A Map of the Dark by Karen Ellis

A girl, missing
A woman, searching
A killer, planning...

FBI Agent Elsa Myers finds missing people.
She knows how it feels to be lost...

Though her father lies dying in a hospital north of New York City, Elsa cannot refuse a call for help. A teenage girl has gone missing from Forest Hills, Queens, and during the critical first hours of the case, a series of false leads hides the fact that she did not go willingly.

With each passing hour, as the hunt for Ruby deepens into a search for a man who may have been killing for years, the case starts to get underneath Elsa's skin. Everything she has buried – her fraught relationship with her sister and niece, her self-destructive past, her mother's death – threatens to resurface, with devastating consequences.

In order to save the missing girl, she may have to lose herself... and return to the darkness she's been hiding from for years.

Book 1
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Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Avid Reader – ☆☆☆☆
M/F Thriller
Triggers: Click HERE to see Avid Reader’s review on Goodreads for trigger warnings.

This is my first book by Ellis and I thoroughly enjoyed it. From the very beginning, I was sucked right into the story. We are introduced to Elsa, a CARD (Child Abduction Rapid Deployment) agent who is asked to come in and work a missing teen case. While she is reluctant to accept the assignment for personal reasons, mainly, her father is dying of cancer. However, she can't help but accept the plight of her boss and she knows that she is good at her job, which means she might be able to help this teen, Ruby, who's gone missing.

We then are introduced to Lex. He is an NYPD detective who, despite being described as new, is anything but. He is thorough, comprehensive, and specifically asked for Elsa because of her reputation. Lex is a quiet secondary character. There isn't much to him in this story and I do wish that we got to see more of him in action. However, he is well developed and necessary for the backstory and for Elsa to feel comfortable with him. They share some similar history, in that their childhood experiences were somewhat parallel.

I think my main bone of contention was that there was really no discussion between Elsa and her sister, Tara, after the incident... I felt that it should have been addressed and not glossed over. However, maybe it will be addressed in the next book. I hope all of Elsa's family drama is addressed and not just left hanging in the balance. Also, Elsa's potential love interest is just kind of an afterthought. It happened and then nothing. I wanted more in their resolution too.

In this thriller, we're brought along with a killer who can't help but give into their urges, an FBI agent who is plagued by her past, and a mystery of why this particular killer does what he does. I really enjoyed it and despite knowing where Elsa's past lead and what the result was, I still really enjoyed the story. I can't wait to see what happens next and I hope that we get to see more of Elsa and Lex.

Karen Ellis is a pseudonym of longtime crime fiction author Katia Lief, who is a member of International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and the Authors Guild. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of A Map of the Dark (The Searchers #1) by Karen Ellis to read and review.