Next Girl Missing by L.A. Larkin

Publisher's Synopsis

Four years ago, six young girls were snatched from the streets of quiet, suburban Pioneer Heights—chilling, fake “missing” posters of each victim hung around town just before they were taken. Ex-police officer Sally Fairburn has always been haunted by the case and their inability to bring the girls home. Having lost her own daughter, she knows only too well the pain it brings…

Four years on, the wide brown eyes and neat braids of twelve-year-old Anna Moorhouse—the last girl to disappear—still plague Sally’s dreams. She has never stopped fighting to bring the devastated families back together, but all leads have gone cold. Until Sally receives a chilling call out of the blue: their former main suspect, in prison for another crime, wants to talk to her… alone.

Desperate for answers, Sally races to interview him. But a horrifying discovery stops her in her tracks: a missing poster—on her daily running route, in the same style used four years ago—with Sally’s own face on it…

Not only is Sally in grave danger, but the more threats she receives, the more convinced she becomes that the killer is a lot closer to home than she ever could have imagined… But can Sally finally catch him before any more innocents disappear—and before Sally herself becomes his next victim…?

My Review of Next Girl Missing by L.A. Larkin

There’s always something disturbing about thrillers dealing with serial killers, even more so when the victims are children and this is what we’re dealing with in L.A. Larkin’s Next Girl Missing. This first book of a new series is filled with moments of high emotion and frantic action and it drew me in completely.

Sally Fairburn is a former police officer now working as a victim advocate. She appears to be in constant fear. She has been conditioned by an abusive husband to doubt herself, to behave passively when confronted and to try to please others, even if it’s to her own detriment.

Four years ago a killer, dubbed the Poster Killer, had been operating on the streets of Pioneer Heights. The way he operated was to put up a fake Missing Person poster before the victim was taken. All victims were girls between the ages of 11 and 13. It’s a case that was never solved and one that has haunted Sally ever since it went quiet.

Still working with the families of some of the missing girls today, Sally receives a phone call from a prisoner who claims he knows the identity of the Poster Killer and wants her to come to the prison to speak to him about it. It’s a meeting she doesn’t want to keep, but knows that this particular prisoner is dangerous and she can’t afford to ignore him. 

As if she hasn’t got enough on her plate, she’s stopped cold while out on a run when she’s faced with another Missing Person poster and this time it’s her face on it. Immediately, questions flash through: has the Poster Killer returned? Why is Sally being targeted? Is she about to die?

Next Girl Missing is an edge of the seat thriller that sets off at a frenetic pace and things continue to ramp up with increasing urgency. Not only is this a story about a desperate hunt for a serial killer, but there’s a far more emotional aspect to Sally’s story. She’s still overcoming her own personal tragedy after her daughter’s suicide. Plus, through a series of flashback chapters we gain a growing picture of the deeply disturbing control that her ex-husband exerted over her and their children.

Larkin manages to evoke strong emotional responses through Sally Fairburn’s experiences, the controlling husband who gaslighted her repeatedly, the suicide of her teenage daughter and the trauma of possibly being stalked by a serial killer. All of these add up to a harrowing story that piles fear upon fear.

This is the first book in a series featuring Sally Fairburn and it provides great insights into the background of the protagonist. From a beaten down shell of a wife and mother, we witness a gradual growth in strength and self-belief so it will be interesting to watch how much further she goes in the next book in the series.