Isolated is the second in the Missing Children Case Files after Ransomed; I think you could probably step in here and read this one without having read Ransomed, because although there are some continuing threads, notably Emma’s quest for answers about her sister Anna’s fate, the main ‘case’ here is new, and completely resolved within this book.
Investigative journalist Emma Hunter once again gets drawn into looking into something when a tragedy occurs right in front of her (trigger warning for suicide) and a woman’s last words push Emma into looking into the case of a teenager who vanished 15 years ago. The girl vanished off a military base, though, and someone doesn’t want anyone asking any questions. The only living witnesses are too frightened to tell the truth.
The story is told in two timelines, what happened 15 years ago and today, as Emma investigates, and there is a tense switch between the two which I occasionally found jarring - the ‘back then’ timeline is told in the usual past perfect, but the ‘now’ timeline is told in present tense, not my favourite for narrative storytelling. I honestly think telling everything in past tense would be fine; the characters and situations were distinct enough I for one would never have become confused about which timeline I was reading in. I recognise why the choice was made, though, and really it’s a personal preference thing which didn’t detract from my enjoyment of this excellent story.
The only thing I could have wished for is something to actually happen in the romance stakes between Emma and Jack, rather than just Emma’s friends pushing her to do something. Possibly we’ll get something going in the next book of the series.
A genuinely excellent story with a heroine who’s very different from the usual police officer/FBI agent/private detective mystery protagonist, I’m absolutely loving this series. Five stars.
Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this title via NetGalley.