I’ll be honest from the start, I’m not usually one for reading books but reading the positive comments about this one intrigued me to say the least. Needless to say I purchased a copy and turned to the first page. 2 days later I’d finished the book. With every chance I could get I found myself picking up the book to read more. This is most definitely a page-turner and I couldn’t wait to find out what happened next.
I won’t do the usual thing of telling you about the story itself – what you need to know is written in the synopsis as well as other reviewers. But what I will do is tell you how the book made me feel as well as what I liked about it. From the offset, it’s established that Jessica Preston has been taken. I loved how each ‘Part’ began with the perspective of the man who’s wife took the child, followed by the perspective of the mother of the child. It was a beautiful contrast taking you on an emotional and in some ways, psychological journey.
20 years is an awful long time to hide a secret and the way in which the story begins to unravel this was hugely satisfying. There are some tense moments, thrills along the way, but above all (and in my view, a huge positive of this book) excellent characterisation. The dialogue and actions of the characters felt real and completely natural and throughout the novel I could picture every single aspect of this as a movie.
For a debut novel I wasn’t sure what to expect but having read the reviews, and now the novel myself, I can tell you that it’s worth every. single. penny. Oh and one more thing, having enjoyed this book as much as I did, it’s finally got me back into reading!