I guess I don’t know much about putting a young woman undercover to sleuth out what happened to three women. Not a fan of not giving Shea the profile of the suspect and endangering her life. ( )

Shea O’Connor is a young officer at the Buffalo Police Department who lives with her roommate Karen who is a trauma nurse at Erie County Medical Center. They met at the University of Buffalo. Although she’s 23 years old, Shea finds she is often not taken seriously as she appears much younger than her age. This actually worked to her advantage when she was asked to work undercover for Bill Walters in the FBI. She worked undercover to assist with the capture of a teacher Terry Roberts who was a serial killer.

Just as Shea is slowly recovering from the personal trauma of that undercover case where she almost died, she receives a phone call from Bill Walters. Because Shea feels under appreciated at the Buffalo Police Department, she accepts another secret undercover FBI assignment. Again, she need to pose as a freshman at Harris Community College in Kelly’s Falls, NY as 18 year old, Shea Anderson.
Bill Walters has a cover story arranged with the chief of police, Roy Bishop.

Shea transitions into Theresa Parker’s boarding house posing as the chief of police’s niece who parent recently died in a car crash. She begins to befriend the other borders at the house and settles into her school routine. Her assignment is to uncover the mystery surrounding three missing college students last seen at a party. Shea is eager to emerge herself into the school’s social scene to learn what happened the night the girls went missing.

While Shea is strategically meeting key friends she is introduced to further people who knew the missing girls. Shea isn’t prepared for these relationships to become close and intimate. She earns the trust of Kayla Johnson who is the cousin to Nick and Olivia Stansfield. Olivia is one of the missing girls whose brother Nick, a senior at RIT in Rochester will stop at nothing to find his sister.

Soon, Shea is engaged in typical college life which seems to annoy Chief Bishop who resents her involvement in this cold case. Over time Shea is hanging out at Freddie’s Pizza with Rob, Tyler, Maddie and Jenna and going to parties. Things become tense when Shea becomes involved with Nick Stansfield who starts to develop feelings for her. As much as Shea tries to maintain her professional ethics undercover she can’t help but acknowledge her own growing feelings towards Nick.

As much as she feels guilty, Shea continues a relationship with Nick to gain access to people who know more than they want to admit about the missing girls. Along the way she attracts unwanted attention from Joe Styles who is a local with a reputation for trouble and a girlfriend, Amber Wray who loves to fight.

Just as Shea becomes close to solving the cold case, things explode and she finds herself fearing for her life once again.
( )

Shea O’Connor is a young officer at the Buffalo Police Department who lives with her roommate Karen who is a trauma nurse at Erie County Medical Center. They met at the University of Buffalo. Although she’s 23 years old, Shea finds she is often not taken seriously as she appears much younger than her age. This actually worked to her advantage when she was asked to work undercover for Bill Walters in the FBI. She worked undercover to assist with the capture of a teacher Terry Roberts who was a serial killer.

Just as Shea is slowly recovering from the personal trauma of that undercover case where she almost died, she receives a phone call from Bill Walters. Because Shea feels under appreciated at the Buffalo Police Department, she accepts another secret undercover FBI assignment. Again, she need to pose as a freshman at Harris Community College in Kelly’s Falls, NY as 18 year old, Shea Anderson.
Bill Walters has a cover story arranged with the chief of police, Roy Bishop.

Shea transitions into Theresa Parker’s boarding house posing as the chief of police’s niece who parent recently died in a car crash. She begins to befriend the other borders at the house and settles into her school routine. Her assignment is to uncover the mystery surrounding three missing college students last seen at a party. Shea is eager to emerge herself into the school’s social scene to learn what happened the night the girls went missing.

While Shea is strategically meeting key friends she is introduced to further people who knew the missing girls. Shea isn’t prepared for these relationships to become close and intimate. She earns the trust of Kayla Johnson who is the cousin to Nick and Olivia Stansfield. Olivia is one of the missing girls whose brother Nick, a senior at RIT in Rochester will stop at nothing to find his sister.

Soon, Shea is engaged in typical college life which seems to annoy Chief Bishop who resents her involvement in this cold case. Over time Shea is hanging out at Freddie’s Pizza with Rob, Tyler, Maddie and Jenna and going to parties. Things become tense when Shea becomes involved with Nick Stansfield who starts to develop feelings for her. As much as Shea tries to maintain her professional ethics undercover she can’t help but acknowledge her own growing feelings towards Nick.

As much as she feels guilty, Shea continues a relationship with Nick to gain access to people who know more than they want to admit about the missing girls. Along the way she attracts unwanted attention from Joe Styles who is a local with a reputation for trouble and a girlfriend, Amber Wray who loves to fight.

Just as Shea becomes close to solving the cold case, things explode and she finds herself fearing for her life once again.
( )

The disappearance of three girls.

No clues.

Time is ticking.

The Secrets They Left Behind by Lissa Marie Redmond introduces us to Shea O’Connor, a Buffalo police officer who has nothing to lose and all to gain by solving this murder mystery.

Sought out by the FBI due to her youthful appearance, Shea is asked to infiltrate the town of the missing threesome and befriend (or not) those closest to them.

With all players on the board and every move significant, it is up to Shea to find out who is hiding secrets...and why?

To say I loved this book is quite the understatement. ❤️

Mark your calendars: Release Date: April 7, 2020 ( )

I'm pretty much always game for a mystery and I thought this one had an intriguing premise. This wasn't just an ordinary missing person case instead it involved three college age females. They are friends with each other and all 3 vanish without a trace on the same day. What's going on? So right away I was interested in finding out what happened and while I wouldn't say this ranks among my favorite mysteries, it still is a fairly decent one in the genre.

Twenty-three year old Buffalo police officer Shea O'Connor has worked with the FBI before in helping solve a high profile case. Given she can pass for an 18 year old, the FBI wants her to go undercover and pose as a college student in the town where the three women went missing. By infiltrating herself among the women's family and friends, Shea might be able to help crack the case. The pressure is on to find the truth.

Shea was an interesting character but at times I thought she lacked a bit of maturity and was naive. However, I have now come around on my opinion of her and can appreciate she isn't a police officer that is wise beyond her years and can handle every situation perfectly. The author gave her a meaty backstory which you gradually learn about throughout the book. A few times I actually questioned if this was a second book in a series instead of a standalone novel. Definitely not unusual to throw in some character history into the present story, but there was just something about how it was inserted into this book that made me wonder if this was more of a recap and the previous FBI case was featured in an earlier book. I checked and this book doesn't appear to be a part of a series.

In terms of the mystery for this book, I thought it was above average but didn't hit spectacular level. In my opinion the author didn't make it super obvious what had happened until the big reveal although maybe other readers will disagree. I'll admit I had a smirk on my face when my theory started to finally play out but it was quickly erased when I was proven wrong. The writing at the end is probably the weakest of the book and there is a scene that ventures into bad soap opera territory. But overall I did enjoy this book even though it wasn't perfect. If you are in the mood for a mindless but fairly entertaining read, consider checking this one out.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advance digital copy in exchange for an honest review! ( )