Title: City of the Lost

Author: Kelley Armstrong

Series: Rockton (Book 1)

Genre: Mystery, horror

Buy:

City of the Lost on Kobo

Summary:

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.

Let’s do this! I’m excited every body and if you’re a Kelley Armstrong fan than you should be too. This Canadian Queen, if I can call her that, has another book coming out February 9th and I for one am thrilled. So thrilled I made the moodboard to the left for City of the Lost and all the imagery it evoked while I re-read it for the *looks at smudged writing on hand* well, for a time. Like I have many times before.

If you have been sleeping on Kelley Armstrong for some reason, well it’s time for you to stop, especially if you’re a mystery lover. And certainly if you’re feeling that Canadian pride and you’re a mystery lover.

She is dare I say it, one of Canada’s finest. At least in this reader’s humble opinion and this book as all her books are, is better than the one that came before it. It’s a pretty hard balance to strike, when all your books are good.

I’ve read and reviewed this book more than once so don’t expect anything in depth here. This is just a celebration of the book that started our journey into Rockton and the characters we met there.

This book still gets my blood pumping, and I had the distinct pleasure of getting an audiobook copy from Libby for this time around which meant I noticed new nuances and things I may not have noticed before. Some foreshadowing even.

Casey is a good character with a bad path, and dare I say it, a complete badass. It’s something I’ve come to expect from Kelley. Her characters always come from a variety of backgrounds and damn, do they all have some fire in them.

I’d forgotten how creepy this book was, and how much I actually really loved being creeped out by it if I’m honest. And I’m someone who gets the heeby jeebies watching Criminal Minds. The audiobook only served to enhance to experience.

It’s an invigorating read and really does a great job of building the town of Rockton, and it’s residents up around you. Nothing is what it seems, and some things are innocuous until they’re not.

So check it out!