Thanks to Netgalley for providing this Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review; all opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Take a long-suffering cop who is at the end of this rope, a teenage girl who may have been kidnapped by someone or has left town of her own volition and put them in a story of redemption and new beginnings and you get a compelling and heart-tugging story which can terrify, confuse and trigger the reader’s empathy all at the same time. 

“Hidden Pieces” by Mary Keliikoa begins on a beach, where Sheriff Jax Turner sits in his car contemplating suicide. He had lost his daughter to cancer five years back and has still not started to move on from it. But he is interrupted by the police station’s phone operator when she informs him of the disappearance of a teenage girl. Though Jax hopes for a quick resolution on the case, which seems likely owing to the acrimonious relationship between mother and child, the case takes on a convoluted path of twists and turns, with Jax encountering weird and suspicious people in the course of his investigation. 

Upon learning that the child is the niece of another woman who had lost her life in an abduction many years before, Jax begins to suspect that there is more at play here than a straightforward abduction. While his investigation leads him on another path, the involvement of the relative of a suspect leads the team on a search for an elusive individual. How will Jax handle this new case that seems like an echo from the past? Will he be able to save the girl before she is harmed by the perpetrator? Who is the culprit?

Keliikoa has given a new definition to the tragic hero through Jax Turner. He is a defeated man that finds purpose in his investigation and the author has made the circumstances pertaining to his state of mind convincing enough. His relationship with his ex-wife Abby is complicated and engaging enough for the readers to root for them to get back together. The journey his character goes through the book and the way it serves as the catalyst for him to come back to life is rewarding to read. 

The pacing of the story is perfect; at no place did I feel that it was dragging. Keliikoa has the gift of taking her readers into the minds of the people she has created in her story. They range from flat characters to the last person you ever want to associate with. Layers and layers of complex emotions and tensions run through the narrative, making it an engaging book that a reader will mostly find very hard to put down. 

This is a great start to a terrific series and I can’t wait to read more of this author’s books.

This book gets 5 out of 5 stars.