“A missing girl. An angry mother. A true crime documentary.

Ten years ago, Katy, a promising young journalist, left her desk and was never seen again.

Someone knows what happened to her…

The controlling boyfriend? The inappropriate professor? The clingy colleague?

When Katy went missing, it wasn’t just her devastated mother, Grace, whose life was ruined. Now, a new documentary delving into the missing person case threatens to open old wounds.

As Grace gets closer to the truth, she discovers just how far people are willing to go to keep the past hidden.”

Hello and welcome to damppebbles. Today I am delighted to share my review of True Crime by Georgina Lees. True Crime was published by One More Chapter on 1st February 2024 and is available in paperback, audio and digital formats. I chose to read a free eARC of True Crime but that has in no way influenced my review.

Grace Harper’s twenty-year-old daughter, Katy, left work ten years ago and was never seen again. Understandably Grace has spent the last ten years of her life fixated on her daughters’ whereabouts. And she’s not the only one. Grace finds comfort in talking to a small group of strangers on a message board who are also interested in what happened to Katy. Using the cloak of internet anonymity Grace listens to their theories whilst adding her own, keen to keep Katy’s name fresh in people’s minds. So when a television production company approaches Grace asking to dig deeper into Katy’s disappearance she agrees, desperate to find out what happened and hoping it will bring new evidence to light. But the documentary is nothing like Grace expected. The emphasis is all wrong. And no matter how prepared she felt she was, it inevitably opens painful old wounds. Inching ever closer to the truth, Grace takes matters into her own hands. Someone somewhere knows what happened to Katy Harper and they’ll go to extreme measures to keep the secret buried forever…

True Crime is an intense, emotional and gripping psychological thriller which had me turning the pages at a rate of knots. Grace is angry, and rightly so. Her daughter vanished without a trace ten years ago and despite a fairly thorough investigation by the police, no trace of Katy was ever found. At the time of her disappearance, there were three main suspects; her older boyfriend who seemed much more into their relationship than Katy ever was. Her English professor who was rumoured to have had affairs with other students on Katy’s course, Katy being his latest conquest, and an intense colleague at work who seemed to know Katy’s every move. Rather than shining a spotlight on those Grace feels responsible for Katy’s disappearance, the documentary gives them a voice and Grace doesn’t like what she hears. The author has excelled at showing how true crime documentaries can tilt the emphasis of an investigation, giving those initial suspects who felt strongly aggrieved by being accused, the opportunity to have a voice and how, edited just the right way, that voice can sound authoritative, conclusive and be taken as truth.

Would I recommend this book? I would, yes. True Crime is a superbly written, highly emotional tale of a desperate, heartbroken mother’s search for the truth. With each new episode of the documentary, Grace realises that perhaps she didn’t know Katy anywhere near as well as she thought. Could one of the three original suspects be responsible for her disappearance? Or did something else happen to Katy that night? The majority of the story is told from Grace’s point of view. The reader gets to see her heartfelt reaction to the documentary episodes, her relationship with Detective Harrison Lane – the lead investigator when Katy first went missing – (who I loved!) and how Grace slowly starts to make progress in her own investigation off of the back of the series. We also see first-hand how each episode plays out, the startling revelations, the sudden reappearance of Katy’s ‘dad’ and how the suspects easily turn things around, making Katy’s own actions look highly suspicious. And finally, we hear from Katy in the lead-up to her disappearance. Step by step the reader watches as that fateful night unfolds and the truth finally comes to light. And it’s a shocker! I certainly didn’t expect the author to take the story in the direction they did. Wonderfully unexpected, perhaps a smidge hard to believe but I didn’t really care. The ending was explosive and I loved it. All in all, a hugely addictive novel, utterly compelling and nigh-on impossible to put down. This is the first book I’ve read by this author but I can guarantee I will be reading more. How can I not after being swept up in this cracking story? Tense, involving and very intriguing. Highly recommended.

I chose to read and review a free eARC of True Crime. The above review is my own unbiased opinion.

True Crime by Georgina Lees was published in the UK by One More Chapter on 1st February 2024 and is available in paperback, audio and digital formats (please note, the following links are affiliate links which means I receive a small percentage of the purchase price at no extra cost to you): | amazon.co.uk | Waterstones | Foyles | bookshop.org | Goodreads | damppebbles bookshop.org shop | damppebbles amazon.co.uk shop | damppebbles amazon.com shop |

Georgina studied creative writing and film at university and has since pursued a career in videogames journalism, covering some of the most popular games in the world. Her psychological thrillers are inspired by her surroundings, from the congested London streets to the raw English countryside.