Review: The Winter Girls (Agent Tori Hunter #2) by Roger Stelljes

When seventeen-year-old Savannah Devenish vanishes from her family’s remote vacation cabin in Minnesota, FBI Agent Tori Hunter races along treacherous icy roads to be first on the scene. Savannah’s parents are frantic with worry for their beautiful, carefree girl. Haunted by memories of her own missing sister, Tori vows to do whatever it takes to reunite this family.

When the police uncover that Savannah’s father Jacob was having an affair, they suspect his involvement, but Tori is convinced his despair is genuine. Her close relationship with the chief detective means the team won’t listen, so Tori strikes off alone, persuading Savannah’s distraught best friends to share their secrets. It seems this ‘good girl’ was sneaking out to parties to meet up with a mysterious man…

Then another teenager is snatched from the street, snowy footprints and a discarded hot chocolate cup the last trace of her. The girls are the same age, strikingly pale and blonde. Is a twisted collector stealing them away? And what chance is there that they are being kept alive?

With a deadly snowstorm closing in, Tori battles the elements—and her own team—as she follows the trail to an abandoned cabin by a frozen lake. In the basement are bedrooms filled with clothes for teenage girls. Tori was too late to save her own missing sister twenty years ago, but can she find these girls before they disappear forever? 

Review

The Winter Girls is the second book in the Agent Tori Hunter series by Roger Stelljes. Tori is a former FBI Agent currently residing in her hometown in Minnesota. Although not an active agent, Tori helps the local police department especially in cases dealing with missing children. In this story, Tori investigates the abduction of Savanna Devenish, a 17year old who was taken from her family’s remote vacation home.

This is quite a suspenseful read with action right from the first page. The action really never lets up as Tori and the other investigators are hot on the trail of the abductors. The story is narrated through multiple POVs including the investigators, abductors and the taken girls. I like the fact that although we get to know the baddies pretty early in the story, their motives are not revealed until the final chapters.

I enjoyed this installment and the action-packed investigation. I am not usually a fan of romance but I don’t mind what Tori has going on with the Lead Detective, Will. It adds to their character development without distracting readers from the well-written plot.

Bad snowy weather, isolated locations, international crime syndicate, this is a highly thrilling, captivating read. I recommend the Agent Tori Hunter series to all fans of this genre.