Dark Highway – Lisa Gray
An isolated highway in the middle of the desert – the perfect place to hide a secret.
LA-based artist Laurie Simmonds disappeared two months ago, her camper van abandoned on the isolated Twentynine Palms Highway, miles from anything – or anyone. With the police investigation stalled, her parents put all their faith in private investigator Jessica Shaw to find out the truth of what happened.
Jessica and her partner Matt Connor discover that two other women are missing, their disappearances connected to the same highway. When a link emerges between these women and a group of former college friends, Jessica feels certain they’re closing in on their target.
But no sooner do they follow this up than Laurie’s parents get spooked and drop the case. Jessica is blindsided but determined not to give up: three women are missing, and many more may be at risk. She can’t turn her back on them. But the more she pulls at the threads of the truth, the closer she comes to danger. Can she find out who’s behind these crimes before they come for her?
My thanks to the author for arranging for me to receive an early Netgalley review copy.
Dark Highway is the third Jessica Shaw thriller from Lisa Gray. I really hope you haven’t been snoozing on these excellent stories as they are already really high on my annual “most wanted” list. Regular readers may have realised I much prefer reading about recurring characters; I really enjoy following the character evolution as new books are released and Jessica Shaw has already got a cracking back story in place which the author has been able to build on in Dark Highway. That’s not to say you can’t enjoy Dark Highway as a stand alone thriller if you haven’t read the first two books – you most certainly can come into this one with no prior knowledge of Jessica and her previous expolits.
We join the story with a hell of an opening paragraph. Eighteen words and scene guaranteed to keep you reading – no spoilers but I will confirm the presence of a corpse. So straight into the action and a small group with a big problem and there is division in their ranks. Lisa Gray doing exactly what is needed to draw me into her world once again.
Cut to Jessica Shaw and she is hired to find missing artist Laurie Simmonds. She hasn’t been seen for a couple of months and her mother wants her found – even suggesting there is a connection to other missing women. Jessica and her partner, Matt, start digging and it isn’t long before Jessica thinks there may be some truth in the suggestion that there are some common elements to the disappearances she is looking into. However, Laurie’s father is about to pull the plug on Jessica’s case and bring her investigations crashing to a halt.
Laurie will need to convince Matt that they can’t just walk away from these missing women. Matt and Laurie have some history and there is more than a little chemistry between them but their relationship is currently a business one and doing pro-bono work will not pay the bills. A confrontation is brewing and Jessica knows she can’t simply forget about Laurie Simmonds.
Dark Highway is a multi layered story which also takes readers back a few years to follow the story of a single mum, working in a bar near the same highway where Laurie Simmonds was last seen. The steps back in time give readers a brief respite from Jessicas troubles but you know that there is going to be some connection between past and present events. Well there may be but I certainly must confess to being well off the mark as a tried to guess where the story was heading. Dark times lie ahead and the author takes the readers to some grim scenes which sustain the excellent edgy feel of this series.
Although I have not had the opportunity to hear the Dark Highway audiobook yet I did listen to the previous book (Bad Memory) through Audible and I was delighted to see Amy Landon is returning to narrate Dark Highway. Amy did a magnificent job on Bad Memory and I thought her voice captured the tone and feel of the story perfectly – I am quite sure that magnificience will carry over into Dark Highway. Audiobooks are always a more enjoyable experience when the narrator is such a good fit for the story you are listening to.
As I alluded to at the start of my review – I am a huge fan of the Jessica Shaw books. I strongly encourage everyone to read Dark Highway and if you are new to the series you can’t go far wrong if you pick up Thin Air and Bad Memory too.
Dark Highway is published today by Thomas & Mercer and is available in paperback, digital and audiobook format. You can get your copy right now by clicking through this link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B087JPTMKC/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1