Her Lonely Soul by S.A. Dunphy - Book Review

Series: Detective Tessa Burns #3 (Standalone)

Publication Date: 19th August 2024 

Genre: Police Procedural 

3.5 Stars 

One Liner: Mixed feelings 

A twelve-year-old Ellie O’Farrell walks into the police station to report a crime that is yet to occur. The police don’t take it seriously until the murder happens, and suddenly Ellie has become a suspect along with her parents. 

Detective Tessa and her team are sent to Cork to take care of Ellie and solve the case but they face a block at every turn. Time is running out, and Ellie’s life is at risk. Even the team is at risk with someone from the past trying to hunt them down. 

What will happen? 

The story comes in the third-person POV of Tessa, Danny, Maggie, Ellie, and The Watcher. 

My Thoughts: 

I’ve wanted to try this series after a friend was impressed by the first book. I decided to grab book three since one and two were released together. This worked as a standalone though I’m not sure how much of character development I missed by not yet reading the previous books. 

The premise is intriguing, and the concept of Ellie’s abilities has been handled well. The trope used for the reveal is too common but that’s okay. 

Pavlov is a fab dog. Caring when necessary, alert at all times, and ferocious when he should be. Perfect! (I thought Pavlov was short for Pavlova at first)

The book starts slowly with different POVs but picks up pace after the first quarter. Then it goes steadily until the end. 

I like Danny and Maggie (yay for the rep) a lot more than Tessa. There lies my biggest issue. The MC is smart and capable but I cannot help but wonder about certain decisions. Also, given her background, I’m surprised she didn’t connect the dots or at least get suspicious about the tattoo. It should have made her act (which would have changed the plot, so maybe she needed to be a little messy for the book to follow its plotline).

As with most police procedurals we have corruption in the department but I am impressed by Commissioner Dawson. She is the kind of superior one could report to. 

There’s quite a bit of violence in this one. Not an issue as I can handle it. What surprised me was the misplaced sense of right and wrong in some decisions (Tessa again). Does she like to contradict herself? No idea! It will appeal to social media warriors of justice though! 

I’m not sure about the plot progress either. Some of it is a bit too convenient. Not really a fan of criminals sharing the details so easily. Makes one wonder how they even got to that position with such stupidity. Sigh! 

The author’s note is wonderful. I enjoyed it a lot more than some parts of the book. 

To summarize, Her Lonely Soul has good thrills and is decently paced. The reading experience will depend on how much you like the main character (Tessa). I wasn’t a fan, so the result was average.

Thank you, NetGalley and Bookouture, for the eARC. 

#NetGalley #HerLonelySoul