As an affiliate at retail sites, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. See my disclosure for more details.
Three Reasons You Should Read This Police Procedural:
- Her Ocean Grave by Dana Perry was an exciting police procedural thriller/mystery with lots of surprises.
- Detective Abby Pearce feels like a real person, struggling with drinking, past relationships, and potential new ones; many people will be able to relate to her.
- People are not always who you think they are, and side characters will keep you guessing on your toes.
About Her Ocean Grave by Dana Perry
Title: Her Ocean Grave
Author: Dana Perry
Series: Detective Abby Pearce #1
Genre: Police Procedural
The teenage girl in the picture has bright eyes and a smudge of chocolate on her chin. It’s her birthday and she looks self-consciously beautiful in her floral party dress. But nobody has seen this girl’s sweet smile for days. She has vanished without a trace.
Enclosed by endless beaches and crashing waves, the sleepy little island of Martha’s Vineyard is a place where everyone knows each other’s name and locals can leave their front doors unlocked at night without worry. But everything changes the day that Samantha Clayton leaves for an afternoon bike ride along the cliff tops, and never comes home.
Detective Abby Pearce has the difficult job of interviewing the girl’s grieving mother and silent stepfather. But why can’t they answer simple questions about what Samantha was wearing the day she went missing, or who her friends were? Did her family know her at all?
Then a girl’s bright pink shoe is discovered buried on a local beach. What if Samantha is not the first innocent teenager to be taken, but the latest? Another victim is found dead days later, and the terrified residents demand to know what’s happening to their children. But the killer is already planning his next move and more young lives will be taken if Abby doesn’t figure out what secrets this small town is hiding…
My review of Her Ocean Grave:
Detective Abby Pearce is a fascinating character. Dana Perry does an excellent job introducing us to her and then revealing more and more intriguing pieces of information about her past as the story continues. But Detective Pearce is intelligent, dedicated, and struggling with some personal demons – namely alcoholism. I really liked Detective Pearce, and I thought she made an excellent detective.
Everyone is a little shocked when their little corner of Martha’s Vineyard becomes ground zero for a high-profile kidnapping case. (Things like that just don’t happen there.) But as Detective Pearce starts digging into the case, things just aren’t adding up. The missing girl’s mom might be hiding something, and there are crazy ties to previous deaths that were signed off as natural causes. None of it is making a whole lot of sense, which was wonderful.
The detective work was terrific. And there are some really great friends/rivals on the force for Abby to interact with, and I hope we see them again. The bad guys are positively evil, and you can’t help but desperately hope for Abby and her team to track them down. This was an amazing story.
**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**
