Published by Bookouture Genres: Crime, Fiction, Mystery, suspense, thriller
Format: ARC, eBook
Gripping, intense and well thought out! Marsons continues to knock it out of the ballpark with her DI Kim Stone series. I love seeing Kim and her team solve crimes. They are a likeable lot and I enjoy their witty banter. In Hidden Scars, Marsons takes on conversion therapy.
Detective Kim Stone is still coping and healing with the events in Six Graves where she was savagely beaten. She is supposed to be taking things easy and slowly transitioning back to work, but Kim does not like to do anything easy. She throws herself into her work and doesn’t stop until the case(s) are solved.
Jamie Mills was found hanging from a tree in a local park. His death was initially ruled a suicide. Kim’s replacement, Burns was happy to move on to the next case even when Stacy shares her thoughts that there is more to his death. When Kim comes back to work, it becomes known that he had a knee injury and the natural of his wound meant he could not have climbed a tree, and his death is ruled a murder. His is not the only death, soon a young woman and a married man are found dead under suspicious circumstances.
On top of this, a local accountant has gone missing without a trace. His wife has reported him missing and Stacy throws herself into finding out more about her disappearance.
As the instigation delves deeper into the lives of the three dead people, Kim and her team learn that each voluntarily attended a local clinic. A clinic which has them sign an NDA. A clinic that does conversion therapies.
Marsons takes on a difficult subject and handles it like a champ. This book had me from the very first page and kept my attention throughout. This series is still going strong, and I hope there is no end in sight. I am a big fan of this series and love the characters in this book. I love how Kim is both tough as nails yet vulnerable. She has a big heart, and it shows in her interactions with Bryant and a young man named River in this book. Her team is also very likeable, and I love their interactions and teamwork. Marsons gives readers glimpses into their private lives which helps to fully flesh out the characters while showing character development over the course of this series. Plus, we learn Bryant’s first name!
With books in a series, I always like to note if it can be read as a stand-alone. This book really does pick up after the events in the last book and I believe to fully enjoy this book, one really needs more background information, and I would recommend going back and at least reading that book before this one (you could even go back to the beginning!)
I always love trying to figure things out on my own and doing my own detective work. I did not solve the case and in fact was left with my mouth hanging open more than once!
This is one of my favorite series and this book was fabulous. Potential readers should note that this book deals with sexual identity and conversion therapies. There are hateful characters in this book and their treatment and thoughts about others may be difficult for some readers.
Thank you to Bookouture 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.