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City of the Lost: A Rockton Novel (Casey Duncan Novels Book 1) by [Kelley Armstrong]

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Kelley Armstrong

City of the Lost: A Rockton Novel (Casey Duncan Novels Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Kelley Armstrong (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

953 ratings

Book 1 of 7: Casey Duncan Novels

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Casey Duncan is a homicide detective with a secret: when she was in college, she killed a man. She was never caught, but he was the grandson of a mobster and she knows that someday this crime will catch up to her. Casey's best friend, Diana, is on the run from a violent, abusive ex-husband. When Diana's husband finds her, and Casey herself is attacked shortly after, Casey knows it's time for the two of them to disappear again.

Diana has heard of a town made for people like her, a town that takes in people on the run who want to shed their old lives. You must apply to live in Rockton and if you're accepted, it means walking away entirely from your old life, and living off the grid in the wilds of Canada: no cell phones, no Internet, no mail, no computers, very little electricity, and no way of getting in or out without the town council's approval. As a murderer, Casey isn't a good candidate, but she has something they want: She's a homicide detective, and Rockton has just had its first real murder. She and Diana are in. However, soon after arriving, Casey realizes that the identity of a murderer isn't the only secret Rockton is hiding—in fact, she starts to wonder if she and Diana might be in even more danger in Rockton than they were in their old lives.

An edgy, gripping crime novel from bestselling urban fantasy writer Kelley Armstrong, City of the Lost boldly announces a major new player in the crime fiction world.

Print length

412 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Minotaur Books
Publication date

May 3, 2016
File size

5698 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"...this was such a phenomenal listen. I also don't doubt that a huge part of my love of this book was due to the format and the incredible performance by the narrator Therese Plummer. This is the first audiobook I've ever listened to her read, and I am beyond impressed with her voice acting. She reads beautifully, pulling me into the story so that I hung on to her every word. Her timing, accents, and inflections were all perfect, and the way she dramatized the suspenseful scenes had a way of making [me] feel like I was right in the story, or sitting around a campfire listening to a tale told by an extremely talented storyteller." -BiblioSanctum.com --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

About the Author

KELLEY ARMSTRONG graduated with a degree in psychology and then studied computer programming. Now, she is a full-time writer and parent, and she lives with her husband and three children in rural Ontario, Canada. She is the author of City of the Lost, the first book in the Casey Duncan mystery series. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0166QEK7U
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Minotaur Books (May 3, 2016)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 3, 2016
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 5698 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 412 pages
Lending ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #35,153 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #534 in Small Town & Rural Fiction (Books)
- #605 in Small Town & Rural Fiction (Kindle Store)
- #1,421 in Police Procedurals (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
953 ratings

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Kelley Armstrong

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Kelley Armstrong believes experience is the best teacher, though she’s been told this shouldn’t apply to writing her murder scenes. To craft her books, she has studied aikido, archery and fencing. She sucks at all of them. She has also crawled through very shallow cave systems and climbed half a mountain before chickening out. She is however an expert coffee drinker and a true connoisseur of chocolate-chip cookies.

Customer reviews

5 star		67%
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3 star		7%
2 star		2%
1 star		1%

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Waterside Lucy

I really wanted to like this book more

Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2019

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I really liked the premise. But something just wasn’t right about the writing. I found myself re-reading paragraphs at a time because the writing was so choppy and difficult to follow at times. Two or three characters would be talking about people not present and referred to him or her, using those pronouns, without explanation and I wondered who they were talking about. The various people living in the forest were too numerous to keep track of. And this place is in the middle of nowhere but these “groups” of hostiles/cave dwellers/walk-always/forest creatures always seemed to be looming nearby. And, ok, there were murders, (of course) but why all the dismemberment. That was just weird and unnecessary. And the Diana character was so annoying. I’m not sure I like any of these people to Keep reading the series. I really wanted to like this book.

15 people found this helpful

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Kelley Does Thrillers like She Does Paranormals...GREAT!!

Reviewed in the United States on November 10, 2016

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Kelley Armstrong is an author who continues to amaze me! She has such a widespread of reads from paranormals to thrillers to spy and espionage…she’s just freaking awesome! City of the Lost is the first in her new mystery series starring Casey Duncan. Casey has a dark past, one she’s tried to put behind her and has done remarkably well at. But when her best friend’s life is in danger, and an opportunity comes along to hide and start over, she takes it, at her friend’s behest.

When Casey was eighteen, she killed her boyfriend, it was totally warranted once you get that backstory. And the action has always kind of haunted her. She doesn’t really regret doing it, but she knows that one day repercussions will come calling for her. Her best friend, Diana, has her own problems going on as well. Her ex is in town and is sort of stalking her. It was an abusive relationship and one Casey helped her get out of, so when they are given a chance to escape to a town where you can pretty much hide from your past and start over, they take it.

Except with Casey, she’s got a very limited stay ahead of her while Diana is likely to stay for two years, the general stay for most of the residents. When Casey comes into town, she’s given the role of detective for the sheriff as she was a detective in her “old life”. And she’s come just in the nick of time for there are missing persons and murders happening in this quiet little town hidden in the middle of nowhere.

I really enjoyed this mystery. The mystery elements were pretty spot on! We have missing people, people turning up dead, past murders coming into play and a town full of suspects. Everyone in this town is basically hiding out. A good amount of them are criminals in some sense, others are hiding out for other reasons. The price to live here is high, and the work is grueling and hard. And since everyone here is not likely to be the best of people, trying to uncover a murderer is going to take a lot of work.

I really enjoyed seeing Casey and the sheriff, Eric, interact. Eric comes off as a bit cold. He’s not the friendliest of people, but he’s well respected, and respectful. You can actually see him change a bit when he’s around Casey. Little moments, little gestures. The cold brute who was so standoffish to her when they first met definitely has a different side to himself.

The other characters of the novel were just as good! I enjoyed There’s Will, who is another deputy in town, and he’s got that kind of carefree kind of personality to him. He’s nice and flirty. I was actually a bit worried we’d be walking into a love triangle of sorts. I can’t say we aren’t in one just yet. Casey did leave behind a boyfriend of sorts in her life before this town. And it’s a tough call to say if things are all romantically resolved just yet. It is after all only the first book!

But yes, you will see sprinklings of romance. I loved that it played so little of a role in the story. This is a mystery, not a romance, but if you’ve read Kelley Armstrong’s books before, you know she does romance incredibly well! LOL! So just those little sprinkles we get are enough to tantalize and delight readers.

Another thing that makes this novel so incredible? Cannibals! Yup! We’ve got cannibals in this one! Or so the locals say! While we don’t get a whole lot of details on that front, it is made very clear that the little town of Rockton isn’t completely alone in the woods! And that leads to quite a few secrets!!

The resolving of the mystery was pretty good too! There were quite a few shocks along the way. And I can honestly say that I did not see this murderer coming. Of course as I read this, I was under a bit of stress at work, so being stressed out and trying to read the whole revealing scene moments didn’t pan out all too well. But it’s no big deal really. That’s just me. So me being a bit confused over this character or that one’s involvement in things is my own fault. But regardless, I found the whodunit to be very surprising! I cannot wait to see what other adventures await us in this new series! And yay, I have the next book to read! But after that, we’re backing to waiting 365+ days! Boo!

There’s still a bit of mystery left to this story too. Not the mystery itself, but more like the town, it’s inhabitants, and the mystery council who remains off site. Still so many things left unsaid and I cannot wait to see what direction this series will take! I need more and I need it now!

If you’re a fan of mystery series, you’re going to want to pick this one up asap! Not only is it by Kelley Armstrong, but it’s also an incredibly amazing and GREAT read that I enjoyed every moment of it! Even when I was confused! LOL!

Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars

21 people found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

Compelling suspense

Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2018

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I see Kelley Armstrong's name on a book and I start making assumptions, lots of them.... and I was so very wrong... The novel is, pardon me here, novel. It is not a tale of Werewolves, Witches, and Mediums.. this is not your standard urban fantasy buttercup

Yes, it starts in a city, full of the ugly that man does to woman. We are trapped in the whirlwind with Casey Duncan, a former rape survivor turned special victims unit detective. The demons she meets are both her own and man made. She lives an isolated life in the midst of the city. She has one close friend that she will do most anything for... even leave everything she knows.

Rockton is a place off the map. No cell phones, no tv, no internet. A place where the cash you bring in is useless. You work at labor the community needs and get paid in credits. A place where electricity is limited and chemical toilets are the norm. It is a place where a murder has happened and a detective is needed. Rockton is a place where you can change your name and not bring your past. It is a place where victims and criminals can begin again.

The intensity is brought by the balance, how do you investigate a murder without all the modern tools? And what do you do about what lives out in the dark woods?

10 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Bookworm 262

Excellent thriller.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 13, 2018

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I originally bought this in 6 parts when it was first published as a serial. I have recently bought it again as a single file as I loved the book but got irritated at reading it in the broken up format.

This author has written paranormal thrillers in the past, This is NOT one of those. This is a straight thriller.

The book is about a woman detective with a dangerous secret who needs to disappear. Luckily for her there is a settlement based in the Yukon where people can disappear for a few years. So we get a chance to see modern day people transported to an almost 19th century frontier style world with no phones, very basic living conditions and a murderer at large.

As usual with Kelley Armstrongs' books the protagonist is a tough woman with "issues" and a flexible moral code that allows for the difference between justice and law. The descriptions of the Yukon are detailed and feel very real. The characters are complex and have all had to make some hard choices. I enjoyed the mystery as well as the human stories of people so threatened they give up the comfort of 21st century living to survive.

I thought this book was great and I have since bought the rest in the Rockton series but be warned, it has some seriously gruesome bits and there is a fair bit of bad language as well as adult themes.

8 people found this helpful

It sounded bloody fantastic. But

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 30, 2017

Verified Purchase

I was interested in reading the book from the first time I saw it. A town for people that needs to get away. A secret town in the middle of nowhere. It sounded bloody fantastic. But, sometimes my expectations are too high, and when it came to this book did I expect a more mysterious and darker story.

Now, I don't say that the City of the Lost is a bad book, it started off interestingly with Casey and her friend Diana needing to get away, especially Diana after she once again had problems with her ex-boyfriend who beat her badly. Casey's problem is a bit more complicated, she killed a man when she was in college and have since then been waiting for the day the past would catch up with her. And, now it seems that it has happened. For them is Rockton a perfect solution, although Casey because of her past has a hard time getting approved for going to the town, in the end, is she allowed, but there are some conditions for her and one of the reasons they agree to accept her is because they need a homicide detective to solve a murder.

It's in Rockton that I felt the story started to drag now and then, it just went on and on, sometimes it felt that the investigation didn't go anywhere. I was also a bit disappointed with the town, it felt that it was just really bad people there and if you were a woman then you had to watch out (I think I had a town like the one in Pines (Wayward Pines by Blake Crouch in mind, normal but mysterious). There were some promising things with the story, the rumors about cannibals were interesting, it just never becomes much more than a rumor. Then, the obvious and expected romance occurred (I have read reviews of the books so I was prepared), and it took more time away from the investigations, but at the same time was it an important part of the story that I can't discuss since it would spoiler the book.

The ending, well it was good, perhaps not fantastically good, but Casey did solve the murder and all. She also discovered some secrets that someone close to her had kept and I loved the confrontation between Casey and this person.

So, City of the Lost did not turn out to be this fantastic book I had hoped for. It was more of a bumpy ride with both ups and downs. Would I read the next book? Yes, I would! I did enjoy more of the book than I disliked. I just hope the next book will have a less bumpy ride.

5 people found this helpful

Lexi Mitchell

Meh.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 18, 2020

Verified Purchase

So incredibly disappointed. Always rated Kelley Armstrong since reading the Bitten Series & the premise was so interesting. A town full of residents with dark pasts - a town where they could disappear off the grid. And it started off promisingly with rumours of cannabilism & a few quite brutal murders with motives, secrets & suspects aplenty. And then it turned into a hybrid romance/cosy mystery/thriller which went on for far too long & had a ubiquitous love story which by the end was both irritating & monotonous. The final twist was ridiculous & patronising & by this stage I was checking the percentage on my kindle willing myself to carry on. There have been plenty of 5 stars so it clearly worked for many readers. Just not for me. Romance & dark fiction do not mix. They don’t gel at all. Getting hot & heavy after you find an arm in a cave is highly unbelievable. Not for me.

Rani

So much Potential Here

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 11, 2018

Verified Purchase

A mix of mystery and some romance this is a very slow building story - although for me it wasn't so slow that things got annoying. It’s not a book I regret picking up.

We are introduced to a town filled to the brim with people who needed to get away/disappear, a town that for Detective Casey Duncan and her best friend Diana gives the promise of a much-needed new start. But when they get there…well peace and bliss isn’t exactly on the menu. As Detective Casey tries to find her feet with the town, its inhabitants and her new boss Sheriff Eric Dalton, she also comes to some revelations about her best-friend who I seriously didn’t like, whilst also having to solve a murder.

The romance between Casey and the Sheriff felt like it needed to be developed more, and it would have been nice if some of the intrigues and rumours (e.g. of cannibalism) surrounding the town were delved into rather than touched upon fleetingly.

Overall this was an ok read, the bones of the book had the potential to be deliciously engrossing – sadly that didn’t happen.

One person found this helpful

Meggy

An absorbing thriller

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 6, 2019

Verified Purchase

I absolutely loved this book. As usual she had a strong female protagonist and lots of different characters, no one dimensional fillers in here. The plot was convoluted and - despite the rather fanciful premise of a hidden town - felt very real: the bits in the caves actually made me feel claustrophobic. I read the book in one sitting and immediately bought the next (which is proving just as good). Some reviews imply this is the first section of a 6 part story, that might originally have been the case but the kindle version I got was the entire book.

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