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Ren Bryce #3
Blood Loss
FBI agent Ren Bryce takes on her most heart-wrenching case yet when a father’s work places his young daughter in terrible danger…
OUT OF SIGHT
When a teenage girl is found beaten and raped in the grounds of a derelict asylum, FBI agent Ren Bryce is called in to assist. But she is soon diverted to a missing persons’ case when an eleven-year-old girl and her teenage babysitter vanish without a trace from their hotel room.
OUT OF MIND
Faced with conflicting evidence and inconsistent witnesses, Ren works obsessively to unravel the dark family secrets at the heart of the case, before it’s too late…
OUT OF CONTROL
Determined to uncover the truth, Ren’s behaviour becomes increasingly reckless. Putting her own safety at risk, she enters a world where innocent lives are ruined for profit … and kidnap, rape and murder are all part of the deal.
OUT OF SIGHT
When a teenage girl is found beaten and raped in the grounds of a derelict asylum, FBI agent Ren Bryce is called in to assist. But she is soon diverted to a missing persons’ case when an eleven-year-old girl and her teenage babysitter vanish without a trace from their hotel room.
OUT OF MIND
Faced with conflicting evidence and inconsistent witnesses, Ren works obsessively to unravel the dark family secrets at the heart of the case, before it’s too late…
OUT OF CONTROL
Determined to uncover the truth, Ren’s behaviour becomes increasingly reckless. Putting her own safety at risk, she enters a world where innocent lives are ruined for profit … and kidnap, rape and murder are all part of the deal.
400 pages, Paperback
First published June 14, 2012
31 people are currently reading
531 people want to read
About the author
Alex Barclay
30 books156 followersBarclay studied journalism at university and worked for a period in fashion and beauty journalism as a copywriter in the RTÉ Guide. In 2003, she left the fashion industry to write Darkhouse, the first of two novels featuring NYPD detective Joe Lucchesi. Her second novel, The Caller, was released in 2007, and Last Call in 2008. She won the Ireland AM Crime Fiction Award at the Irish Book Awards for her fourth novel, Blood Runs Cold.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 106 reviews
January 18, 2013
This was a gripping book. I thought I had sussed out what the outcome would be, but I didn't find out things till Alex wanted me to. I'll now be reading the books that were in the series before this book.
July 12, 2013
Not too impressed....the main thing was TOO MANY CHARACTERS. most were very unnecessary and introduced far too early, making it hard to keep track of who was who. Also the plot wasn't what I thought it was going to be and just seemed a little unfocused.
April 12, 2019
I'm not sure how I managed to stagger to the end of this book. "A Dead Loss" would be a more accurate title - the actual title has no relevance at all. The plot is somewhat drawn out, the kidnapping isn't a kidnapping and the whole thing is resolved really quickly. To be honest, it's rather dull - and it's not helped by the stunted type of dialogue, as every conversation is on the lines of .....said Matt.......said Ren.....said Matt etc. Even schoolkids learn how to vary things with "asked" "whispered " etc. Thankfully I got this from The Works, so it only cost £1.68 but I won't be reading Alex Barclay again.
May 4, 2019
I enjoyed the BPD representation (though I don't know enough about it to say if it's good representation or not), and found Ren an interesting character. It's interesting to see how she reacts to things throughout the book and tries to live her life unmedicated. The general story was pretty good and I enjoyed the pharma story line, however there were a lot of characters and I did find myself getting a little confused between the Colins and the Cliffs, and the Bryces and the Royces etc. on occasion. This book didn't blow me away but it was enjoyable enough.
September 24, 2017
Really enjoyed this book - just wish I had read the first two in the series first.
Had to read it over a series of nights but it still didn't take away the enjoyment of the plot, characters and overall "whodunnit" - or more of a "how and why dunnit".
Loved the main protagonist, Ren.
Will definitely to look to read others in the series.
Had to read it over a series of nights but it still didn't take away the enjoyment of the plot, characters and overall "whodunnit" - or more of a "how and why dunnit".
Loved the main protagonist, Ren.
Will definitely to look to read others in the series.
June 3, 2017
Ren Bryce is on the case of an 11 year old girl and her 16 year old babysitter going missing from a hotel room. There's also a rapist out there. Linking in with all of this is the greed of pharmaceutical companies. To reveal much more would be giving away too much! Although I only gave this 3 stars, it's worth a read, especially if you can get past the terrible dialogue and what a thoroughly unlikable bitch Ren Bryce is!
It's too slow to start off with, so the terrible dialogue - which the author seems to think is witty or something - just drove me absolutely nuts! I just wanted them all to shut up! However, once the plot kicks into gear, this is a pretty good detective thriller. It all falls together really well, with some plot turns that I did not see coming. Everything ties together, except for . So the last third was spent furiously turning the pages, which is always a good thing!
However, its biggest drawback was its main character! Ren has bi-polar disorder, which I'm guessing is supposed to give her character depth and tag her with some additional emotional impact to pad out the word count. It does the opposite. Following events through the filter of a manic, selfish, judgemental cow can be difficult reading. Especially because I got the distinct impression that Ren conveniently uses her bi-polar as an excuse to be a bitch, as opposed her behaviour being a by-product of her condition. Plus, I have never been impressed by people who refuse to take meds because they somehow think they know better than doctors or years of research. But, anyway, that's another story entirely! It's a good thriller with many plot twists, but it's dragged down by its initial slow pacing, excruciating dialogue exchanges between the detectives and a very unlikable main character. Best book in the series so far, so there's hope the next one could be even better!
It's too slow to start off with, so the terrible dialogue - which the author seems to think is witty or something - just drove me absolutely nuts! I just wanted them all to shut up! However, once the plot kicks into gear, this is a pretty good detective thriller. It all falls together really well, with some plot turns that I did not see coming. Everything ties together, except for . So the last third was spent furiously turning the pages, which is always a good thing!
However, its biggest drawback was its main character! Ren has bi-polar disorder, which I'm guessing is supposed to give her character depth and tag her with some additional emotional impact to pad out the word count. It does the opposite. Following events through the filter of a manic, selfish, judgemental cow can be difficult reading. Especially because I got the distinct impression that Ren conveniently uses her bi-polar as an excuse to be a bitch, as opposed her behaviour being a by-product of her condition. Plus, I have never been impressed by people who refuse to take meds because they somehow think they know better than doctors or years of research. But, anyway, that's another story entirely! It's a good thriller with many plot twists, but it's dragged down by its initial slow pacing, excruciating dialogue exchanges between the detectives and a very unlikable main character. Best book in the series so far, so there's hope the next one could be even better!
February 5, 2018
**SPOILERS!**
What can I say...?!
Well, I really did not enjoy this novel! I couldn't help but think 'Oh My Goodness, will you stop whinging?!'
The main character, Ren Bryce, is a Special Agent investigating the disappearance of two girls from a hotel room, whilst the parents eat dinner in the resaurant downstairs...
pretty straight forward you might think, well no it wasn't.
Ren suffers from Bipolar, has the attention span of a gnat and her inner monologue screams teenage drama queen! I don't have my copy of the book with me at the moment, but I'm pretty sure that on page 88 she literaly thinks to herself;
'Stop thinking about boys'
... -_-
I echo that sentiment! Also she wasn't, in all, that involved in the investigation regarding the girls, she picked up another case half way through and half heartedly stuck her nose in there.
The interaction between characters wasn't (in my humble opinion) all that believable... she not once mentioned her parents, or her age, and even though her texts were like a dyslexic twelve year old, you get the impression she's in her late twenties/early thirties.
The pièce de résistance, at the end of the book, after she had 'caught the baddie' (well, more like he caught her!), you find out that her now-not-so-secret boy toy, Ben Rader, is actualy eighteen. So there is about a 10 year age gap between them, if this was an older man/younger women relationship this would be quite heavily frowned upon! I personally didn't appreciate this, and the fact that she punched her colleague in the face for speaking the truth, then literaly one page later was dressed in P.J's cuddles up to her barely-legal-behind!
Urgh! I've already spent far longer than I expected writing this so I'm not going to rant anymore. But my parting words; this felt very choppy, there didn't seem to be a particular direction the story was going to go in and there was no strong lead character.
I am very sorry Alex Barclay, I'm sure there are some out there who will love this novel, I'm just not one of them! Toodles! :)
What can I say...?!
Well, I really did not enjoy this novel! I couldn't help but think 'Oh My Goodness, will you stop whinging?!'
The main character, Ren Bryce, is a Special Agent investigating the disappearance of two girls from a hotel room, whilst the parents eat dinner in the resaurant downstairs...
pretty straight forward you might think, well no it wasn't.
Ren suffers from Bipolar, has the attention span of a gnat and her inner monologue screams teenage drama queen! I don't have my copy of the book with me at the moment, but I'm pretty sure that on page 88 she literaly thinks to herself;
'Stop thinking about boys'
... -_-
I echo that sentiment! Also she wasn't, in all, that involved in the investigation regarding the girls, she picked up another case half way through and half heartedly stuck her nose in there.
The interaction between characters wasn't (in my humble opinion) all that believable... she not once mentioned her parents, or her age, and even though her texts were like a dyslexic twelve year old, you get the impression she's in her late twenties/early thirties.
The pièce de résistance, at the end of the book, after she had 'caught the baddie' (well, more like he caught her!), you find out that her now-not-so-secret boy toy, Ben Rader, is actualy eighteen. So there is about a 10 year age gap between them, if this was an older man/younger women relationship this would be quite heavily frowned upon! I personally didn't appreciate this, and the fact that she punched her colleague in the face for speaking the truth, then literaly one page later was dressed in P.J's cuddles up to her barely-legal-behind!
Urgh! I've already spent far longer than I expected writing this so I'm not going to rant anymore. But my parting words; this felt very choppy, there didn't seem to be a particular direction the story was going to go in and there was no strong lead character.
I am very sorry Alex Barclay, I'm sure there are some out there who will love this novel, I'm just not one of them! Toodles! :)
August 13, 2016
Great book - Gripping from start to finish.
Despite all the twists and turns of Ren's investigation, it was still easy to keep up. Nobody likes a book that confuses you, but you still need those twists to keep you interested. This had plenty!!!
Have never read anything by this author before, but I think I will definitely look out for their books again!
Despite all the twists and turns of Ren's investigation, it was still easy to keep up. Nobody likes a book that confuses you, but you still need those twists to keep you interested. This had plenty!!!
Have never read anything by this author before, but I think I will definitely look out for their books again!
January 5, 2018
read first few chapters and gave up. No depth to the story at all, characters very one dimensional.
July 25, 2018
This book was ok for a quick, light read.
I didn't care much for the characters in the book at all, and couldn't stand the main character's personality.
I didn't care much for the characters in the book at all, and couldn't stand the main character's personality.
December 10, 2018
the things you believe will cure you sometimes destroys you.
The story isn’t as thrilling as I believed the reviews outlaid. Not a bad story. No favourite characters.
Blood loss refers to lives lost in the plot, obviously.
I found the book average with no complaints whatsoever.
*there is no point in the book where you get bored.
The story isn’t as thrilling as I believed the reviews outlaid. Not a bad story. No favourite characters.
Blood loss refers to lives lost in the plot, obviously.
I found the book average with no complaints whatsoever.
*there is no point in the book where you get bored.
February 21, 2019
Good mystery with a great pace. The author made the characters likeable and the story makes sense. The ending was great in that it wasn’t predictable and it doesn’t leave you feeling like you had been robbed.
January 2, 2023
FBI agent Ren is pulled into an investigation centred around two young girls missing from a hotel. What she finds is there's more to the case than meets the eye. Wow, this was brilliant. A real fast paced and tense thriller as law enforcement attempts to get to the bottom of what really happened.
December 30, 2019
A good mystery novel to take up a day or too. A fast read with a good hearty story line. Has some spelling errors but overall flows nicely throughout the entire book. It’s written in a multistage setting and goes back and forth frequently. Would recommend by most like not reread.
August 16, 2022
wow maf boek!!!!!! zieke plot twist
August 10, 2020
Not his best. Too much detail on main character Ren Bryce. Had to finish the story as needed to see the ending. Not the usual page turner I like. Took me ages to read but its done now so a three star rating from me
August 18, 2023
Kind of undecided on this book…the eventual people/reasons behind the crimes is believable, however, the endless back and forth “love” interest aspects included seemed to draw away from the crimes committed and the path to resolution. I do understand that there is a need to build the main character story lines that will carry over into other novels in this series, but i just felt there was a bit too much of that and it seemed the crime aspect lost its continuity for a bit before picking up steam towards the end.
June 23, 2023
It is difficult to write a cohesive review of a book that was so thoroughly discombobulated. The more I read of this book, the more I disliked it. The third in a series starring FBI Special Agent Ren Bryce. Not that you’d know it is a series, unless you looked it up. It said absolutely nowhere on my book (in the notes, cover or excerpt that it was part of a series.)
*Spoilers – but not big ones*
My biggest issue with this book is the mess and muddle of storyline. It tries to include so much and run two parallel stories which intertwine in the end.
It dumps strands of story and plotlines that go this way, that way, then back again etc. Ultimately it leaves you distracted and unfocused. Adding to this is the excessive character gallery and teams involved in the case. Most of the characters are introduced around the same time, and most are non-descriptive men becoming virtually indistinguishable from one another. There is very little female representation in this story (on the side of the authorities) apart from our main character who doesn’t bother to describe to us any of these very few women – except one woman who is never actually physically a part of the story but our main character somehow still manages to despise.
My biggest issue with the plot(s) is that they seem to haphazardly be thatched together nearing the end by a few computer-searches in a mere matter of minutes. Magically, in some completely unlikely and far-out way, these search “links” slot everything together without further police work being needed.
The main character Ren is the biggest “pick-me” I’ve read in a while. She has an internal running commentary with rants I would expect only to find in a teenager’s diary – not a grown woman’s head. She seems hell-bent on doing the completely opposite of what is healthy and what other people ask her to. “Get some rest, eat some food, look after yourself, speak to this psychiatrist, don’t pursue this line of enquiry” etc. She is generally rude and horrible to pretty much anyone that cares for her including her brother whom she alleges to love endlessly, but does not speak one single word of kindness to the whole book. She dishes out banter and insults where she can, but can’t take it when people do it back.
We are told that Ren has bipolar disorder, but I do not see how that should make it so that she is just so unbelievably horrid.
One thing that really grated on me is the slut-shaming language used. Two underage girls are referred to as “a ho” and the other a “hooker-de Jour”. Ren constantly refers to herself as a “whore”. In this day and age, even in 2012 when this was published, there is no excuse to use this misogynistic language about women – especially underage girls and ESPECIALLY when coming from the mouths of law-enforcement officers.
The writing in general suffers in this book. Barclay runs a whole series where she writes “Ren said.. Ben said.. Ren said” dialogue. I particularly disliked the attempt at coining “BuBabe” as a slang (bureau babe) purely because Ren is a female FBI agent and presumably attractive looking. I Googled the word – there is no such term.
There are other smaller inconsistencies that just seem silly have been overlooked, for instance Ren gets bashed over the knee with a baseball bat, hit over the same knee immediately after and is somehow still able to stand up and run away. We are also asked to forgive or overlook obvious failings in police-work such as closing a case when they still do not know who abducted an 11-year old girl.
Last but not least my honourable mention of Ren’s two inappropriate relationships in this book. Estimating ages, one is with a man, not only 10 years (or so) her senior, but also married (though separated) AND being her former instructor at Quantico. The other, about 10 years younger than her and also a colleague, whom we are told over and over again is so “young” and “hot young”. Ick.
The only good parts I can point out are that the book easily readable, it flies by and actually did have an interesting plot line regarding Big Pharma and Whistleblowing. Unfortunately, this drowns in the mess of everything.
*Spoilers – but not big ones*
My biggest issue with this book is the mess and muddle of storyline. It tries to include so much and run two parallel stories which intertwine in the end.
It dumps strands of story and plotlines that go this way, that way, then back again etc. Ultimately it leaves you distracted and unfocused. Adding to this is the excessive character gallery and teams involved in the case. Most of the characters are introduced around the same time, and most are non-descriptive men becoming virtually indistinguishable from one another. There is very little female representation in this story (on the side of the authorities) apart from our main character who doesn’t bother to describe to us any of these very few women – except one woman who is never actually physically a part of the story but our main character somehow still manages to despise.
My biggest issue with the plot(s) is that they seem to haphazardly be thatched together nearing the end by a few computer-searches in a mere matter of minutes. Magically, in some completely unlikely and far-out way, these search “links” slot everything together without further police work being needed.
The main character Ren is the biggest “pick-me” I’ve read in a while. She has an internal running commentary with rants I would expect only to find in a teenager’s diary – not a grown woman’s head. She seems hell-bent on doing the completely opposite of what is healthy and what other people ask her to. “Get some rest, eat some food, look after yourself, speak to this psychiatrist, don’t pursue this line of enquiry” etc. She is generally rude and horrible to pretty much anyone that cares for her including her brother whom she alleges to love endlessly, but does not speak one single word of kindness to the whole book. She dishes out banter and insults where she can, but can’t take it when people do it back.
We are told that Ren has bipolar disorder, but I do not see how that should make it so that she is just so unbelievably horrid.
One thing that really grated on me is the slut-shaming language used. Two underage girls are referred to as “a ho” and the other a “hooker-de Jour”. Ren constantly refers to herself as a “whore”. In this day and age, even in 2012 when this was published, there is no excuse to use this misogynistic language about women – especially underage girls and ESPECIALLY when coming from the mouths of law-enforcement officers.
The writing in general suffers in this book. Barclay runs a whole series where she writes “Ren said.. Ben said.. Ren said” dialogue. I particularly disliked the attempt at coining “BuBabe” as a slang (bureau babe) purely because Ren is a female FBI agent and presumably attractive looking. I Googled the word – there is no such term.
There are other smaller inconsistencies that just seem silly have been overlooked, for instance Ren gets bashed over the knee with a baseball bat, hit over the same knee immediately after and is somehow still able to stand up and run away. We are also asked to forgive or overlook obvious failings in police-work such as closing a case when they still do not know who abducted an 11-year old girl.
Last but not least my honourable mention of Ren’s two inappropriate relationships in this book. Estimating ages, one is with a man, not only 10 years (or so) her senior, but also married (though separated) AND being her former instructor at Quantico. The other, about 10 years younger than her and also a colleague, whom we are told over and over again is so “young” and “hot young”. Ick.
The only good parts I can point out are that the book easily readable, it flies by and actually did have an interesting plot line regarding Big Pharma and Whistleblowing. Unfortunately, this drowns in the mess of everything.
December 13, 2017
Well, I got quite caught up in this but then it sort of fizzled out.
Ren is an agent with the FBI. They are called out to a hotel in Breckenbridge (or Breck) because an 11 year old girl has gone missing, along with her 16 year old babysitter.
The tag line was "Two missing girls and a father with something to hide" which was quite intriguing. However, the two things are completely unrelated. The father of the 11 year old, who has shared custody of his daughter over night for the first time ever, is actually a whistleblower for a large pharmaceutical company and he is trying to let the public know that they are approving drugs, some for children, that are actually dangerous and have caused hallucinations and other horrible side effects.
Basically, there are two stories. One is a rapist who is going around raping people, and the other is the messed families related to the pharmaceutical company. The FBI are trying to work out what links the two things, and it turns out that it's the drugs - the kid taking the drug is raping people because the drug gives him terrible rage. The man trying to blow the whistle, Mark Whaley, is the father of the girl that goes missing. The girl is taken by a close friend of the family, who isn't really a friend, he works for the company and is threatening Mark, who is later forced to kill himself... It all got a bit confusing to be honest. Basically: drugs are bad.
I got really into this at the beginning, but then it all got too complicated with details of the drugs and stuff, and the FBI agent's personal life etc. There was just a little bit too much going on.
3 stars.
Ren is an agent with the FBI. They are called out to a hotel in Breckenbridge (or Breck) because an 11 year old girl has gone missing, along with her 16 year old babysitter.
The tag line was "Two missing girls and a father with something to hide" which was quite intriguing. However, the two things are completely unrelated. The father of the 11 year old, who has shared custody of his daughter over night for the first time ever, is actually a whistleblower for a large pharmaceutical company and he is trying to let the public know that they are approving drugs, some for children, that are actually dangerous and have caused hallucinations and other horrible side effects.
Basically, there are two stories. One is a rapist who is going around raping people, and the other is the messed families related to the pharmaceutical company. The FBI are trying to work out what links the two things, and it turns out that it's the drugs - the kid taking the drug is raping people because the drug gives him terrible rage. The man trying to blow the whistle, Mark Whaley, is the father of the girl that goes missing. The girl is taken by a close friend of the family, who isn't really a friend, he works for the company and is threatening Mark, who is later forced to kill himself... It all got a bit confusing to be honest. Basically: drugs are bad.
I got really into this at the beginning, but then it all got too complicated with details of the drugs and stuff, and the FBI agent's personal life etc. There was just a little bit too much going on.
3 stars.
November 9, 2012
A good read. The comments on book cover are misleading. 'Two missing girls and a father who has something to hide'.I suppose that old chestnut attracts more buyers...and I suppose the implication keeps one guessing. The plot is actually about fraud and profit no matter tha consequence to the average man. The crimes perpetrated at the lower end of the pecking order are a result of crime at the very top. The ramifications of greed and irrisponsibility for personal gain are at the root of this mystery.
The FBI agent Ren, is quite an interesting character..tho' one does grow abit tired of these 'gorgeous' women who are irrisistable to all male colleagues even tho they don't sleep, bathe or eat ever. Nevermind, our heroine who has no bed, kitchen or bathroom is bi-polar....an interesting backdrop to the chaos which ensues when people commit crimes as a result of medication for her particular illness. Also slightly boring after a while is her and her colleagues endless witty banter. They never fail to deliver clever retorts to one another. Their repartee is quite difficult to follow at first but one soon cottons on .... No prosaic word passes our manic heroine's lips albeit she is unwashed, unfed and suffering from sleep deprivation !!!
The FBI agent Ren, is quite an interesting character..tho' one does grow abit tired of these 'gorgeous' women who are irrisistable to all male colleagues even tho they don't sleep, bathe or eat ever. Nevermind, our heroine who has no bed, kitchen or bathroom is bi-polar....an interesting backdrop to the chaos which ensues when people commit crimes as a result of medication for her particular illness. Also slightly boring after a while is her and her colleagues endless witty banter. They never fail to deliver clever retorts to one another. Their repartee is quite difficult to follow at first but one soon cottons on .... No prosaic word passes our manic heroine's lips albeit she is unwashed, unfed and suffering from sleep deprivation !!!
August 1, 2022
I absolutely hated this book! It deceived me.
I was intrigued by the tagline so I went and bought this book, idk I must've been possessed at that time coz I don't go book shopping at all! And the first time I did, I was met with utter disappointment! I seriously, seriously blame and call myself an idiot.
Plot was mehh, characters were ehh, and me blehh...!
I'm actually into adventure, fantasy genre but this was an exception ( which told me to go back to my favourite genre and stop looking for others)
I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone.
I was intrigued by the tagline so I went and bought this book, idk I must've been possessed at that time coz I don't go book shopping at all! And the first time I did, I was met with utter disappointment! I seriously, seriously blame and call myself an idiot.
Plot was mehh, characters were ehh, and me blehh...!
I'm actually into adventure, fantasy genre but this was an exception ( which told me to go back to my favourite genre and stop looking for others)
I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone.
August 23, 2018
I don’t understand how an ‘international bestseller’ can literally be written like this:
Said Ren.
Said Mike.
Said Bob.
Said Laurie.
How was there no editorial input?! This is so jarring, so difficult for the reader to engage with. Forget the story, I couldn’t even get past the speech tags, let alone get into the plot.
His exposition is incredible, his character building is not too bad. But the speech tags. For the love of god, this is not okay.
Said Ren.
Said Mike.
Said Bob.
Said Laurie.
How was there no editorial input?! This is so jarring, so difficult for the reader to engage with. Forget the story, I couldn’t even get past the speech tags, let alone get into the plot.
His exposition is incredible, his character building is not too bad. But the speech tags. For the love of god, this is not okay.
August 28, 2016
Ok, this was a big 5 star read. One of the best prologues I've read in crime fiction and it hooked me right through to the end. FBI agent Ren Bryce is still sassy and smart but now the reader is getting to know her even more. The plot is addictive and the pages practically turn themselves. Read in two sittings and have the sore neck to prove it. Highly recommended!
October 6, 2025
Agent Ren Bryce is in The Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force. Her boss, Gary Dettling, thinks she's a psycho, but that she has a talent for solving cases.
The current case came with rapes, murders, and a resigning congressman. Drugs on the market to help children with ADD/ADHD are causing lots of dangerous side effects.
Ren investigates the disappearance of an eleven-year-old girl and her sixteen-year-old babysitter. Mark Whaley and his wife are taking a weekend break with their daughter and her three-year-old brother. The guy at the desk is a creep who lies to them. The babysitter isn't from a registered agency. She's his friend.
When the babysitter is found with a gunshot to her body and Whaley is found not far away, the conclusion is that it's murder suicide because Whaley was having a fling with the sitter.
Ren thinks something stinks, and it's not just her being forced by her boss to see a shrink. She also finds herself drawn to two different colleagues, and she sleeps with both to discover who she likes best.
Things get even weirder when she follows a trail to a doctor's practice, where she meets the doctor's son, who is on a mix of drugs that makes him violent and psychotic. Ren becomes his target.
Ren Bryce is a vulnerable victim but a strong and determined detective. She doesn't pull any punches with her workmates, friends, or her love interests. This is part of a series, but I doubt I'll catch up with the rest of them. I have too many other books in my reading stack.
The current case came with rapes, murders, and a resigning congressman. Drugs on the market to help children with ADD/ADHD are causing lots of dangerous side effects.
Ren investigates the disappearance of an eleven-year-old girl and her sixteen-year-old babysitter. Mark Whaley and his wife are taking a weekend break with their daughter and her three-year-old brother. The guy at the desk is a creep who lies to them. The babysitter isn't from a registered agency. She's his friend.
When the babysitter is found with a gunshot to her body and Whaley is found not far away, the conclusion is that it's murder suicide because Whaley was having a fling with the sitter.
Ren thinks something stinks, and it's not just her being forced by her boss to see a shrink. She also finds herself drawn to two different colleagues, and she sleeps with both to discover who she likes best.
Things get even weirder when she follows a trail to a doctor's practice, where she meets the doctor's son, who is on a mix of drugs that makes him violent and psychotic. Ren becomes his target.
Ren Bryce is a vulnerable victim but a strong and determined detective. She doesn't pull any punches with her workmates, friends, or her love interests. This is part of a series, but I doubt I'll catch up with the rest of them. I have too many other books in my reading stack.
February 24, 2020
A rather basic detective thriller that is choked by a dull and uninteresting romance.
The main plot is pretty interesting however for me it fizzled out towards the end. There was no 'Rebecca' style twist so it felt like the story came to a boringly unsatisfying end. I can see that Barclay has tried to develop the character of Ren but I found her 'romantic' side stories incredibly boring and pointless. Long story short, she was sleeping with two people and was struggled to pick the one she really wanted... Yawn. It just felt like I was reading some internet fan fiction. And this brings me on to my biggest issue with this book. The writing style made it incredibly jarring to read.
Ren said.
Erica said.
Mark said.
This layout drove me crazy! And not to mention how character emotion had been delivered thought the whole novel.
Laurie was scared.
Ren was angry.
Ren laughed.
Has this author not heard 'show don't tell'!?
Overall the idea of the story was an interesting one however it fell flat due to it's poor writing.
The main plot is pretty interesting however for me it fizzled out towards the end. There was no 'Rebecca' style twist so it felt like the story came to a boringly unsatisfying end. I can see that Barclay has tried to develop the character of Ren but I found her 'romantic' side stories incredibly boring and pointless. Long story short, she was sleeping with two people and was struggled to pick the one she really wanted... Yawn. It just felt like I was reading some internet fan fiction. And this brings me on to my biggest issue with this book. The writing style made it incredibly jarring to read.
Ren said.
Erica said.
Mark said.
This layout drove me crazy! And not to mention how character emotion had been delivered thought the whole novel.
Laurie was scared.
Ren was angry.
Ren laughed.
Has this author not heard 'show don't tell'!?
Overall the idea of the story was an interesting one however it fell flat due to it's poor writing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 27, 2025
When a young child and her babysitter go missing from a hotel room room, FBI agent Ren Bryce is brought in to investigate. She soon finds herself unravelling dark family secrets and enters a world where innocent lives are ruined for profit.
Firstly, there were far too many characters in this story making it very difficult to keep track of who is who. It also made trying to unravel the mystery difficult as well. The main protagonist Ren Bryce is an awful character. Whilst the author was trying to portray her having bipolar, I think she missed the mark altogether. It was used more as an excuse for poor behaviour than an actual condition. Her love interest distracted from the actual storyline and at times I was wondering if I was reading some sort of YA romance.
The setting was good.
The plot was interesting. Just what do pharmaceutical companies do in order to get their goods passed and then used for treatment.
The writing style was terrible enough of he said, she said, said, said said said.
Having said that, I did actually enjoy the book
Firstly, there were far too many characters in this story making it very difficult to keep track of who is who. It also made trying to unravel the mystery difficult as well. The main protagonist Ren Bryce is an awful character. Whilst the author was trying to portray her having bipolar, I think she missed the mark altogether. It was used more as an excuse for poor behaviour than an actual condition. Her love interest distracted from the actual storyline and at times I was wondering if I was reading some sort of YA romance.
The setting was good.
The plot was interesting. Just what do pharmaceutical companies do in order to get their goods passed and then used for treatment.
The writing style was terrible enough of he said, she said, said, said said said.
Having said that, I did actually enjoy the book
May 28, 2019
The protagonist was unlikeable at times, using her exaggerated medical condition as an excuse for her volatility and confusing actions without really fleshing out that part of the storyline. Some connections between suspects and pieces of evidence were not clear, with details linking the two only being provided when the protagonist had a revelation and was in the process of accusing the person. This detracted from my enjoyment as I was not able to solve the crime due to the details provided to the protagonist but kept secret from me; this made the final revelation quite confusing and it seemed like the author was simply dumping all the information on me in a rush to conclude the story. That being said, I enjoyed the complexity of the case and the author's writing regarding the relationships between each of the characters.
April 30, 2023
Blood Loss was a book I enjoyed for the first two thirds. I think the structure and story line were nicely established. I was engaged and keen to see where things would finish up. Somewhere in the final third of the book however the author lost me. There was just too much going on and too many characters. By the end of the book I felt disappointed and that there were too many loose ends, things left unexplained. I have read too many books now where the big pharmaceutical companies are the bad guys and go to ridiculous and totally far fetched lengths in the name of profits. I would like to think that on the whole they have good people working for them and have good intentions. I am aware they make billions in profits but resorting to the murder of innocent people to achieve those profits just seems way over the top
December 13, 2018
My notebook says I read this. It sounds full on. Perhaps there was too much plot and it just slid away from me rather than make even the tiniest impression on my memory.
The plot description sounds like Barclay threw it all in the pot: rape, murder, missing people, increasingly reckless detectives, dark family secrets, more dark, blacker than a black hole then things are solved and everyone agrees you just never can tell about people. People, eh? Bloody people, peopling about with their twisted minds and dark secrets. People.
The plot description sounds like Barclay threw it all in the pot: rape, murder, missing people, increasingly reckless detectives, dark family secrets, more dark, blacker than a black hole then things are solved and everyone agrees you just never can tell about people. People, eh? Bloody people, peopling about with their twisted minds and dark secrets. People.
July 6, 2025
Each individual line was written well but every other sentence seemed to on a different part altogether, equally introduced many unnecessary characters at the start which lead me confused as to where they came in later on in the story which made the plot line even more difficult to understand, equally focused more on a different aspect than what i had anticipated by the blurb of the book, slightly throwing me off, with the ending coming in a bit too sudden with less anticipation and tension in the build up
Unfortunately wouldn’t read again
Unfortunately wouldn’t read again
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