When I read the description and 'horror' was key, I assumed the traditional style of horror. I assumed wrong. The book deals with internal horrors of an intertwined group of people. I'd recommend the book but cannot rate it highly based on my assumption going in. ( )

It’s Hallowe’en night in a small Midwestern town and just as everyone is turning in for the night police officer Lawrence is called to investigate what looks like a hit and run accident. A little girl, still wearing the angel wings of her costume, has been discovered under a pile of a autumn leaves. As the investigation unfolds Lawrence is called in to the Mayor’s office and there, along with the Police Chief, asked to look the other way about certain pieces of evidence for the “good of our town”. Small towns being what they are, this seems easy enough to do, but some secrets just will not rest.

This book was a little dark. Lawrence is a flawed personality, depressed because of his divorce and the lost access to his son, financially ruined and bordering on alcoholism. I can understand a flawed hero, but it seems like everyone else in town was hiding their own dirty little secrets too. Circumstances in the book keep spiralling and that definitely made me keep turning the pages, but I would have liked to see a little redemption at the end. Definitely worth picking up and reading.
( )

Among the acts of petty vandalism and various teenage pranks played on Halloween night, a true tragedy is discovered. A local police officer finds the body of a little girl, dressed as an angel, concealed in a pile of autumn leaves. With the streets full of trick-or-treating children, it looks like she might have been the victim of a hit-and-run. But how did a three-year-old child come to be hiding there alone in the dark, dressed in her flimsy costume? And why were the child's feet bare?

As the investigation proceeds and the media's spotlight intensifies, a much more ominous story unfolds. It's the typical story the media thrives on - a ghastly crime, a bungled cover-up, and tantalizing rumors of an innocence defiled. While the mayor and chief of police conspire to divert attention from the primary suspect - a local high school football hero whom they hope will take their town all the way to the state championship - it is left to the man who discovered the child's body to find the truth beneath the cover-up.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I found the lead character very sympathetic - I felt so sorry for him, and the position that he found himself in. The plot was very intricate, and had me wondering who could have committed the crime right from the beginning. I will say that the mystery left me with several unanswered questions in my mind, and that left me slightly perplexed. Overall though, I give Lost Souls by Michael Collins an A! - it really was very good. ( )

Wat een vreemd boek. Het lijkt een gewone thriller met alle ingrediënten voor handen. Een ietwat verlopen rechercheur met een onhandige relatie, wat corrupte politici, een onschuldig slachtoffertje. o ja, en een hond! Het was zeker goed te lezen. Maar ik snap echt helemaal niets van het einde. Ik zag het niet aankomen en ik mis gewoon uitleg en ik heb zeker het gevoel dat niet alles netjes is afgewerkt. ( )

Well written, and interesting, but very dark without any likable characters. ( )