The Girl in the River

Detective Ellie Reeves, Book 7

By: Rita Herron

Narrated by: Tanya Eby

The body lay in the river, arms outstretched. Long brown hair swirled in all directions, flowing with the current of the water. Her eyes were wide open in death, pale pink lips parted in a scream.

Detective Ellie Reeves should be enjoying the wedding of her dear friend Mia Norman. But instead of celebrating, she is frantically searching for the missing bride. Something is terribly wrong—just hours ago, Mia was blissfully happy. Why would she suddenly vanish?

Bursting through the dressing room, Ellie finds it in disarray—chairs overturned, a perfume bottle shattered. Hiding in the bathroom is Mia’s six-year-old daughter, Pixie, curled in a ball and sobbing her heart out. The little girl says she was locked inside when she heard a man’s voice and her mother crying. “I just want my mommy back,” she pleads. Ellie vows to make that happen.

Turning the venue upside down, Ellie’s blood turns to ice when she reaches the riverbank. Someone is dead in the rippling water, floating beside a white veil. Ellie holds her breath as she turns the body over. It belongs to Tori, Mia’s bridesmaid, a gunshot wound in her back. Near the murder scene, Ellie discovers a button from a man’s shirt and her friend’s engagement ring. The race is on to find Mia—before it’s too late.

When forensics come back, the investigation takes a dark turn. DNA proves that Mia was actually Jesse Habersham, a woman who went missing five years ago. Ellie is certain that Mia was running from someone. Did her past finally catch up with her?

Facing the most complex case of her career, Ellie is in a race against time. Can she uncover the truth before her friend is brutally killed? And when the murderer comes after innocent little Pixie, will Ellie save her from the clutches of death?

This pulse-pounding and utterly addictive crime thriller will have you staying up way past your bedtime and scared to turn the lights off! Perfect for fans of Melinda Leigh, Lisa Regan, and Kendra Elliot.

©2022 Rita Herron (P)2022 Bookouture, an imprint of Storyfire Ltd.

Kept me guessing

Spell binding excitement The suppence keeps me wanting to keep listening. Awesome book. Keep up the writing

Good story, poor narration

The narrator took away from this story. I wouldn’t listen to another of her books.

Hurry next book please

Love all your books. They are so fun and so twisting. Sooo good thank you

Excellent

Secrets, corruption and murder. This is a fast paced audio. The plot twists and the characters relate well. Rita Herron is one author that has become my go to for an enjoyable listen.

My favorite so far.

This series has been an amazing ride. I have loved it from the start, it continues to impress me with the twists and turns. Even if I can guess part of it, there’s always something new to discover. My favorite detective series out of the 20 or so I have read… I can’t wait for the next one!!!

A great book

Ellie and Cord are a no go I am a fan of Derrick no way Cord. if this relationship ship no more.of this series. Ellis fies not deserve the Cord demons No way. Will not follow the reat of the series if Frostt is not key. Cord us too messed up. So disappointed it where this might go.

The girl in the river

I’m not a fan of Ellie and cord. I love how the writer kept you in the edge with the story line and rescue of the characters. But I really don’t like the plot of Ellie and cord. I wished it would take a different direction

I want to love this series, but...

I keep listening to the books in this series because I like what the story COULD be, not what the story actually IS. This book, though, was the worst in the series. There was a huge plot hole (I'll add a spoiler alert at the end of this review) that I just can't get past and which completely ruined the book for me. Police procedure is so misunderstood by the author, and I really wish she would speak to REAL cops and get some insight on true police procedure and why things are done the way they are, not the way Ellie does them (ie: shooting someone in the leg is not something police are trained OR encouraged to do; answering your phone in the middle of a gun fight and then leaving until the next day is absolutely not what would happen; etc). The narration is so annoying: everything sounds so dramatic even when it's not. The only reason I listen is to find out who Ellie chooses in the end - Cord or Derek.

SPOILER ALERT: At one point in the story, the author describes Sheriff Kincaid shredding documents out of a file to destroy incriminating evidence "Cursing the day he got involved in all this, Kincaid gathered the papers that would expose the rotten lies and fed them into the shredder, watching the evidence spew out in mutilated pieces. Their secrets were safe. At least for now..." If he truly is working with the US Marshall Service under cover, he wouldn't be shredding evidence of his involvement. Additionally why on earth was he so horrible to Ellie? It's not like he had anything to gain by being difficult if he was actually a 'good guy' like the author is trying to lead us to believe at the end. Not buying it. I don't know if he'll be featured in the next book and some of this will be addressed and cleared up, but if that's the case, some sort of hint to that should have been included in this book to keep the reader from feeling cheated.

Entertaining

But it wasn’t suspenseful since I figured everything out by the middle of the book. Ellie is a good heroine, resourceful, brave and she always saves the day on her own.

Lots of action!

When Ellie’s friend is abducted from her own wedding, the race is on to find the single mom. Ellie, Derrick and Cord race around several towns along the AT and uncover a huge scheme! Lots of action as they discover that things aren’t as they seem.