Reviews

Little Ghosts by Gregg Dunnett

marcirenee1974's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

alilovesbooks4170's review

dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

4.0

smartin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

5.0

Trigger Warning
Kidnapped/SA'd/Murdered Child

I do enjoy a thriller but I think I need to stay away from the ones involving murdered and SA'd kids, especially when we get a POV of the killer. Is till finished the book in a day so I must have actually enjoyed it!

Beyond that this story was so well written! I guessed who the killer was but the clues were there so I don't feel super smart about it. Poor Layla. Poor Gale. 

Layla is lured away and murdered then two years later her ghost decides to show herself to her younger brother and help him find the killer. 

I highly recommend this if you enjoy a thriller mystery. 

jenn_magoo's review against another edition

dark emotional tense

4.0

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for my e-arc of Little Ghosts

I really enjoyed this psychological thriller, the characters draw you in in from the beginning. I liked the incorporation of the paranormal, which I thought to be well done. I read this is two sittings, a great page turner.  Be aware of trigger warnings, death of a child. 
4 star

bookanonjeff's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced

5.0

Chilling Thriller With A Unique Take On Ghosts. Straight up, know that this book is about a child murder - if you can't handle that, this isn't the book for you. For those of you still here, Dunnett does a solid job of showing the aftereffects of an unsolved child murder on the family the child leaves behind, before transitioning into a cat and mouse game to try to stop the killer before he strikes again. These elements of the story are well done, but have been done time and time and time again... and again and again and again. To the point that there is an entire genre of these types of tales, and this tale is on par with its genre mates - if you like the genre, you're probably going to like this one, and vice versa. 

What sets this book apart, really, is its take oh ghosts - how they present, what abilities they have, what they know, etc. And here, Dunnett really does a remarkable job of showing how his particular brand of ghosts could work within the overall story being told here. Overall a truly entertaining book with an intriguing take on ghosts. Very much recommended.

cassiecat's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

4.25

My first read of this author. 

Layla was brutally murdered.  Two years later there are no suspects, and her parents and younger brother Gale are struggling to deal with her tragic death.

DI Kieran Clarke wants to do a reconstruction to jog people’s memories. 

However her brother knows who killed Layla, because she told him. 

I have to say it was the supernatural element of the storyline that persuaded me to read it. 

We get Gale and Layla’s POV, the parents Rachel and Jon, and the police.  I enjoyed Gale and Layla’s  interaction, they are just ace. The uncomplicated writing style suits the young protagonists POV.

In the second half we get a different POV emphasis. 

It’s dark but in no way graphic. graphic. It’s different, and I loved that. I found the ending moving. 

There’s a scene I felt was over described and not relevant, where as a more crucial scene was underplayed and more hinted at than fully described. 

I loved the premise of the story, I had an arc, there are some editing issues which I hope will be resolved before publication.