Book Review: Satan's Lambs by Lynn Hightower

Satan’s Lambs by Lynn Hightower is taut mystery thriller that pits private detective Lena Padget against a group of Satanists who have kidnapped a child in rural Kentucky. To complicate matters, one of the Devil-worshipers is her former brother-in-law, Jeff. Former because he killed her pregnant sister and two-year-old nephew.

One thing to note is this book was originally published in 1993. I say this because as you read the story, it might be a bit bewildering that they don’t look things up on computers and smartphones. This is a mystery set before those things were common place.

As the book starts, we’re introduced to Padget, who is also an advocate for abused women and children. She finds out Jeff is out now out on parole, because he starts harrassing her, and then she’s drawn into a case that ends up with a young child being kidnapped by the aforementioned Satanists.

Along with Detective Joel Mendez, who helped her with the deaths of her family, they search for the child. A search that takes them throughout eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, which is the stomping grounds of the author.

Satan’s Lambs started a bit slow, and wrapped up the ending a bit too neatly, but it’s a solid read that manages to create a horrific scenario without overly graphic descriptions of the acts. If this were a movie it would be PG-13.

The main problem I had with the story is that there’s so much backstory introduced between Padget, Mendez, and the brother-in-law, it sometimes feels like this should be a Book 2, with another book before it to fully flesh out that backstory.

I would give Satan’s Lambs by Lynn Hightower 4 stars out of 5.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book for review purposes via NetGalley. As always, my opinions are my own. There are also affiliate links used in this review which help pay for this site at no additional cost to you.

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I'm Michelle Snow, the writer and creator of Zengrrl. I write about travel, entertainment, women's issues, health, body positivity, and more, both for this blog and freelance. I have also authored/co-authored four guidebooks on Orlando and Florida. If you aren't already following me, the links are below, as well as on the top right of this page. Thanks!