City of the Lost: A Casey Duncan Mystery (Rockton Book 1)

I originally bought this in 6 parts when it was first published as a serial. I have recently bought it again as a single file as I loved the book but got irritated at reading it in the broken up format.This author has written paranormal thrillers in the past, This is NOT one of those. This is a straight thriller.The book is about a woman detective with a dangerous secret who needs to disappear. Luckily for her there is a settlement based in the Yukon where people can disappear for a few years. So we get a chance to see modern day people transported to an almost 19th century frontier style world with no phones, very basic living conditions and a murderer at large.As usual with Kelley Armstrongs' books the protagonist is a tough woman with "issues" and a flexible moral code that allows for the difference between justice and law. The descriptions of the Yukon are detailed and feel very real. The characters are complex and have all had to make some hard choices. I enjoyed the mystery as well as the human stories of people so threatened they give up the comfort of 21st century living to survive.I thought this book was great and I have since bought the rest in the Rockton series but be warned, it has some seriously gruesome bits and there is a fair bit of bad language as well as adult themes.

I was interested in reading the book from the first time I saw it. A town for people that needs to get away. A secret town in the middle of nowhere. It sounded bloody fantastic. But, sometimes my expectations are too high, and when it came to this book did I expect a more mysterious and darker story.Now, I don't say that the City of the Lost is a bad book, it started off interestingly with Casey and her friend Diana needing to get away, especially Diana after she once again had problems with her ex-boyfriend who beat her badly. Casey's problem is a bit more complicated, she killed a man when she was in college and have since then been waiting for the day the past would catch up with her. And, now it seems that it has happened. For them is Rockton a perfect solution, although Casey because of her past has a hard time getting approved for going to the town, in the end, is she allowed, but there are some conditions for her and one of the reasons they agree to accept her is because they need a homicide detective to solve a murder.It's in Rockton that I felt the story started to drag now and then, it just went on and on, sometimes it felt that the investigation didn't go anywhere. I was also a bit disappointed with the town, it felt that it was just really bad people there and if you were a woman then you had to watch out (I think I had a town like the one in Pines (Wayward Pines by Blake Crouch in mind, normal but mysterious). There were some promising things with the story, the rumors about cannibals were interesting, it just never becomes much more than a rumor. Then, the obvious and expected romance occurred (I have read reviews of the books so I was prepared), and it took more time away from the investigations, but at the same time was it an important part of the story that I can't discuss since it would spoiler the book.The ending, well it was good, perhaps not fantastically good, but Casey did solve the murder and all. She also discovered some secrets that someone close to her had kept and I loved the confrontation between Casey and this person.So, City of the Lost did not turn out to be this fantastic book I had hoped for. It was more of a bumpy ride with both ups and downs. Would I read the next book? Yes, I would! I did enjoy more of the book than I disliked. I just hope the next book will have a less bumpy ride.

So incredibly disappointed. Always rated Kelley Armstrong since reading the Bitten Series & the premise was so interesting. A town full of residents with dark pasts - a town where they could disappear off the grid. And it started off promisingly with rumours of cannabilism & a few quite brutal murders with motives, secrets & suspects aplenty. And then it turned into a hybrid romance/cosy mystery/thriller which went on for far too long & had a ubiquitous love story which by the end was both irritating & monotonous. The final twist was ridiculous & patronising & by this stage I was checking the percentage on my kindle willing myself to carry on. There have been plenty of 5 stars so it clearly worked for many readers. Just not for me. Romance & dark fiction do not mix. They don’t gel at all. Getting hot & heavy after you find an arm in a cave is highly unbelievable. Not for me.

A mix of mystery and some romance this is a very slow building story - although for me it wasn't so slow that things got annoying. It’s not a book I regret picking up.We are introduced to a town filled to the brim with people who needed to get away/disappear, a town that for Detective Casey Duncan and her best friend Diana gives the promise of a much-needed new start. But when they get there…well peace and bliss isn’t exactly on the menu. As Detective Casey tries to find her feet with the town, its inhabitants and her new boss Sheriff Eric Dalton, she also comes to some revelations about her best-friend who I seriously didn’t like, whilst also having to solve a murder.The romance between Casey and the Sheriff felt like it needed to be developed more, and it would have been nice if some of the intrigues and rumours (e.g. of cannibalism) surrounding the town were delved into rather than touched upon fleetingly.Overall this was an ok read, the bones of the book had the potential to be deliciously engrossing – sadly that didn’t happen.

I absolutely loved this book. As usual she had a strong female protagonist and lots of different characters, no one dimensional fillers in here. The plot was convoluted and - despite the rather fanciful premise of a hidden town - felt very real: the bits in the caves actually made me feel claustrophobic. I read the book in one sitting and immediately bought the next (which is proving just as good). Some reviews imply this is the first section of a 6 part story, that might originally have been the case but the kindle version I got was the entire book.