Casey Duncan is a homicide detective with a secret: when she was in college, she killed a man. She was never caught, but he was the grandson of a mobster and she knows that someday this crime will catch up to her. Casey's best friend, Diana, is on the run from a violent, abusive ex-husband. When Diana's husband finds her, and Casey herself is attacked shortly after, Casey knows it's time for the two of them to disappear again.

Diana has heard of a town made for people like her, a town that takes in people on the run who want to shed their old lives. You must apply to live in Rockton and if you're accepted, it means walking away entirely from your old life, and living off the grid in the wilds of Canada: no cell phones, no Internet, no mail, no computers, very little electricity, and no way of getting in or out without the town council's approval. As a murderer, Casey isn't a good candidate, but she has something they want: She's a homicide detective, and Rockton has just had its first real murder. She and Diana are in. However, soon after arriving, Casey realizes that the identity of a murderer isn't the only secret Rockton is hiding-in fact, she starts to wonder if she and Diana might be in even more danger in Rockton than they were in their old lives.

An edgy, gripping crime novel from bestselling urban fantasy writer Kelley Armstrong, City of the Lost boldly announces a major new player in the crime fiction world.

Casey Duncan is a homicide detective with a dark secret, in college she killed a man and was never caught. She has one really close friend, Diana, who is escaping an abusive ex-husband. When mobsters from the past catch up with Casey and Diana’s ex-husband finds her yet again Diana tells Casey about a place she has heard of, a hidden town where people who need to hide are protected and beyond being found.  While Casey doesn’t really believe such a place exists she agrees to go with Diana and is completely surprised, and a bit suspicious, when not only does the place exist but the two of them are fast-tracked for acceptance.  There is something going on in town and the sheriff wants a detective to help figure it out. Casey is not sure to trust as the deaths pile up and it seems there are more secrets in Rockton than she bargained for.

I read Ms Armstrong’s Murder at Haven Rock last year which is a follow-up series to this one with many of the same characters. Being curious about their back stories I tracked down her Rockton series and I am glad I did.  It is tightly plotted and holds the reader’s interest - I read it in one day.  I look forward to reading the rest of this series as well as the next book in the follow-up series. Highly recommended. ~~ Stephanie L Bannon

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