The Lost Girls - Alexa Steele - 4 stars

I read this book for the Read Your E-Reader read-a-thon/challenge. This is the sequel to The Forgotten girls. I was really looking forward to reading this book and I must say I did enjoy this one more than the first.
Synopsis
The brutally beaten body of a young girl is discovered in a marsh in Jamesport, one of New York’s most elite suburbs. Police comb the area, while many speculate her murder might be connected to the abduction, six months earlier, of three girls from Jamesport. The FBI has evidence of an underage prostitution and trafficking ring which may be related.

At the request of the FBI, Billy Dee, captain of the Ninth Precinct in the Bronx, head of its Sex Crimes Unit, sends two of his most seasoned detectives to Jamesport to conduct their own investigation: Bella de Franco and Jimmy “Mack” Menendez. They are sent north, back into the land of the beautiful.

Between local politics, fractured families, a heroin epidemic and a dark secret that the wealthy town strives to keep hidden, the unspeakably dark and twisted reality lurking behind Jamesport life is uncovered. As they learn that everything is not what it seems in this wealthy suburb, Bella and Mack must race against the clock to save one last girl before she is sold across state lines, where she will vanish forever.

The plotline to this installment of the series was a little brutal and not for the faint of heart. It touches on a very sensitive subject matter involving children, so take that into account before deciding to read this book. I found this story both engaging and very well written and full of great imagery. It was realistic and believable and also very fast paced and I found that I had a very hard time putting the book down. The mystery in this story has a great build up with a lot of great unexpected twists and turns.

I have to say that I absolutely love Mack and Bella so much. I think they are perfectly paired up in this story. They definitely compliment each other very well. They are both flawed and well written. I think all of the characters are well developed and they just keep on getting better with each book. Again there are a lot of great characters to hate in this book as well. I think she introduced each new character into the story really well so that readers do not get overwhelmed.

I have to definitely recommend this book/series to anyone who appreciates mystery. I am very eager for the next book in the series to come out, it is due to be released very soon.