Virtually Gone by Jacquie Biggar
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3 Stars

Virtually Gone is the sixth book in the High-Tech Crime Solvers Series-contributed by Jacquie Biggar. The High-Tech Crime Solvers Series is a multi-author collaboration, each bringing their own story to the mix while using an interlocking cast of characters as well as the high-tech crime solving theme.
I was so excited to read this book after seeing the title of this book, and series. I love a good mystery/crime story- and the ‘high-tech’ component increased the intrigue for me. Add Ms. Biggar to the mix and I couldn’t one-click quick enough. Ms. Biggar is one of my go-to authors, whenever I see her name pop up, I know I am going to be getting a great read. So having said that- I must admit that I haven’t read any of the other books in this collection- and now feel that perhaps I should have, as there were a few instances in this book where I felt as if I were missing something, or should have known more about the circumstances, but didn’t. This is the first time I have come away from one of Ms. Biggar’s books feeling just a little disappointed. Don’t get me wrong- this is an interesting and entertaining story, but I had such high expectations for it and I was expecting to be blown away by it- so I feel like there was a bit of a missed opportunity to make this book incredible.
I will try to explain why I feel this way. The story was building to be quite a suspenseful cat-and-mouse game- but fell a bit short- I think there needed to be more tension, suspense and drama. I felt that the story was a bit rushed and cut short in places where the tension could have been developed more- with just a little bit ‘more’ story and development that this book would have been stellar. Overall, I just felt like I was missing details, that important parts of the story were passed over- which makes me wonder if these details are contained in the other books of the series? While the story was quite detailed and descriptive in places- we could have done with a little less detail on the ‘scenery’ and more details on the more important aspects such as the backstory, character details, the cat and mouse game, and the ‘high-tech’ components. The depth, drama, suspense, and psychological tension were lacking for me. There were also a few contradictions in the storyline, as well as continuity issues. I really wanted to be blown away by this book and feel bad that I can’t give this the five stars that I was expecting to.

Thank you, Jacquie Biggar!

Reviewed by @angelahayes

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