Photojournalist Siobhan Walsh has been searching for two sisters who disappeared two years ago in Mexico, so when she receives a call from a priest in Texas about an abandoned baby holding a locket with her name, she calls her friends in the FBI for help. The infant obviously belongs to one of the sisters, but how did she end up in Texas? And why did she abandon her newborn?
“can’t-put-it-down suspense.”—Fresh Fiction
Lucy Kincaid and her mentor, Supervisory Special Agent Noah Armstrong, track the missing girls and uncover a human-trafficking organization that leads to a seedy underworld in which nothing is as it seems. The bad guys seem to stay two steps ahead of them, leaving behind a trail of dead bodies and Lucy with more questions than answers.
“Fascinating…Buckle up and brace yourself.”—Sandra Brown
Meanwhile Lucy’s fiance Sean Rogan has a crisis of his own. An old girlfriend returns with shocking not only does Sean have a son, but Jesse and his step-father have disappeared. The last thing Sean wants to do is leave Lucy when she’s investigating a horrific case, but his son is in grave danger. Torn between an impossible choice, he makes a decision that has far-reaching consequences for Sean, Lucy, and everything they hold dear.
“COMPELLING AND COMPLEX …BRENNAN [IS] A MASTER.” —Associated Press
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Allison Brennan believes that life is too short to be bored, so she had five children and writes three books a year.
In 2019, Allison relocated from Northern California to Arizona with her family and assorted pets. She loves baseball, hiking, family game night, and (of course) reading.
RT Book Reviews called Allison “a master of suspense” and her books “haunting,” “mesmerizing,” “pulse-pounding” and “emotionally complex.” She's been nominated for many awards, and is a three time winner of the Reviewer's Choice award winner for RT Book Reviews as well as the Daphne du Maurier award. Most recently, she was nominated for Best Paperback Original by International Thriller Writers.
With over 45 books and dozens of short stories, Allison is writing multiple series and the occasional stand alone thriller. Her most recent book out now is THE MISSING WITNESS, part of the Quinn & Costa series. In June Allison is launching a new Phoenix-set series about a family of private investigators starting with YOU'LL NEVER FIND ME.
You can reach Allison through Goodreads or her website.
The Lost Girls by Allison Brennan is a 2016 St. Martin’s Press publication.
This eleventh installment in the Lucy Kincaid series is a tough, gut wrenching, and gripping crime novel.
When photojournalist, Siobhan Walsh thinks she may have gotten a lead on the two friends she’s been searching for the past two years, she calls in her FBI friend for help, introducing her to Lucy and her partner, Noah.
In the meantime, Sean gets a call from an old college flame desperately needing help locating her husband and son. Kane agrees to help Sean as they dive into the dangerous world of cartels and money laundering.
Although it seems unlikely in the beginning, Lucy and Sean’s cases merge with cataclysmic results, and had me on the edge of my seat.
This novel definitely has some dark moments while addressing sex trafficking and black market baby selling. Lucy deals with these sensitive subjects, but must manage to keep her emotions in check in the race against the clock to save the lives of Siobhan’s friends.
There are a few huge shockers in this installment and some tension between Lucy and Sean as they deal with the fallout of this emotionally draining case. I do advise reading this one carefully, as there is a lot going on and the two cases do alternate back and forth and you don’t want to miss out on any nuances or small clues or details.
This is a very well written novel, with plenty of heart wrenching situations, but also intrigue, danger and suspense. I was absorbed from the start, and the story held my attention all the way through to the climactic conclusion.
The next book promises to be just as exciting, so I'm planning to be the first in line to get a copy!
When a parish priest discovers a newborn left on the church steps, he also discovers a locket with photojournalist Siobhan Walsh’s phone number inside. She comes to Texas to investigate and, after running into some serious trouble with Texas local law enforcement, she reaches out to her friend inside the FBI for help. FBI agents Lucy Kincaid and Noah Armstrong are assigned to help and they soon discover that Siobhan has stumbled upon a potential human trafficking ring of a horrific nature. Meanwhile, an ex-girlfriend of Sean’s from his days at Stanford suddenly shows up for help finding her missing husband and son…who she reveals is his child.
After the events of the last story, Noah Armstrong was dispatched to help clean up and temporarily head the San Antonio office and assist the supporting agencies that were wrecked by corrupt agents. Moral is low and Lucy is coming to terms with the aftermath, her role in it and her path forward. The two cases were gnarly but I liked that these personal introspections were woven into the story’s fabric and impacted actions and decisions at every juncture. It’s a strong human element that was subtle but impactful. I was stunned by the introduction of Sean’s twelve-year old son, Jesse, and it adds another layer of issues for him and Lucy.
There’s a lot going on but it all comes together rather well. The pressure on Sean and Lucy’s relationship was heartbreaking on both sides and it was an unexpected opportunity to see him be so vulnerable. The realities of what happened at the San Antonio bureau office felt authentic and the human trafficking case was awful but realistic. I appreciate that the author didn’t pull punches and spare the dreadful details without being overly graphic. The narrator’s performance was wonderful, often nuanced to manage emotional passages for a number of characters, main and secondary. She was excellent. This is a complex story with many, many layers, one I very much enjoyed as it shifted the focus adeptly from the pain of the last few books.
Wow! This really was one of the best books in this series so far! I was reading it as my secondary book that I only read a few pages from each day, but I just couldn't take it anymore and had to sit and finish it to find out how everything turned out.
In this one Sean and Lucy are working on separate cases that take them to different destinations and this is one of the few books in which they aren't "there" for each other in all their usual ways. Lucy is working a gut-wrenching case involving the sale of babies and human trafficking and Sean is dealing with his own heartbreaking case trying to rescue the son he never knew he had (that's not a spoiler; it's in the book description) from a dangerous situation.
Both of these gripping storylines had me flipping the pages as fast as I could to find out how things would be resolved.
This really is one of my favorite series and I just love Lucy and Sean and what they are to each other.
Not at all what I suspected, especially in the way of a romance, because there wasn't any and, well, it's complicated. After almost dyeing I wanted Kane to finally acknowledge his feelings for Siobhan and for them to get together. He did, sort of, but his work for RCK comes first and the lone man fights alone and all that crap. Anyway, I was disappointed. Lucy and Sean have a major bump and Lucy blows it way out of proportion. Sean was stupid in not sharing his news about having a son with her right away, but I'm going to side with the poor guy who was blindsided with the news himself. But, the mystery/suspense was top notch and I've come to expect that from this series.
This was an incredible ride! I truly enjoyed reading THE LOST GIRLS by Allison Brennan and plan to read her new book MAKE THEM PAY when it comes out March 2017! Actually I want to read the whole series. This is #11 in the Lucy Kincaid Series. There is lots of action, corruption, secrets, mystery and suspense.
An elderly priest found day old Baby Elizabeth wrapped up with the message 'Trust No One' written in blood near a shrine to Saint Elizabeth. There was a locket with photos and a phone number. When he called the number, a woman photographer claimed to have been looking for the two girls in the photo for over two years (ever since they went missing).
Lucy and her work partner, Noah, are investigating a baby trafficking ring. I like Lucy; she's a strong, caring, dedicated worker and takes her job home with her. She and her fiancé, Kane, live together in a beautiful state of the art home.
I like many of the characters, the good guys, the Honeycutts, Kane and Jesse, but I do not like the cold hearted, vicious, tortuous, murderers and criminals.
Kane has to leave for Mexico on a private case and deliberately keeps Lucy in the dark about his reason for accepting this dangerous caper. Why didn't he share the importance of this case with his fiancé? What is he hiding?
Allison Brennan's descriptive writing drew me into this story alongside Lucy searching for Baby Elizabeth's mother and also with Kane in Mexico. The story has my pulse racing as my heart pounds and I catch my breath. I quickly turn the pages to find out what happens next, while at the same time am enjoying the story and hoping that it never ends.
I recommend THE LOST GIRLS to all who enjoy this genre. 5*
2020 audio review Narration good, below review still accurate. And, way too much story about characters NOT Sean or Lucy. This is Lucy's series, and I don't want to read about other characters finding love, or being shown the start to them finding love.
2017 ebook review Hmm, what to say, what to say. I like this series as a whole, however this installment wasn't my favorite. There was just so much going on and the fact that Sean and Lucy's cases overlapped, I hate when that happens!! It's like come on!!!! What are the freakin' chances of that really happening? Of all the bad guys in the world, Lucy's investigation into a black market baby ring just so happens to tie into Sean's life with his "just learned about son" and the boys stepfather doing shady business in Mexico.
These books should not be taken seriously as they are very overboard with the drama and James Bond antics. But I enjoy them. Not sure what that says about me, LOL. I liked revisiting with Sean and Lucy, and OMFG, they have so many people in their lives and so much shit in their history, it's amazing they are not all dead, in jail, or on the run. How can these families have suffered so much?
While Lucy is working a case involving missing girls who may have been sold into a human-trafficking organization Sean flies out to find his ex-girlfriend’s son and husband who have disappeared in Mexico.
This was a hard story to read. There is more than human-trafficking going on and the brutal means the bad guys take are truly evil and heinous. I always find it hard to process what some people will do to children. Siobhan Walsh is a main presence in this book and I really like her. She is obviously smitten with Kane and I would love to see that relationship work out. Siobhan is a true friend and a fierce woman who will stop at nothing to find her friends daughters. Sean finds out that he has a son in this book and I’ll admit I was as shocked as he was. He plays a dangerous game to save his son’s life and that just shows you what kind of dad he’s going to be if he is given the chance. Due to circumstances beyond his control he is able to tell Lucy about his son and when she finds out from his ex-girlfriend she starts questioning their relationship. I felt like Lucy went a little overboard here. She did not make me happy with her rash decisions made out of anger or immediate thoughts that Sean did not trust her. She really didn’t give him much credit in the situation. She did not once look back at the timing of the incident. Lucy also made me proud of her in this book, (so many mixed feelings. Anyway, she finally realizes that everyone is tiptoeing around her and always asking her if she is okay because they think that she is fragile. This realization makes Lucy finally stand up for herself. I just hope she is able to remember how strong she in future cases.
A newborn is abandoned at a church. A locket containing a picture of three women is inside her blankets. A phone number on the picture leads to Siobhan Walsh, a photojournalist who has been searching for Marisol and Ana de la Rosa for over two years. Believing that the women were kidnapped by sex traffickers, Siobhan contacts FBI Agent Lucy Kincaid for help. As Lucy and SSA Noah Armstrong track the missing girls, they find they may be part of a baby selling ring. Meanwhile, Lucy's fiancé Sean Rogan learns that he has a son he never knew about...a son who has disappeared in Mexico along with his stepfather. Sean contacts his brother Kane and asks for help rescuing his son.
The eleventh book in the Lucy Kincaid series started off a little slow for me. I don't know if it was the book or if it was my mood, but I had a hard time getting into the story. Lucy and Noah seem to be only hours behind the group of traffickers that Siobhan had alerted them to. Siobhan helps by coming up with important clues for the FBI to look into. I was afraid she was going to do something stupid while searching for the de la Rosa sisters, but thankfully she listened to the cops and stayed out of the fray.
Sean is told by his ex-girlfriend that her husband and son are missing in Mexico. She wants to hire Sean to find them and tells him that he is the boy's father to ensure he wouldn't turn down the job. Sean is very upset that he never knew about his son. Nothing is going to stop him from searching for Jesse. I liked this part of the story, but didn't like the fact that Sean did not tell Lucy about the boy. My rating: 4 Stars.
I was hugely disappointed in this 4*+ book. It was constant turmoil page after page. You needed a directory to keep track of the endless parade of characters. This is my first Lucy Kincaid book. In my opinion from reading just this book, Lucy does not have what it takes to work for the FBI. I thought she was a very poor agent, letting her emotions get in the way. Isn’t it miraculous the way she delivered a baby with an emergency C section? Now, let’s discuss her relationship with her fiancé, Sean. Everything is fine, until Sean is told that Jesse is his son, from a relationship with Madison when they were in college. He is leaving in a day for a very dangerous mission to rescue Jesse in Mexico. Lucy is in the middle of her own dangerous mission, trying to find the girls and end the illegal sale of babies through human trafficking. Sean knows that Lucy is very disturbed over this case and doesn’t want to tell her “on the fly” that Jesse is his son. I think he made the right decision. Then, while Sean was in Mexico, Madison comes to the house and assumes that Lucy knows, and she kind of lets the cat out of the bag. This disturbed Lucy greatly. It consumed her most of the time. (Hence my saying she doesn’t belong on the FBI because she can’t separate her personal life with her professional life.) And she holds this over his head when he returns. You’d think she’d be happy just to have him survive this dangerous mission, but no, she said she should have been told before he left. Sean thought he made the right decision to wait, but whiny, bitchy Lucy eventually convinced him that he was wrong. What a way to end a book. She, and the whole book, was a huge disappointment. Oh, and then Jesse and Madison have to go into the witness protection program so Sean will hardly ever see his new found son. How does that make you feel good? It doesn’t. Horrible ending.
1.5*
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Fail. Go to jail. Go directly to jail, do not pass go, and do not collect $200.
25% Law and Order SVU episode about human trafficking 25% Grey's Anatomy over the top drama 25% 24 drama and absurdly easy access to large sums of money and a neverending supply of vehicles 25% Hallmark Channel schmaltzy drama
The female characters were all too dumb to function yet somehow managed to keep jobs, some at the federal level. The male characters read like females with traumatic brain injuries and serious hormonal imbalances. Telenovela writers are like damn, tone the drama down, we don't even behave that extra. Maybe the earlier books in the series are better? It's hard to imagine a publisher allowing a series to go to 11 books with characters that are this terrible. The plot caused so many eyerolls that I was afraid of ending up in a different dimension. The odds of the two cases intersecting are virtually impossible. One would have better luck winning the lotto twice, getting struck by lightning, and teaching a dog how to speak Mandarin than cases like these crossing paths. Quite possibly the most over the top ridiculous part was the should have been fired in her first week FBI agent constantly on the verge of overdramatic sobbing breakdowns who somehow knew how to perform an emergency c-section. The library copy I checked out is beat up and either it's been read by many, or people kicked and threw the book in disgust.
3.5. Audiobook. I know if I was reading this series wouldn’t have finished it. Though it has been great to listen while busy doing other things. The thing is if I miss something I don’t have to go back and listen, because it will most likely be repeated. But on the other hand it is also what I hate about the series.
After reading the Predator Trilogy and the No Evil Trilogy years ago and liking them quite a lot, now I'm back to this author. I'm in a reading slump and hope, this will get me out of it!
Finished! Mixed bag - things I liked, things I didn't. This is the eleventh part of a series and there were several hints, names connecting this to previous books, but to be honest, with my memory I doubt I still had remembered them after several years. So, I read it as a stand-alone and it worked.
Nevertheless, the development of the storylines were not all to my liking. Too much going on, breaks to switch to another storyline when it got me out of my reading flow. Now idea why we got Marisol's POV, the whole stuff happening in Mexico was rather stupid. And when everything came together, of course our heroine managed to rescue the whole thing.
Then there was the final drama near the end to ensure the reader will buy the next book, something I really don't like. Especially as I already bought it when I was still totally into the story (about 30% or so).
Not sure whether I want to read it now or whether I need some time off.
An ex-girlfriend from Sean's college days throws his relationship with Lucy into troubled waters. Then Sean leaves for Mexico to rescue the ex-girlfriend's son and husband and Lucy is left to work another harrowing case with her temporary new boss Noah Armstrong, in which girls are imprisoned and used to breed babies for sale.
This book probably has the biggest test to Sean and Lucy's relationship and is the most emotive so far in the series. We also get to know some of Kane's long term frenemies in this one. And where Kane goes, lots of action follows.
Pre-Ordered (as is the next one in this excellent series) this as soon as it was possible. Another one in my favorite "Lucy Kincaid"-series by Allison Brennan. This might just work as a standalone, but I advice against it.
Excellent twists and turns, although one twist was obvious for me, I will not mention it, so as not to spoil it. Romance between Lucy/Sean takes a left turn, while in the beginning planning the marriage. Complicated, and with Lucy a bit over the top, both her inner turmoil and her actions. So what, it is very well written, as always and even with the distressing themes a real page-turner. Highly recommended, but it helps to have read some or all of the books in the Lucy Kincaid-series, or even some of the others in the Universe of Kincaid/Rogan.
Lots of emotion in this book, which involves 2 separate cases that are eventually linked. Lucy is chasing down a black market baby ring where the young women are kidnapped, then forced to have babies only to have them taken from them and sold. While Sean has learned that he has a son from his girlfriend in college. The girlfriend arrives on his door and tells him about the son then asks him to find him and bring him back, but later reneges on the request - too late as it turns out.
Lots of characters in this book, some familiar, some not. For those that like/love the Lucy Kincaid series, this is a sure bet.
I have really enjoyed the series I've been to this point. In this installment Lucy proves she should have immediately been fired when she became a cop. I don't understand why the author decided to make her weak and overly emotional. The fact that Lucy spends most of this book in full breakdown crisis says a lot about her character. I'm sorry in the real world cops did not cry at every call they get. I found it really offensive that her as a woman was played upon as being weak. No agency would keep a cop employed that became hysterical and could no longer function. I understood her being emotional over Sean's betrayal but not over the case she was working.
2.5. And that's me being generous. The mystery was solid. I was extremely uncomfortable during some parts, but that cannot make up for the flaws in the main characters. Sean and Lucy are textbook codependents. They're individually unhealthy and completely toxic together.
What started out as a cliché plot twist turned into a riveting and suspense-filled read. Lucy's boyfriend, Sean Rogan, is visited by an ex-girlfriend with a secret: she has a twelve-year-old son, and he's Sean's. Sean heads to Mexico to rescue the son he's never met, while pulling in his family – both blood and chosen – to help in the mission. At the same time, Lucy embarks on one of the hardest cases of her career. Numerous young women have been sighted and most of them pregnant. Questions about human trafficking, the sex trade, and the selling of babies on the black market arise once one of the girls escapes and leaves her newborn below a statue at the local church. Lucy, partnering with the man who originally trained her, Special Agent Noah Armstrong from D.C. who is temporarily the SSA in San Antonio, set off to discover the truth and to find the missing girls. What no one expects is for Lucy and Sean's cases to overlap – and it's not until the very end that the full truth comes out.
This is the first Lucy Kincaid/Sean Rogan book I've read the next is Make They Pay which I think continues the story started with The Lost Girls. Ms. Brennan builds the story well and the situation is very real and believable. *TRIGGER WARNING*The Lost Girls deals with Human Trafficking, Rape, Murder, and Illegal Baby Selling which is a horrific crime. The story unfolds as a photojournalist is looking for 2 young women taken from their home in Mexico. She gets a call from a Priest because a baby is found with a locket and a picture of the journalist and the 2 girls. She calls in the F.B.I. and the story goes from there. It took me so long to read because life got in the way not because it wasn't a good book.
Engaging but not great. I was also unaware that this was the ELEVENTH BOOK IN A SERIES?!? If I didn’t hear about the series until this book, was it really that good?
The Lost Girls is an emotional roller-coaster of a book. I winced, I laughed, I smiled and I cried my eyes out. The plot is suspenseful, scary, harrowing and exciting. Mostly though, it is smart. While I read it, I kept thinking, "My goodness, the research this author must do to make a story so smart, so complex, so accurate." The details are intricate; there is never "just a story."
Besides the very smart and well-written plot, there are the emotional scenes, the gripping and well-developed characters, and the usual ambiguous feelings of wanting to finish it but not wanting it to be over. I hope the Lucy/Sean books are never over because I love these characters and having read all the books since Lucy was introduced back before her series, I feel like I've watched her grow up. Sean is my favorite character but I do love all the supporting characters. How I would love to be a Rogen or Kincaid or both.
Time felt like it dragged until this latest book by Allison Brennan was released and now, I've already finished it and have to wait months for the next one. At this point, I don't expect to not love whatever Allison Brennan book I pick up but I am still always amazed at how she manages to make each book even better than the last.
Boy, this one...it was hard to stop reading, you so were hoping for some sort of HEA for the woman/girl that left the baby, but the more you read the more you weren't sure if that was going to happen. Then there was the shock that Sean got, one that you knew would rock him and Lucy.
I was happy that Lucy was able to solve her case, that she was able to help put a stop to evil. Sean was successful in his case too, but as much as he gained it seemed like he lost it in the end. I hated that by winning he lost a fragile new thing in his life.
I've read all of Allison Brennan's books, and for the most part, have loved them. I loved this one less than the others. It seemed to me that she was putting too much in one book -- that there were so many stories to get in that it was kind of disjointed. And it made Lucy seem kind of -- not exactly whiny, but not her usual self. I had forgotten just how MANY characters there are in her books -- SO many brothers, SO many colleagues. SO much to forget since the last book! Well, I kind of liked it, but was glad to get to the end. Is this the last Lucy/Sean book?