The Runaway by Hollie Overton

☆☆☆
ebook, 448 pages
Published August 6th 2019 by Redhook Books
About the Book:
The search for a teenage runaway sends her foster mother, a psychologist working for the LAPD, on a dangerous journey through Los Angeles' criminal underworld. You'll do anything to protect her. But you'll have to find her first. When LAPD forensic psychologist Becca Ortiz agrees to foster teenage runaway Ash, she knows she will love and protect her as her own daughter. Ash may have turned her back on her old life on the streets, but there is still one person who she can't bear to lose. Now he is about to drag her back into a dark world where nothing and no one is safe.

I really enjoyed the first two thirds of this book. The problem was the last third bordered on ridiculous and you REALLY have to suspend the believably factor. The first part was definitely a four star book for me but the last part was a two star so I believe a three star rating is more than fair.

I didn't really connect with any of the characters and I had a hard time with Mo and her grooming sessions. Great idea and the first part of the novel moves along at addictive speed. But the denouement is rushed and almost tagged on at the end. This fact, coupled with some inane and meaningless inner monologue detracts from the quality of what could have been an excellent novel.

Thank you NetGalley, Hollie Overton and Redhook Books for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an impartial review; all opinions are my own.

#NetGalley