Reviewed
Read Time
7 min read
Age & reading levelAdult
Reader ratingreader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score
4.7
· 2,832 Amazon ratingsShare This Review
Our review
The Forgotten Girls
The Forgotten Girls by Elle Gray Review: A Late-Series FBI Thriller That Delivers
by Elle Gray
The Forgotten Girls is the thirty-third entry in Elle Gray's Blake Wilder FBI Mystery Thriller series — a long-running, prolific run that began in 2020 and has grown to thirty-five novels. This review is based on published series information and source commentary; it does not reflect hands-on reading of the text.
LuvemBooks Verdict
Best for
Dedicated Blake Wilder series followers who have read through the preceding thirty-two entries and want to see FBI agent Blake Wilder's story through to its conclusion in the penultimate stretch of the thirty-five-book arc.
Worth it if
You are an established fan of the Blake Wilder FBI Mystery Thriller series who prizes consistency, familiar procedural structure, and the narrative payoff of a long-running franchise approaching its end.
Skip if
You are new to the series or prefer standalone thrillers — entering at book thirty-three means navigating thirty-two volumes' worth of established character relationships, agency dynamics, and ongoing plot threads without context.
What readers & critics say
No substantive critical reviews of this specific title were retrieved from the sources available. Fantasticfiction.com confirms the book's place as part of Elle Gray's Blake Wilder FBI Mystery series, and booknotification.com documents that the series launched in 2020 with The 7 She Saw, with The Forgotten Girls representing the most recently released entry as of 2026.
Sources: Fantastic Fiction, Book Notification4.7from 2,832 Amazon ratings— reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score
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The Forgotten Girls is the thirty-third installment in Elle Gray's Blake Wilder FBI Mystery Thriller series, following FBI agent Blake Wilder through another fast-paced procedural investigation near the conclusion of the thirty-five-book arc. Squarely built for committed series veterans, it delivers the consistent formula — compact pacing, familiar protagonist, and recognisable procedural structure — that loyal readers have come to expect across more than three dozen entries. Newcomers are firmly advised to start at the beginning with The 7 She Saw rather than joining this late in a long-developed narrative.
- Is it worth reading?
- For readers who have followed Blake Wilder across thirty-two prior entries, The Forgotten Girls is worth reading as the meaningful payoff on a significant reading investment — it delivers the familiar protagonist, recognisable procedural structure, and forward momentum of a story nearing its conclusion. However, LuvemBooks notes that the volume and thematic similarity of titles across the series may make individual installments feel less distinctive at this late stage, and readers who prize novelty over consistency may find the formula well-worn by book thirty-three. Those new to the series are better served starting with The 7 She Saw.
- Similar books
- Readers drawn to The Forgotten Girls will find strong overlap with other fast-paced FBI and crime procedural thrillers. The natural starting companion is The 7 She Saw by Elle Gray — the Blake Wilder series debut and the recommended entry point for anyone new to the franchise. For readers who enjoy Kindle-native procedural thrillers with strong female investigators, The Woman in the Woods by A.J. Rivers and Last Girl Ghosted by Lisa Unger offer a similar blend of missing-persons tension and female-led investigation. Dire by Jeff Carson and Twenty Years Later by Charlie Donlea provide the same propulsive pacing in a crime-thriller key, while The Whisper Man by Alex North offers a darker, more atmospheric take on serial crime investigation.
- Who should read this?
- The Forgotten Girls is squarely aimed at existing Blake Wilder series readers — specifically those who have followed FBI agent Blake Wilder across more than thirty cases and want to see the thirty-five-book arc through to its conclusion. Fans of fast-paced, Kindle-native FBI procedural thrillers who enjoy prolific authors with consistent, high-volume output will find this entry firmly in their wheelhouse. Readers who prize standalone accessibility, high novelty per installment, or who are new to the series are not the target audience for book thirty-three.
- About Elle Gray
- Elle Gray is a fiction author whose work spans mystery and thriller genres. She is known for the Pax Arrington Mystery series, beginning with I See You, which follows private investigator Paxton Arrington. Gray aims to keep readers around the country and the world engaged with her stories.
- How does this compare to The 7 She Saw?
- The 7 She Saw launched the Blake Wilder series in 2020 and remains the highest-rated and most-read entry in the franchise according to Book Notification, reflecting both the strength of that debut and the challenge of sustaining momentum across dozens of volumes. The Forgotten Girls, as book thirty-three, maintains the same compact, fast-paced procedural formula but is aimed exclusively at series veterans — it offers narrative payoff for those who have invested in the long arc rather than the fresh entry-point energy of the debut. Readers who want to experience the series at its peak accessibility and critical standing are advised to start with The 7 She Saw.
- Do I need to read all 35 books?
- Committing to all thirty-five books is the full experience Gray has structured, and The Forgotten Girls — as book thirty-three — is specifically written for readers who have followed the series from the beginning. That said, the series debut, The 7 She Saw, is worth reading on its own terms as the highest-rated entry in the franchise. Readers who want to explore the series without committing to the full arc can start at book one and decide how far the formula carries them before pressing on.
Summarize this book
Is it worth reading?
Who should read this?
About Elle Gray
How does this compare to The 7 She Saw?
Do I need to read all 35 books?
Summarize this book
The Forgotten Girls is the thirty-third novel in Elle Gray's Blake Wilder FBI Mystery Thriller series, published in May 2026 as a Kindle edition. It follows FBI agent Blake Wilder in a new investigation that fits the series' established thematic preoccupation with women and girls placed in danger — disappearance, exploitation, and the procedural machinery of federal law enforcement. At a reported print length of 302 pages, it maintains the compact, propulsive pace that defines the series, and sits in the penultimate stretch of what Gray has structured as a thirty-five-book arc.
Follow up
What is the Blake Wilder series about overall?
Where does this fit in the overall story arc?
Is it available in print or only on Kindle?
Synthesized from verified book data & published reviews · How we review
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Our Review
This review covers the book's content, premise and published critical reception, not a first-hand reading.
Readers coming to The Forgotten Girls thirty-three books into a series are, by definition, committed — and Elle Gray's latest entry rewards that loyalty within a franchise that has demonstrated remarkable staying power since its 2020 debut.
What the Book Is and Where It Sits in the Series
The Forgotten Girls is the thirty-third installment in Elle Gray's Blake Wilder FBI Mystery Thriller series, published in May 2026 as a Kindle edition. The series follows FBI agent Blake Wilder across a rapidly expanding catalogue — thirty-five novels as of the series' current count — that launched with The 7 She Saw in 2020.
The pace of release has been striking: the series moved from its debut through more than three dozen entries in roughly six years, with multiple titles appearing in a single calendar year throughout its run. The Forgotten Girls sits near the end of that run as book thirty-three of thirty-five, placing it firmly in the final stretch of what has become one of the more prolific self-published FBI procedural series in the Kindle marketplace.
The Series' Scope and Ambition
Gray built the Blake Wilder world at a pace rarely matched in the genre, producing entries in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 in rapid succession — titles such as The Lost Girls, The Missing Girls, The Kept Girls, and now The Forgotten Girls reflect a recurring thematic preoccupation with women and girls placed in danger, investigations involving disappearance or exploitation, and the procedural machinery of an FBI agent navigating those cases. The series has also expanded beyond Blake Wilder into adjacent Grey-authored franchises including the Storyville FBI Mystery Thrillers and the Sweetwater Falls Mystery series, suggesting a readership that has responded enthusiastically to the template Gray established.
According to Book Notification, the highest-rated and most-read book in the series remains the debut, The 7 She Saw — a data point that reflects both the strength of that entry and the challenge any long series faces in sustaining momentum across dozens of volumes.
Strengths of the Format and Series Design
For established readers of the Blake Wilder series, The Forgotten Girls offers the consistency that serial fiction fans prize: a familiar protagonist, a recognisable procedural structure, and the forward momentum of an overarching story reaching its later chapters. The Kindle edition supports enhanced typesetting and Word Wise, and at a reported print length of 302 pages, it falls within the compact, fast-paced range characteristic of the series — designed for readers who want a thriller that moves.
The title itself fits the series' established naming conventions and thematic concerns, signalling to returning readers exactly the kind of investigation they can expect. For the dedicated Blake Wilder audience, that predictability is a feature rather than a limitation.
Limitations and Who May Struggle
The primary friction point for The Forgotten Girls is one endemic to any thirty-third volume in a series: it is essentially inaccessible as a standalone. Readers new to Blake Wilder would be entering a long-developed narrative with established character relationships, agency dynamics, and ongoing plot threads that thirty-two prior entries have built up.
Series veterans will be well-positioned; newcomers are better directed toward The 7 She Saw as the entry point Gray herself began with. Additionally, some readers of long-running procedural series in general note that the sheer volume of entries — with thematically similar titles and recurring structures — can make individual installments feel less distinctive over time.
That is a structural reality of any franchise operating at this scale and speed, and readers who prize novelty over consistency may find the formula well-worn by book thirty-three.
Who This Book Is For
The Forgotten Girls is squarely aimed at the existing Blake Wilder readership — readers who have followed FBI agent Blake Wilder across more than thirty cases and who want to see that story through to its conclusion in the thirty-five-book arc. For that audience, this penultimate stretch of the series represents the payoff on a significant reading investment.
Fans of fast-paced, Kindle-native FBI procedural thrillers who enjoy prolific authors with consistent output will find Gray's series — and this entry — squarely in their wheelhouse. Those drawn to the genre but unfamiliar with the series are advised to begin at the beginning rather than joining this late in the run.
Sources & Further Reading
The key facts and claims in this review are grounded in the retrieved, verified sources listed below.
- Cited in this review
- 1
booknotification.com
- Further reading
- 2
fantasticfiction.com
Age & Reading Level
Recommended age
Adult
2 content notes · who it suits
Content to know about
violence against women and girls
themes of abduction and exploitation
Skip if you want a standalone thriller or are new to the Blake Wilder series and looking for a self-contained story.
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