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Claire McGowan grew up in a small village in Northern Ireland. After a degree in English and French from Oxford University she moved to London and worked in the charity sector. She is currently the Director of the Crime Writers’ Association. Big thanks to Claire McGowan and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinions! I honestly can't believe this is the same author who wrote I Know You? What's being going on with these last two books? Halp. The Dead Ground is the second installment in the Paula McGuire book series. It begins from where, The Lost, the first installment had left off from. The protagonist, Paula McGuire is still a forensic psychologist who resides in the small town of Ballyterrin, North Ireland. Paula lives with her father, who is a former policeman, while at the same time she is still chasing the ghost of her mother that has constantly been haunting her. With that said, Paula is an exceedingly likable character, who made lots of mistakes, with Aiden O’Hara, the newspaper owner, and DI-Guy, her boss. However, despite the number of mistakes that Paula has done, she still has work to do, considering the fact that a baby has been snatched from the hospital and everyone is racing against time to locate the missing baby. Apart from having the theme of pregnancy, this book also has the theme of missing babies, which proved to be both compelling and disturbing at the same time.

I liked this story, don’t get me wrong. It had an interesting premise and creepy vibe. I liked how the narrators fleshed out the story slowly and provided some good twists along the way. I really like character Janna and her sections. The ending was satisfying but the final chapter by Margaret was quite sad and dark.This was an awesome book involving murder, poison, and family secrets so how can you not love that? Helen and George have moved to Cornwall and begun renovations on a very old house. But from the moment they begin, there’s trouble. Oh, there are the usual careless builders who break things, show up early without warning, etc. But then they find a doll hidden in the wall, strange jars buried in the yard, and other creepy discoveries about the place. Soon after there’s an accident with one of the workers, and Helen’s about ready to leave. But George has a secret about this house and he can’t leave, yet. He has work to do. I love creative POVs, and this one is particularly interesting because it provides a perspective that is both impartial and biased, personal and detached. It also starts the story with a heavy dose of foreshadowing that immediately interested me. This book was just ok for me. I was really into it for a good chunk and then it took a turn where I lost interest. It was not what I was expecting and I’m disappointed. The book description had me intrigued from the start; A house full of secrets, sinister dolls, and a triple murder, sign me up. Did the book fully deliver everything it had promised me? Sadly, no. Claire McGowan is a well-established author who penned her first book in her native, Rostrevor when she was only nine years old. When penning her first novel, McGowan was still in primary school, and she admits that the novel was not interesting at all. 19 years later, McGowan wrote her first novel, The Fall, which ensured that she made a name for herself in the Northern Ireland’s list of top notch writers. According to McGowan, her first novel, The Fall was completely a surprise to her because when penning it down, she completely had no idea that she was working on a crime fiction novel. This is mainly because Claire McGowan believed that crime novels were mainly whodunits and detective novels. However, later on, Claire McGowan discovered that there were so much involved in the crime fiction genre.

Claire McGowan was born in Northern Ireland in 1981. She grew up in a village where the most exciting thing that ever happened was a herd of cows getting loose in the road. She now lives in slightly more exciting London. British Council complies with data protection law in the UK and laws in other countries that meet internationally accepted standards.

So for most of it, I was leaning toward a Honda Civic Reliable three. The writing was whatever, but the plot was kinda interesting and I liked the different threads that were being woven together. We're pottering along, reveals are being revealed, and suddenly a gigantic sink hole opens up around the 75% mark and swallows up the plot and all logic. BRUHHH I've never had a book tank this viciously in a hot minute. So here we are, at a generous 2. Some things I did enjoy: Janna's story was really interesting and I liked the healing/witchcraft bits. The characters were all well written and the house setting was atmospheric (although being from Penzance myself I couldn't quite work out where the fictional village was supposed to be). The United Kingdom's international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities.