Book Review - Little Children by Angela Marsons - #BlogTour

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Title: Little Children

Author: Angela Marsons

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Bookouture

Publication Date: 12th August 2025

Rating: 5 Stars

The boy keeps walking, his curl-covered head down and his arms folded protectively across his body. The arcade is full of happy families but he is all alone. It’s the last time he is ever seen… Can Kim bring him home again?

Twelve-year-old Lewis Stevens disappeared from a seafront arcade. Eleven-year-old Noah Reid vanished from the pier stretching out over the beach.

Detective Kim Stone doesn’t play well with others… but as the investigation into the missing children stalls, she is sent halfway across the country to join the hunt. When she knocks on the door of Lewis’s house, she’s expecting to meet a desperate, hopeful mother, and to promise she’ll do everything in her power to bring Lewis home.

Instead she finds a woman who won’t meet her eyes, who insists her son ran away. What is she hiding, and why is she so frightened? Faced with a hostile local team, few clues, and a refusal to believe the kidnappings are linked, Kim must draw on all her determination and skill to solve the case.

And when another boy turns up dead back home, his body bruised and broken, Kim learns that the killers she’s hunting are worse than she could have ever imagined. She and the team must track them down before more children are taken. But the closer they get, the greater the danger – and they cannot trust a single soul…

A completely gripping page-turning crime thriller from no.1 multi-million-copy bestseller Angela Marsons. Perfect for fans of Val McDermid, Karin Slaughter and Robert Dugoni.

Wow! What on earth did I just read?

Or should I say devour?

As that was totally and utterly unputdownable. 

100% Angela Marsons is at the top of her game, and I think has come up with one of her most sickening stories. 

And it amazes me how 22 books into a series, how it keeps feeling fresh. 

In this instance Kim Stone and her team are asked to help out with an investigation in Blackpool in the disappearance of two children. And they have a side mission too which was eye opening and rather disturbing. 

Actually all the crimes in this are very disturbing and I dread to think how I'll sleep tonight having read this. It was very interesting seeing Kim's team in an unfamiliar location, and seeing how some of the dynamics play out, especially with her dealing with another team. 

From the moment I started this book with its rather intriguing prologue, I had a feeling this was something I would need to read in one sitting, and thankfully it was too hot to work so took it into the garden and indulged for the afternoon.  And what an afternoon it was and a what a book it is! 

And there are some real gasp out lout moments, I certainly didn't expect some of the final revelations, and the depths of the crime and injustice in this book are not to be underestimated. 

This is dark, gritty, but texts from a certain reporter do add some light relief! It's always a thrill to be back in Kim Stone's world, and this was no exception. 

An utterly addictive and totally amazing book, I'm just gutted that I read it so quickly as I know it means that I will have an even longer wait for the next one.  So once again I'm begging Angela Marsons to please write faster, as we need more of this excellence in the world! 

Easily one of the best and most addictive books of this always amazing series. 

Thank you to Bookouture and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.