An excellent police procedural which immerses you into a chilling story, meet Without a Trace by Mari Hannah.

The plot:

A FATAL CRASH

A plane en route from London to New York City has disappeared out of the sky. This breaking news dominates every TV channel, every social media platform, and every waking hour of the Metropolitan Police and US Homeland Security.

A PRIVATE TRAGEDY

The love of DCI Kate Daniels’ life was on that aircraft, but she has no authority to investigate. This major disaster is outside of her jurisdiction and she’s ordered to walk away.

A SEARCH FOR THE TRUTH

But Kate can’t let it lie. She has to find out what happened to that plane – even if it means going off book. No one is safe.

And there are some very dangerous people watching her…

It felt like a rollercoaster ride which I just didn’t want to get off

This is the first book I’ve read by Hannah, and I can definitely see why she’s an award-winning author, and I’m beyond delighted that there’s so many other books which I can add to my list.

Without a Trace is the seventh book in the DCI Kate Daniels series, and I’m definitely going back to the beginning. This can be read as a stand-alone, but you have to understand that you’re quite deep into the characters at this point. Nonetheless, I found I got settled very quickly and loved how Kate was portrayed.

The plot contained a mix of solving the incident, but also had the personal element for Kate. Both aspects played out incredibly well and in an intelligent way. I felt like I was really a fly on the wall and there were moments I just couldn’t (and wouldn’t) put the book down.

It’s heavy on the police procedural but is marketed as a crime thriller – I personally enjoyed that it took this stance, and we got to see the real nitty gritty workings out, as well as other incredible characters. This did, on occasion, take the pace down a notch, but remained interesting.

Without a Trace felt like a rollercoaster ride which I just didn’t want to get off. It has quite a few emotional moments, as well as often being nail-bitingly intense. I just LOVED this reading experience.

A high 4-star crime thriller read which would also make a fantastic tv-series. Sign me for up for more books and I’m so excited to go back and read the rest.

Without a Trace, Mari Hannah, RRP £7.99 (paperback); Book Depository

Pages: 387

Publisher: Orion

Genre: Crime Thriller/ Police Procedural