Review – City of the Lost (Casey Duncan, Book 1) by Kelley Armstrong (5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Mystery
Length: 416 pages
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Release Date: May 3, 2016
ISBN-13: 978-1250092144
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Casey Duncan series
Source: eGalley from NetGalley.com
Rating: 5/5 stars

“Casey Duncan once killed a man and got away with it. Since then she’s become a talented police detective, tethered only to her job, her best friend, Diana, and the occasional evening with her sexy, no-strings-attached ex-con lover, Kurt. But then Diana’s abusive ex finds her again, despite all Casey has done to help her disappear. And Casey’s own dark past begins to catch up with her. The two women need to run—and Diana’s heard of a place where they won’t be found, a town especially for people like them…”

This is the first book in a new thriller/mystery series by Armstrong called the Casey Duncan series. I got a copy of this book to review through NetGalley.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a very engaging read with a wonderfully delicious dark and mysterious mystery. I loved the setting and the characters and really enjoyed how the plot unfolded. There is also a little romance in here to balance out the gruesomeness.

Every character in this book has issues…big ones. This made for an incredibly intriguing cast of characters that were unpredictable and engaging.

The setting was amazing. You have all these characters hiding from past people and crimes in an isolated town in the middle of nowhere. The town is fairly primitive and requires the full cooperation of the people living there to survive. Surrounding this town is the harsh Canadian wilderness and…other things. I loved this remote setting and loved the survivalist element this brought to the story.

The plot constantly kept me guessing and trying to figure out “who done it” was a challenge. I loved some of the twists at the end of the story; just amazing.

The main mystery was wrapped up nicely but there are many storylines I hope are fleshed out more in future books. There is a sweet romance that develops between two of the characters as well and that really helped balance out some of the more gruesome scenes in this book.

Overall this was an amazing thriller/mystery set in a intriguing location with engaging characters. I am not a huge thriller/mystery fan but I ended up loving this book. I would recommend to fans of Armstrong’s writing and to those who love mysteries stories that have an element of survivalism to them.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– New Release Challenge