Today I am excited to finally be able to share my review of The Dare. It’s written with thanks to Kim Nash at Bookouture for inviting me on the tour and for my copy of the book via Netgalley.

Blurb:

Jane’s daughter is a good girl. What is she hiding?

When thirteen-year-old Savannah Hopkins doesn’t come straight home from school, as she always does, her mother Jane immediately raises the alarm.

Leading the investigation is Detective Natalie Ward whose daughter Leigh is the same age as Savannah. Soon Natalie’s worst fears are confirmed when the teenager’s broken body is found in nearby shrubland.

Evidence points towards a local recluse, but just as the net is closing around him, one of Savannah’s friends, Harriet, is reported missing.

As Natalie delves into the lives of both girls, she soon discovers a sinister video on their phones, daring the girls to disappear from their families for 48 hours.

But Natalie isn’t quick enough for this killer, and she is devastated to find Harriet’s body on a fly tip a day later.

Caught up in the case, she takes her eye off her own daughter and when Leigh goes missing after school she knows she must be in terrible danger. The clock is ticking for Natalie. Can she catch this killer before her little girl becomes the next victim?

This gripping rollercoaster of a read will have you up in the small hours turning the pages. Fans of Angela Marsons, Rachel Caine and Robert Dugoni will love The Dare.

Review

After Last Lullaby ended on a cliffhanger, I couldn’t wait to be reunited with Detective Inspector Natalie Ward and her team. As Natalie has a teenage daughter of her own, the nature of the case means that it has a personal element for her, which gives Wyer the perfect opportunity to give us a further glimpse into Natalie’s family and personal life. I enjoyed learning more about her relationship with her husband and her former lover, Mike. Wyer is keeping her cards close to her chest regarding whether Natalie’s marriage will survive, and I can’t wait to find out more answers.

It is every parent’s nightmare that their child goes missing, and through The Dare, Wyer explores the relationships between teenagers and their parents, and questions if a parent can ever really know what their son or daughter is up to. She examines the apps and websites that teenagers access, and this makes for a fascinating premise which feels very relevant in today’s world. It is easy to imagine that something similar could happen in real life and this makes the events of the novel truly chilling

I’ve spoken to Carol Wyer a few times via social media and she seems like a lovely lady. It amazes me that she can create such twisted villains. There are sections in The Dare that are written from the viewpoint of the killer, and these show the reader what the killer is like. It increases the tension in the novel and made me desperate to discover their identity.

It takes Natalie and her team some time to gather some convincing leads in this case. It means that they are locked in a race against time to find the killer before any more girls are reported missing. The search for clues and hunt for the killer is exhilarating and gripped me from beginning to end.

The Dare is available from Amazon.

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