or will the killer outsmart her?

This book had me torn between a 3 and a 3.5 rating. So, I finally decided on a 3.25. I enjoyed the podcast feel and the podcast sections in the book. This had an interesting premise. There are also some twists and a reveal along the way. I found this to be a very solid debut which I enjoyed. There was just that little bit of something missing to garner a higher star rating. But do not get me wrong, I did enjoy this book.

Elle, for the most part, was not the most likeable character. Some things are understandable, but I think I would have liked her more if she were more sympathetic. I understand her desire and drive to catch the killer, but it also rubbed me the wrong way she expected the police to only follow her advice/leads when she goes to the police station. Some things I saw coming, but these issues do not really bother me in a book but for some reason, bothered me a little here. Perhaps because I had high hopes for this book having read the synopsis.

Again, solid debut which shows promise.

Thank you to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.