Little Boy Lost is a good first book in what promises to be a great series. Another thing the book has going for it is a surprisingly deep supporting cast for the first book in what is probably going to be a series: Schmitty the cop, Emma, Justin's way too capable paralegal, and the Bosnians working a the coffee shop up the road, Hermes and Nikolai. Justin's relatives keep wanting to drag him into politics, his daughter is being bullied at school, and there are a few other things going on. The side plots keep the book from becoming a formulaic thriller. Just who the hell is killing gang members anyway? I figured it out just a page or two before Justin did, almost when it was too late. Even though I knew the main suspect was a red herring, Trafford kept making me think he did it.

Justin is a likeable but damaged lead, haunted by memories of his dead wife, caught in his father's and brother's political machinations. I loved that Justin won the Crown Candy Kitchen milkshake challenge in his youth. Louis and there are a lot of details that give it additional authenticity. Trafford does a great job capturing the feel of St. Little Boy Lost is a legal thriller set in my back yard, St. Unfortunately, the trail leads somewhere sinister. Louis lawyer Justin Glass's office with a jar full of change, he has no choice but to take her case: find her missing brother. When a little girl walks into down and out St. I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review!

And, I would very much like to read more about Justin Glass and his family. Now, the ending was not terribly surprising, but I liked it. That is one scene that is very disturbing because how many times haven't I read about a black man or a woman who is unarmed being killed in the US. And, as Justin notice, a black man reporting a crime is most likely going to be treated as a suspect and it's awful to read about how violent the police are towards an unarmed man. The book deals with a lot of issues that plague our time, from racism to bullying. This is the kind of book that is a true enjoyment from the beginning until the end, the case with the missing and then later found dead boy together with other dead boys are interesting, but I enjoyed as well everything that was going on around in Justin life, from his daughter getting bullied, to him getting a very assertive assistant that makes his working life much easier. Yeah, I know, I was sold right from the start. I mean it starts off with Justin being hired by a little girl to find her brother and she is paying him through money from a cuss jar. I instantly liked and later came to love Justin Glass, his daughter and the rest of his family, well perhaps not so much his brother Lincoln who is, to be honest, a bit of a jerk now and then. Little Boy Lost is one of those books that right from the start felt right.

Little Boy Lost by J.D. Trafford