How well do you really know those you love?
Jenny loves her three teenage children and her husband, Ted, a celebrated neurosurgeon. She loves the way that, as a family, they always know each other's problems and don't keep secrets from each other.
But when her youngest child, fifteen-year-old Naomi, doesn't come home after her school play and a nationwide search for her begins, secrets previously kept from Jenny are revealed.
Naomi has vanished, leaving her family broken and her mother desperately searching for answers. But the traces Naomi's left behind reveal a very different girl to the one Jenny thought she'd raised. And the more she looks the more she learns that everyone she trusted has been keeping secrets.
How well does she really know her sons, her husband? How well did she know Naomi? If Jenny is going to find her, she'll have to first uncover the truth about the daughter she thought told her everything.
Review
This book sounded really intriguing. I have been loving thrillers like this recently, so it caught my eye and I couldn’t wait to get stuck in.
That said, this is one of the hardest reviews I have written so far, because there were parts I really liked and parts I really didn’t. The book flitters between two times, one focuses on a few days before and after the event, the second focuses on the present day which is one year after. The times directly before and after the disappearance of Naomi were fantastic, I couldn’t read these parts quick enough. The same cannot be said for the majority of the present time. For me I found it really quite dull until the last few chapters, and my interest waned.
I think this is mostly down to me not really connecting with any of the characters. Jenny especially I didn’t like. Maybe this is because I am not a mother myself, so don’t understand how I would feel or react in this situation. Of course I felt sorry for her, having a child disappear must be both terrifying and devastating. However, the way Jenny came across to me was self involved. SHE ‘knew’ Naomi the best (or maybe not as it seems), SHE was the one most upset about and effected her the most. As if no one else knew what she was going through. Obviously she was distraught at losing her daughter, and you probably aren’t thinking straight, but a year on, still it seemed all about her and her loss, ignoring the fact that her husband (though far less than perfect himself) had also lost a daughter, and their two sons had lost a sister.
As I said earlier the time periods set around the time of the disappearance were fantastic, and there was a few plot points I would have liked to have seen Jane Shemilt delve a bit deeper into, though maybe one in particular would have made the book darker than Jane wanted it.
The ending, with a lot of these style of books (Gone Girl I am looking at you **Glares**) people will be divided on the ending, and I don’t think this is any different. I am, for once on the dislike side of things. I don’t mind the part that made me wonder, it was more Jenny’s reaction to the big reveal, it was just ‘HUH?’, I think my jaw literally dropped!
I think the premise of this book is great and I really did enjoy a large part of this book. I recommend you try it, I know a lot of people who have really enjoyed it, and would love to know your thoughts on it!
That said, this is one of the hardest reviews I have written so far, because there were parts I really liked and parts I really didn’t. The book flitters between two times, one focuses on a few days before and after the event, the second focuses on the present day which is one year after. The times directly before and after the disappearance of Naomi were fantastic, I couldn’t read these parts quick enough. The same cannot be said for the majority of the present time. For me I found it really quite dull until the last few chapters, and my interest waned.
I think this is mostly down to me not really connecting with any of the characters. Jenny especially I didn’t like. Maybe this is because I am not a mother myself, so don’t understand how I would feel or react in this situation. Of course I felt sorry for her, having a child disappear must be both terrifying and devastating. However, the way Jenny came across to me was self involved. SHE ‘knew’ Naomi the best (or maybe not as it seems), SHE was the one most upset about and effected her the most. As if no one else knew what she was going through. Obviously she was distraught at losing her daughter, and you probably aren’t thinking straight, but a year on, still it seemed all about her and her loss, ignoring the fact that her husband (though far less than perfect himself) had also lost a daughter, and their two sons had lost a sister.
As I said earlier the time periods set around the time of the disappearance were fantastic, and there was a few plot points I would have liked to have seen Jane Shemilt delve a bit deeper into, though maybe one in particular would have made the book darker than Jane wanted it.
The ending, with a lot of these style of books (Gone Girl I am looking at you **Glares**) people will be divided on the ending, and I don’t think this is any different. I am, for once on the dislike side of things. I don’t mind the part that made me wonder, it was more Jenny’s reaction to the big reveal, it was just ‘HUH?’, I think my jaw literally dropped!
I think the premise of this book is great and I really did enjoy a large part of this book. I recommend you try it, I know a lot of people who have really enjoyed it, and would love to know your thoughts on it!
Published by: Penguin
Gratefully received from the Publisher for review.
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