Review by yvo_about_books - Little Children

yvo_about_books 's review for:

Little Children by Angela Marsons

4.5

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Finished reading: July 21st 2025

"Kim was growing uncomfortable with the number of coincidences that had come together to produce one huge shitshow and a boy that no one saw disappear."

*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and Bookouture in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***

This is hands down one of my favorite detective thriller series, and I know I can count on the DI Kim Stone books to consistently deliver an engaging and suspenseful ride. I always do a little happy dance whenever a new sequel appears on my kindle, and I couldn't resist picking it up almost straight away. I can’t believe that Little Children is already book number 22 of a series that truly shows no signs of slowing down, and it is without doubt another brilliant sequel.

Before I continue, I have to repeat myself and insist that this is a series to read in order. You will find major spoilers for past events otherwise, and you won’t be able to fully understand and appreciate the dynamics between the main characters either. That said, the case investigated in Little Children does stand on its own and in theory it can be followed without reading the other books first. But why would you, with the whole series being well worth your time catching up with? Trust me, I had to do so myself in 2021 and I had a blast.

I think that part of the reason that this series is working so well has a lot to do with its cast of characters. I always have such a great time catching up with Kim and the rest of the team, and the banter is absolutely brilliant. I love how the humor balances out the more serious content, and it helps break up the tension in a natural way. The characters feel like old friends by now, and they complement each other perfectly. In this particular sequel we also have a completely new team in the picture, although the main focus is on our group of known characters.

Little Children is a little different than usual as the whole team travels to Blackpool both to help investigate a missing children case and to investigate corruption allegations among the Blackpool detective team. This double task and the fact that Kim Stone isn't exactly known for her ability to play well with others definitely livens up the plot, and the fact that you don't know who you can trust of the Blackpool team only adds more tension. There are quite a few twists and turns along the way, and I never did guess the full truth about it all.

It comes as no surprise that Little Children turned out to be another very satisfying detective thriller sequel, and I literally couldn't stop reading despite the reading slump. If you like your detective thrillers to be fast, engaging, suspenseful and with a healthy dose of banter, I cannot recommend this series enough. Like I said before, it is without a doubt one of my absolute favorite detective series out there!

Content Warnings