Little Girl Gone

Little Girl Gone by Gerry Schmitt is An Afton Tangler Thriller novel (first book in series). Marjorie Sorenson has a table at the doll show at Skylark Shopping Mall. She is showing off her reborn dolls (which look just like real babies). Susan Darden is at the mall and admires Marjorie's creations. Marjorie admires the pictures of Susan's little girl, Elizabeth Ann who is three months old. That night Susan and her husband, Richard go out for the evening and leave Elizabeth Ann with a babysitter. Someone breaks in and takes the little girl (after attacking the babysitter). Afton Tangler is a community liaison officer for the Minneapolis Police Department. She is called in to handle the Darden's. Afton wishes to be a detective, but with her master's in social work made her perfect for the community liaison officer position (and she keeps hoping to get promoted when a spot opens up and she gets the experience needed for the position). When Afton ends up upsetting the Darden's, she works with Max on the case. Max Montgomery works with the Mutual Aid and Multi-Jurisdictional Squad (MAMJS). The two work the case to find little Elizabeth Ann and bring her back home. It is going to take a lot of hard work to find the little girl and her kidnappers but Afton and Max are more than capable of handling the task.

Little Girl Gone is a fast-paced suspense novel that is well-written. The reader is drawn into the story (a good thing) from the beginning. I liked the main character, Afton Tangler. She is a smart, hardworking, determined woman. Afton has an ex-husband and two kids (and now a new dog) and all the problems that go along with them. Max is a good counterpart for her in the book (40s, divorced twice, and two teenage boys). I enjoyed following Max and Afton as they worked to solve the case. I give Little Girl Gone 4.25 out of 5 stars. I would have enjoyed the story more if the culprit had not been revealed to us. Knowing the person responsible right from the beginning takes away some of the suspense or intrigue (that is the only thing that I did not like). I look forward to reading the next book in An Afton Tangler Thriller series.

I received a complimentary copy of Little Girl Gone from NetGalley in exchange for an honest evaluation of the novel. The comments and opinions expressed are strictly my own.