City of the Lost by Kelley Armstrong

Casey Duncan, Book 1

Synopsis: Casey Duncan is a homicide detective with a secret: when she was in college, she killed a man. She was never caught, but he was the grandson of a mobster and she knows that someday this crime will catch up to her. Casey’s best friend, Diana, is on the run from a violent, abusive ex-husband. When Diana’s husband finds her, and Casey herself is attacked shortly after, Casey knows it’s time for the two of them to disappear again.

Diana has heard of a town made for people like her, a town that takes in people on the run who want to shed their old lives. You must apply to live in Rockton and if you’re accepted, it means walking away entirely from your old life, and living off the grid in the wilds of Canada: no cell phones, no Internet, no mail, no computers, very little electricity, and no way of getting in or out without the town council’s approval. As a murderer, Casey isn’t a good candidate, but she has something they want: She’s a homicide detective, and Rockton has just had its first real murder. She and Diana are in. However, soon after arriving, Casey realizes that the identity of a murderer isn’t the only secret Rockton is hiding—in fact, she starts to wonder if she and Diana might be in even more danger in Rockton than they were in their old lives.

Review: I was really excited to get into this new series by Kelley Armstrong. I usually like her novels a lot and I’ve seen some very nice reviews of this series, so how can I resist it?

I admit, however, that I am a little disappointed. I think the basic idea has already been too seen and reviewed. A village lost in the woods? A forest around where would live hostile beings who can kill? Yes, I was disappointed because it is a very common theme and I was expecting more. But all is not negative because that aside, the author’s ideas are very nice and I had a good time with the characters.

Diana and Casey are two young women fleeing their past, but when it catches them both, they know they have to disappear and what’s better than Rockton? Indeed, it seems that this city is all they expect, after paying a certain amount and a very thorough investigation, they can finally leave in this city for 2 years to keep a low profile. But just arrived, Casey will be put to the test to discover the identity of a killer and in a city where everyone has created a character, it will not be easy.

What I preferred in this novel are the characters, their secrets and interactions. We doubt everyone, wondering what exactly they are hiding, if the person they are proposing is not really who they are. I thought it was good and I loved following our beloved heroine’s investigation, as well as seeing how Rockton was handled.

It was a good read and I am curious to discover the secrets we do not know yet.