Review by Booklist Review
It is every parent's nightmare: your young child goes missing after being out of sight for just one moment. When eight-year-old Ben runs ahead of his mother, Rachel, as they walk home from the park, she thinks nothing of it. After all, he has the family dog with him, and she knows the clearing he is headed for. But when she arrives mere minutes later, he's nowhere to be found, and the dog is there with a broken leg. After an intense police search of the area, Rachel and her ex-husband are left frightened and confused, and they know time is running out. Days pass and the police have few leads, while an anonymous blog (complete with awful comments from the peanut gallery) threatens to derail the investigation. The ensuing media circus turns Rachel's neighbors against her, and she is having a hard time trusting her own family, to say nothing of her ex. Macmillan peppers her debut with subtle red herrings and a variety of potential suspects, ratcheting up the tension slowly but oh so deliciously.--Vnuk, Rebecca Copyright 2015 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
British author Macmillan alternates between two narrators in her haunting first novel: Rachel Finch, a grieving mother whose eight-year-old son, Ben, disappears from the Leigh Woods in Bristol 10 months after her husband left her for another woman; and Det. Insp. James "Jim" Clemo, who tirelessly searches to find Ben. Rachel can't forgive herself for letting her son run alone in the forest, and Jim blames himself for not solving the case sooner. In the aftermath of the investigation, Rachel learns disturbing things about her past and comes to the painful conclusion that she can trust only a few people in her life. Meanwhile, Jim suffers from severe depression that leads to acute insomnia and panic attacks, causing his department to mandate counseling sessions. The suspense intensifies as suspects are ruled out, and the media relentlessly pursue Rachel for negligent supervision of her son. Readers will have a tough time putting this one down. Agent: Nelle Andrew, Peters, Fraser and Dunlop (U.K.). (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The search for a missing boy is seen through the split perspective of his frantic mother and the police detective determined to solve the case, despite its deleterious effect on his psychological health. Newly divorced photographer mum Rachel Jenner thought she was giving her 8-year-old son, Ben Finch, a bit of freedom when she let him run ahead during a walk in a Bristol park. But when Ben vanishes, Rachel immediately blames herself, and the media is quick to paint her as a neglectful parent, too. Macmillan, in her debut, leans a bit hard on the "bad mother" trope, one that's been well-trodden in recent fiction, but she creates a compellingly complex investigator in DI Jim Clemo. The narrative is split not only between Rachel's and Clemo's perspectives, but also Clemo's post-investigation sessions with a department-ordered shrink, indicating that however the Finch investigation turned out, it wasn't pretty. As Rachel waits and frets at home, often in the company of her high-achieving older sister, Nicky, who clearly knows more than she lets on, Clemo and his fellow officers, including his secret girlfriend, DC Emma Zhang, whom he perhaps unwisely recommended as Family Liaison Officer for the case, try to piece together a case from a dearth of physical evidence. The requisite family secrets come to light, though Macmillan gets credit for some truly clever red herrings. While there's little new ground broken, the missing child scenario, when done reasonably well, as it is here, is a reliable hook, and with Macmillan's taut pacing, this is an engaging debut. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
