Review by Booklist Review
Natalie suspects foul play when her best friend, Beth, a barmaid in the English beach town where they live, disappears. Beth texted her boss that she would be visiting her mother, but her mother claims she hasn't seen her daughter. Suddenly, everyone in Beth's circle seems to be behaving suspiciously: her young coworker Craig; the bar owner's trucker boyfriend; the environmental scientist Beth was seeing; the flirty cameraman on location nearby; and even Natalie's heartbroken ex-fiancé. Unable to interest police, Natalie initiates a determined investigation into Beth's disappearance and is terrified but undaunted when someone begins leaving gruesome clues in her cottage. Certain she's being hunted by Beth's killer, Natalie races to out him before he attacks. Subplots involving a heartbreaking case of domestic violence and Natalie's elderly friend Vincent add literary weight to the emotionally charged story. Kent's nimble placement of red herrings will keep armchair detectives guessing, although the story's skillfully crafted atmosphere of paranoia deserves a stronger reveal.--Tran, Christine Copyright 2017 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Set in an unnamed English village, this sluggish psychological thriller from Kent (The Loving Husband) focuses on the disappearance of barmaid Beth Maxwell. Beth supposedly texted her boss to say that she was running away with a man she met up north, but that story doesn't sit right with Beth's best friend and coworker, Natalie Cooper. Texts and calls to Beth go unanswered, and when Nat discovers that Beth's belongings are still in her apartment, she begs the police to investigate. They dismiss her concerns, instead choosing to focus on the murder of a local boy whose corpse was dumped in the weir. Meanwhile, Nat's favorite customer, 92-year-old Victor Powell, knows that he witnessed something that the authorities should know about, but, thanks to his recent stroke, he can't remember what. An early lack of action or tension and a clichéd, cartoonish killer allow the central mystery to be upstaged by a subplot involving Victor: the hospitalized nonagenarian's desperate quest to save his daughter and grandson from his abusive son-in-law redeems Kent's otherwise lackluster tale. Agent: Victoria Hobbs, A.M. Heath (U.K.). (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Kent's (The Loving Husband) latest novel follows Nat as she tries to decipher what has happened to her friend Beth. Barmaid Beth is a "fun girl" who lives life to its fullest, so when she disappears, everyone assumes she simply ran off with some guy. But Nat knows Beth wouldn't have left without a goodbye. Victor, Beth's favorite bar patron, is an older gentleman who is in the hospital after a nasty fall. When he hears about Beth vanishing, he has a fleeting memory of something that could tie in to her disappearance, but he cannot remember what it is. This plot should have made for an exciting thriller, but it unfortunately is disjointed and hard to follow. Kent flits from character to character, making it difficult for readers to identify the narrator. The flatness of the protagonists also makes it hard to empathize with or be interested in them. As a result, the twist ending is not as fulfilling as it should be. VERDICT A disappointment, even for Kent's fans.-Marianne Fitzgerald, Severna Park H.S., MD © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A young woman seeks to identify a murderer when violence strikes her sleepy village.When party girl Beth sends a text saying she's met the love of her life up north, where she's taking care of her sick mother, and won't be coming back to her barmaid job, pub owner Janine is exasperated but not terribly surprised. This sort of spur-of-the-moment decision seems in character. But Beth's best friend and fellow barmaid, Natalie, is skeptical, and soon she and Janine realize that something is wrong; Beth is missing. Then, Victor, an old man and regular at the pub, falls near his caravan, and a young man who was one of Beth's many conquests is found drowned in the river, his hands tied with pieces of cloth that turn out to have Beth's blood on them. There is a film crew on set nearby, flooding the pub with strangers, and a cameraman who is keeping a very close eye on Nat, plus Victor's daughter arrives with her son, fleeing an abusive marriage. Nat sees threats everywhere, but the local police don't really believe that there's anything wrong. She must consider everything she knows about Beth as well as face some of her own secrets as she tries to discover the truth. As with many recent thrillers, there is an element of gaslighting in Kent's novel; while Nat is convinced that Beth has met a bad end, many people think she's just being paranoid, and plenty of people express the rather common sentiment that Beth was at fault since she tended to sleep with men casually and indiscriminately. The novel does little to truly counter these stereotypes, however. Kent (The Loving Husband, 2016, etc.) seems to be the victim of her own formula, and neither the characters nor the mystery satisfy or captivate.Disappointing; this book lacks the quiet menace and nuanced tension of Kent's previous novels. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
