The Girl in the Ground by Stacy Green #bookreview #blogtour @stacygreen26 @bookouture

On my blog today, I’m taking part in the blog tour for the new novel by Stacy Green, The Girl in the Ground.

BLURB

She was beautiful: shiny blond hair, crystal blue eyes and the widest smile Nikki had ever seen. She thought back to what she had seen in the ground, the dirt that caked the white bones. All that remained of her now was the silver locket that was still around her neck…

When construction workers unearth a girl’s skeleton in Stillwater, Minnesota, Special Agent Nikki Hunt is called to the scene by her boyfriend Rory. Nikki knows instantly that the girl was murdered, but she is shocked when Rory immediately recognizes her. The victim was his childhood sweetheart, Becky, and he was the last person to see her before she went missing twenty-four years ago.

With the love of her life now a potential suspect, Nikki is forced to take a step back from the case. But then her colleague Liam finds lies in Rory’s statement – it appears that Becky may have been carrying Rory’s child when she was killed. Despite this, Nikki still thinks he could be innocent, and knows she must find the real killer herself if Rory stands any chance of walking free.

When Nikki finds a potential link to two pregnant girls who were found murdered years before it’s clear that this is the most twisted killer that she has ever faced. And then another girl goes missing from Stillwater. Can Nikki unearth the truth and protect the man she loves? And will she find the missing girl in time to save her life?

MY THOUGHTS

Stacy Green has become one of my favourite authors in the crime fiction genre. I love her Agent Nikki Hunt books. They are always really addictive and I really like Nikki. The latest case she is investigating in The Girl in the Ground, hits far too close to home when it’s her boyfriend, Rory who discovers the remains of a young woman at a building site. It might even be the case that Rory knew the victim.

I was really intrigued by the mystery in this book. It starts off with a chilling opening where we see two girls collecting river stones. And this scene ends on a very chilling note which made me want to read the rest of the book right away.

I’ve really liked seeing Nikki and Rory’s relationship develop over the course of the last few books and I was worried where this latest development would take them. You can see clearly how distressed Rory is at the finding the remains, but that doesn’t stop him from becoming a potential suspect in the eyes of Nikki’s colleagues. Rory’s emotion does come through very strongly in Stacy Green’s writing.

There is tension on every page as Nikki and her team race to find a killer. I wanted to know what the killer’s motive was and how this young woman had gone undiscovered in the ground for so long. I also wanted to know more about Rory’s connection to the victim. As in the previous books in the series, Stacy Green keeps the suspense and intrigue ticking up a notch with each new chapter. This is what I really love about her writing.

Things take an even more surprising turn when a pregnant woman, who is a surrogate, disappears. There are some very dark themes which Stacy Green explores in this book, including sex trafficking. It does make for tense reading when Stacy Green delves into the stories of the victims in her book. But she does this sensitively.

I really enjoyed The Girl in the Ground. I am a big fan of this series and this book is one of my favourites in the series. If you enjoy gripping detective novels, you won’t be disappointed.

Publisher: Bookouture

Publication date: 1st December 2021

Print length: 266 pages

The Girl in the Ground is available to buy:

Amazon UK

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