Publisher: Bantam Press
Pages: 384
Format: DRC
ISBN-10: 1787630226
ISBN-13: 9781787630222
Series: Kate Waters #3
Publisher: Various formats
When two eighteen-year-old girls go missing in Thailand, their families are thrust into the international spotlight: desperate, bereft, and frantic with worry. What were the girls up to before they disappeared?
Journalist Kate Waters always does everything she can to be first to the story, first with the exclusive, first to discover the truth--and this time is no exception. But she can't help but think of her own son, whom she hasn't seen in two years, since he left home to go travelling.
As the case of the missing girls unfolds, they will all find that even this far away, danger can lie closer to home than you might think...
If you plan to pick up this book you have to be ready to call in sick at work or have a day off as you will not be able to put it down.
The book opens when Alex her parents are wondering if they should call the police as they have not heard from their daughter for over a week. With her A-level results arriving the day before and Alex being anxious about them they had expected her to contact them. The story quickly jumps between the narrative of Lesley (Alex her mum), Alex herself, Kate Waters and Bob Sparkes the DI involved in the case. All their chapters end with little hints about what is to come and there is no way you can put the book down until you read that too.
The book is about every parents nightmare. The first time the kid goes on a trip to a foreign country be itself and they fail to contact home. As the bodies of Alex and her friend Rosie are found in a fire it is at least clear why they did not contact them but as the story unfolds the question arises if the fire was the real cause of death. Lesley her chapters are those of a mother fighting to find out what happened to her daughter. The story the Thai police tell her is not how she knows her daughter and she is not stopping until the truth is found.
Alex her chapters give us information about what really was happening in Thailand and why she did not contact her parents that last week. The build up with details is done really great here.
Kate her chapters are a struggle between her job as a journalist and wanting to write the news and the her being a mum of a son who could be in the same situation in Thailand. I enjoyed it a lot when her chapters were starting to reflect those of Lesley. It shows that (most) mothers have the same feral instinct.
I had a bit of a difficult time with Sparkes his chapters. His wife is in the late stages of cancer in the book and that hit a bit close to home as I lost my mum to cancer only a year ago. It was difficult to read at some points but real.
The story is predictable but the writing has such a great speed and with the little cliffhangers after every chapter you simply fly trough the book.
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