ARC Review: Lost Hours by Paige Shelton

Lost Hours
Author: Paige Shelton
Series: Alaska (Book 5)
Publication: Minotaur Books (December 5, 2023)

Description: Lost Hours is the fifth instalment in Paige Shelton's gripping, atmospheric Alaska Wild series.

A year after arriving in Benedict, Beth Rivers is feeling very at home in Alaska, even as outsiders are starting to return to enjoy the brief summer perfection. Beth feels like she’s finally let go of most of her demons. She’s even found her father, Eddy Rivers―or, rather, he found her―and she's trying to find the middle ground between anger and forgiveness.

One sunny July day, Beth boards a tourist ship to see the glaciers, the main reason visitors venture to the area, and something Beth hasn’t attempted until now. But when the captain has to navigate to an island, a bloodied woman is found standing on the shore, waving for help. When she’s brought aboard, she claims she was kidnapped from her home in Juneau three days earlier, and that a bear on the island killed her captor. She, however, is unharmed.

The woman, Sadie, finds a sympathetic ear in Beth. She tells her that she’s been in Juneau under witness protection, and that the Juneau police don’t like her. When another kidnapping occurs, Beth and police chief Gril can’t help but think the two cases are interwoven, though the clues to solving them will be harder to unravel.

My Thoughts: Thriller author Beth Rivers fled to Benedict, Alaska, after being kidnapped. She has made a new life for herself and finally feels confident enough to go on a tourist ship to see the glaciers. What she doesn't expect to see is a blood-covered woman calling for help from one of the remote islands as the ship passes it.

Sadie claims to have been kidnapped and escaped her kidnapper when he was killed by a bear. She is also quick to tell Beth that she is in the Witness Protection Program but doesn't tell her why. However, there is no evidence on the island to support her story. At least there isn't until Beth's boyfriend Tex discovers a body in one of the island's inlets. Sadie claims amnesia about the events of her kidnapping leaving Beth and her friends including Gril who is the sheriff to puzzle out what happens on that island.

Meanwhile, Beth's father Eddy invites her along with a family who hired him to go on a fishing trip. The teenage daughter claims to be a big fan of Beth's writing. Beth agrees as long as Eddy makes a stop at the island where Sadie was found. Beth wants to take a look herself. But when she and Eddy return from their hike, the young daughter is missing. A thorough search of the 5-sware-mile island doesn't uncover her leaving her parents and the residents of Benedict puzzled.

Beth begins to wonder if those two occurrences are connected and wonders if the prison break-out of a young man soon to be tried for murder also fits into the puzzle. Beth also has stressors in her personal life too. The man who kidnapped her has hired a high-powered lawyer to defend him and she's already got one piece of evidence thrown out. Beth worries that he'll get away with his crime. 

Beth and her friends in Benedict manage to untangle all the various pieces of the mysteries which are connected and Beth does finally get to see the glaciers. But a phone call from her police friend back home in Missouri leads to a cliffhanger ending to this story. 

Favorite Quote:

Something came to me. "Huh. Did you know that I read In Cold Blood when I was twelve? I just remembered that."

Orin laughed. "That could explain a lot about the subject matter you write about."

"It could. That's what I'm going to tell everyone who asks me where I get my ideas now: Truman Capote."

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.