The second book in the Detective Alyssa Wyatt series is ‘The Toybox’. The one I had mistaken to be the first book, lucky for me I have four out of the five books in this series so I could make the switch rather easily.

This book can be kind of triggering for some because it contains extorsion, s*xual abuse and the kidnapping of kids.

When a call comes in from a roommate about her friend being missing; Alyssa goes all in. Taking Cord to speak to this girl about why she thinks her roommate is missing and then talking to the parents to confirm. The parents are wealthy people and the mother has been labeled as ‘the ice queen’ not caring much for her children. She doesn’t believe her child is missing, she thinks her daughter is gallivanting around and will show herself again in a couple of days. The missing girl’s twin brother doesn’t agree and will be the contact within this investigation for questions they might have about Rachel.

Not long after they’ve found out Rachel is missing does Alyssa get a call from her daughter Holly, telling her that her friend Jersey hasn’t been home and isn’t answering her phone which is unusual. Jersey’s mother confirms and so, they have another missing teen on their hands but zero leads only the last known location for both girls but no connection to either of them.

Meanwhile the girls are being held with others in a cell, in nothing but a silk robe. They get called upon when needed in ‘the toybox’ where gruesome things happen and the most sadistic kinds of torture take place. The girls do look out for each other and try to console the ones that have been brought down again after being tortured and beaten.

Slowly but surely, they follow up with a lead and are trying to locate a car that has been used in dumping the body of a missing 14-year-old called Meghan. It’s been listed as being owned by a company, so it’s likely the car of the owner of the company or an employee. Going down that rabbit-hole seems to be worth it since they don’t come up with one but two names to locate. When there is another girl that has gone missing and is only thirteen are they shifting gears because they know the time is ticking.

Once they get a location for a house owned by one of the suspects do, they proceed with caution but with a whole lot of man-power. They want to get the girls home save, but seeing first hand what horrors they had to endure Alyssa knows that going home save and ‘feeling save at home’ are to very different things for these girls. They have to learn to trust again, have to learn to rejoin society and build friendships.

There is one suspect I did not see coming until the girls were in the hospital, then all of a sudden it clicked and when I read that it really was this person, I just couldn’t believe it nor wrap my head around it.

I’m giving this book ⭐⭐⭐⭐,5 stars