Looking For Alex by Marion Dillon

Synopsis

It’s the summer of 1977. Beth and Alex did everything together. Until the day seventeen-year-old Alex ran away from home. A missing persons report has been filed, but Beth knows that there must be more to Alex’s disappearance. So she follows Alex, to punk-era London, determined to bring her best friend back home.

But the Alex she finds living in a Camden squat isn’t the same Alex. And memories of those weeks in London haunt her to this day; falling for Fitz, her first love; tasting a new kind of freedom, and the fateful day that her parents finally tracked them down and took her away.

Alex knew then that Beth had betrayed her trust, and disappeared once more, severing their friendship for good. And now, years later, it’s time for forgotten secrets to be shared once and for all. Because after all this time, Beth’s never given up on finding Alex…

Review

This book sounded really intriguing, so was really happy when I was accepted on Netgalley.

This book flits between two times, the present day and then the 70's, when Alex went missing from her hometown. I think the present day bits to start with were a bit dull, but picked up as the story went on. Whereas I found the parts set in the 70’s really interesting and vibrant the whole way through the book. I thought the setting of the book was really good and really well set, it was easy to imagine what it was like in the squat.

I really liked a lot of the characters from the past Jenny and Michael were delightful, I would love to know them in real life. I also really liked Celia, I didn't think for a second she was jealous of Alex, protective over what she knew about Pete. Of course I hated Pete from the outset.

Regarding the main characters, I liked both Alex and Beth, but I wanted to knock their heads together at times. Of course, looking in from the outside this is easier said than done.

Overall, I enjoyed this book, but found it quite a slow read during the present time period. However, as mentioned above, the vibrancy of the parts set in the past more than make up for this. I will definitely be checking out Marian’s books in the future.

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Published by: Carina UK
Gratefully received from the Publisher for review.