Review: The Lost Ones by Sheena Kamal

Kerry Hammond is here to review the first novel in a new series by a new author.

Sheena Kamal is a crime and investigative journalism researcher turned author. The Lost Ones is her first novel and it features PI-in-training, Nora Watts. It released July 25 from William Morrow. I love to read books by debut authors; it’s a great way to get a feel for a new voice and fresh characters. This book sucked me in from page one.

In The Lost Ones, we meet Nora. She’s working as a researcher for a private investigator and it’s clear from the beginning that she has a troubled past. She is contacted by a couple to find their lost daughter, Bonnie, who also happens to be Nora’s daughter. Yes, early on we find out that Nora gave a daughter up for adoption. We also learn that the circumstances surrounding that pregnancy are anything but normal. The fact that she gave Bonnie up does not change the fact that she feels compelled to locate her. As she does so, the secrets she has kept threaten to come out, she finds out who she can trust, and she learns more about what happened to her all those years ago, when she really wasn’t meant to survive.

The storyline had me hooked and just when I thought I knew where it was going, it would take another turn. Kamal has a compelling voice and I took to Nora immediately. She is such a complex character and about as far from being cookie cutter as possible. I was fascinated by her strength, resilience, and intelligence. She’s a fighter and if she’s going to be beat she’s going to go down fighting. I haven’t felt this drawn in by a character since Lisbeth Salander in Stieg Larsson’s The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I’m glad that I found this series, it will be one that I follow diligently.