Husband Missing

I’m a fan of the entire Josie Quinn series by Lisa Regan. Sadly, “Husband Missing” left me disappointed on several levels.

It started out well: Josie is summoned to the crime scene of a mysterious murder. On her return home, she finds everything in disarray and, worst of all, her husband, Noah, is missing and there’s blood…

Of course, Josie wants to investigate, but is quickly sidelined because both cases seem to be linked. Josie, hardly able to keep a coherent thought, goes on a wild goose chase that leads her to her own past — including the late Lila Jensen.

We get lots of “big emotions” from Josie, but not much of the police procedural that I expected. Turner and Gretchen from her team make some appearances, but for most of the novel, we’re solely following Josie and her stumbling attempts to make sense of the whole convoluted drama that ensues. And, honestly, much of it doesn’t make much sense. Least of all does the all-too-convenient “deus ex machina” moment at the very end.

The rest of Josie’s team is also completely absent (apart from a collective cameo at a celebration at the very end). As a result, the usual dynamics are completely missing. The sole focus is on Josie and her frantic search for Noah.

As always, the writing itself is fine, but for some inexplicable reason, Regan chose to mostly stick to very short chapters – including introducing abrupt, nonsensical chapter breaks. Sometimes even in the midst of conversations that just immediately resume in the next chapter. This causes annoying, completely useless, and meritless interruptions while reading.

For fans and completionists like me, “Husband Missing” is a must-read. Everyone else should probably steer clear of this instalment. It also doesn’t lend itself as an introduction to this series because much of it simply won’t make much sense without knowing how Josie grew up…

Three stars out of five.

Ceterum censeo Putin esse delendam