Emma (SCR)'s Review of One Left Alive (Detective Morgan Brookes, #1)

by Helen Phifer

She knelt down by the side of the first girl. She had to force herself to breathe as she lifted the soft white cloth covering the girl’s beautiful face…
When the body of a woman is found hanging from a tree in her front garden, rookie Detective Morgan Brookes is first on the scene. But Olivia Potter is past saving. And when her husband and daughters cannot be traced, Morgan knows there is more to this tragedy. And then she finds them. Lying huddled together in the dark basement, each of their faces covered with a small cotton cloth, their bodies cold to the touch.
But as Morgan kneels beside the family, she realises that one of the girls is still breathing. As she holds Bronte’s fragile hand in hers, begging her to hold on, she vows to find out who has done this.
Every day Morgan wakes at 4:25 AM, her old insomnia now mixed with a new fixation on the case. But every clue about the murdered family leads to a dead end. Until, trawling through old files, she discovers a link to a cold case from years ago. Another family was murdered in this house, and the killer was never caught.
When Morgan returns to the scene of the crime to discover more about this forgotten case, she finds another body. With Bronte still unconscious in hospital, Morgan must act fast to solve this case and lay two families to rest, before the killer returns for the girl left alive…

This review was originally posted on Star Crossed Reviews I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Thank you to Bookouture for my copy of this book via Netgalley and for letting me take part in this tour. I read another book by this author back in 2018 and I really enjoyed it so I was excited to read this new series.

Morgan Brookes is on her first day on lone patrol when she discovers this case. She is keen and hard working. CID are short staffed and Morgan gets picked by her superior to assist despite being a rookie. This obviously doesn’t go down well with some of the other officers who have been hoping to move up. This seemed pretty unrealistic to me but I think Morgan will be a really good detective. She has that gut feeling when something is wrong and is very determined. She also cares about the victims and wants to get justice for them.

I’ve said this before about Helen’s stories but I’m going to say it again. These are not for the faint hearted. The murders are brutal and horrific. They are some of the worst I have ever read. Helen goes into a lot of detail to truly show you how horrific these killings are. The book had a few red herrings which really kept you on your toes.

There is some romance hinted at that I’m not sure I am a fan of but we will see if that progresses or not in the next few books.

I loved that this was set in the Lake District. I’ve never been but it seems such a beautiful place. I really would like to go visit.

I was sucked into this book quite early on. With the murders being so horrific you just feel you have to keep going. I flew through the book, to be honest and couldn’t believe I got to the end so quickly! I’m looking forward to seeing Morgan progress through her training and see how she copes with her next big case!

One Left Alive (Detective Morgan Brookes, #1)

by Helen Phifer

Reviewed by Emma (SCR) on Aug 30, 2020

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