Tom is a young Detective Sergeant going through a bit of a rough patch after separating from his wife and experiencing recurring nightmares of an old case when along comes every persons worst nightmare ... the abduction of a little boy from a local park. The book follows the investigation into the abduction where everyone is a suspect and the mystery deepens when the body of one of those suspects turns up, quickly followed by the body of the boy's father.
This is a tense read written mainly from the perspectives of Tom, Cat (mother of the abducted child) and Kieron (the abducted child); the pace built up as the investigation progressed and I loved it. I particularly enjoyed meeting the characters that I have grown to love at the beginnings of their relationship with a particular highlight being the first meeting between Tom and Phil Hendricks which made me literally laugh out loud.
I would most definitely recommend this book and you don't have to have read any of the others in the series as this makes a really good starting point for those of you who haven't discovered the delight that is Tom Thorne and who have clearly been living under a rock!!
I was extremely lucky to have won a copy of this book via a Facebook competition but thanks also to Little, Brown Book Group via NetGalley for an e-copy in return for an unbiased and honest review.
Hazel (2934 KP) rated Call Me Mummy in Books
Mar 14, 2021
This is a dark, disturbing and harrowing read but totally addictive. With fantastic characters and an all-too-real story line, this is a book that gets you hooked pretty quickly and doesn't let you go until the last full stop at the end.
Told from the perspectives of the kidnapper, the mother and the child, this provides insight from all aspects of the story which makes it all the more gripping. There are also snippets of social media posts which add a further dimension.
This book is about so much more than child abduction and, as a consequence, does contain swearing and abuse so if you are upset by these, I would probably give this a miss but if you "enjoy" (and I say that loosely) reading something on the darker side, then Call Me Mummy is the book for you.
Thank you to Serpent's Tail / Profile Books / Viper via NetGalley - I received a free review copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest unedited feedback.
Another author to look out for in the future.
Armageddon (Angelbound Origins #7)
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Years have passed since Myla Lewis last fought gladiator-style in Purgatory's Arena. Now, she’s...
Young Adult Fantasy
The Nowhere Child
8.8
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Winner of the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award, The Nowhere Child is screenwriter Christian...
Every Waking Hour
8.0
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The fourth book in Joanna Schaffhausen's heartpounding Ellery Hathaway mystery series, Every Waking...
The Memory Wood
10.0
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The must-read novel of 2020. Chilling, moving and unputdownable, The Memory Wood is a thriller like...
Child Abduction
Hazel (2934 KP) rated Close to Home in Books
Dec 29, 2019
Packed with fantastic characters not all of which are particularly likeable but all of whom are well developed and with interesting stories to tell in their own right. The story line is a difficult one to read being that of child abduction and exploitation however this is not written in a gratuitous way but with care and attention although not is all as it seems and so begins DI Fawley's task of unravelling just what has happened to young Daisy.
This is a fast paced, gripping and absorbing story that had me reading it in quick time in order to discover the secrets and lies contained within the twists and turns of this excellent book and I highly recommend this to those of you who love a great police procedural.
Thank you to Penguin Books (UK) and NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest review.
The East Indian
9.0
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Meet Tony: the first Indian to set foot on American soil. Among the settlers, slaves, and...
Historical fiction
Midge (525 KP) rated The Nowhere Child in Books
Mar 11, 2019
The book opens with an introduction to the main protagonist Kimberly (Kim) Leamy who is a photography teacher in Melbourne, Australia. Twenty-six years earlier, Sammy Went, a two-year-old girl vanished from her home in Manson, Kentucky. James Finn, an American accountant who contacts Kim is convinced she was that child, kidnapped just after her birthday. She cannot believe the woman who raised her crossed international lines to steal a toddler.
Jack and Molly Went’s daughter Sammy disappeared from their Kentucky home in 1990. Already estranged, the couple drifted further apart as time passed. Jack did his best to raise and protect his other daughter and son while Molly found solace in her faith. The Church of the Light Within, a Pentecostal fundamentalist group who handle poisonous snakes as part of their worship, provided that faith.
Now, with proof that she and Sammy are in fact the same person, Kim travels to America to reunite with a family she never knew she had and to solve the mystery of her abduction that will take her deep into the dark heart of religious fanaticism.
For me, Christian White’s writing is captivating and extremely well structured. Although the theme of a child being stolen is not particularly original, the clever telling of this story made it a joy to read. The chapters alternate between the past and the present, maintaining the reader’s attention. The chapters narrated in the past explore the impact of Sammy’s disappearance on her family and the community in which they live. The other chapters follow Kim’s pathway of discovery to the truth about her past.
The most gripping parts of “The Nowhere Child” were the chapters about the past, as the author unearthed long-buried secrets of Kim’s grieving family. It seemed that nearly every character from her past had something they wanted to be kept hidden. Revelations were made that included identity, betrayal, secrets, loss and a sinister cult. A tense story of menace and suspense, the story held my interest from start to finish and the way in which Christian White brought everything to a conclusion was just fabulous.
I loved “The Nowhere Child” and I would recommend it to anyone who likes this genre. It has left me eager to read more from this author in the future.
Thank you to #NetGalley, and HarperCollins UK for a free ARC of #NowhereChild in exchange for a voluntary, honest review.
Tell Me Lies
9.0
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FBI special agent Max Carter is on the hunt – he’ll stop at nothing to catch a kidnapper with a...