What if a girl gets kidnapped and the only person that can find her is you? What if you’re connected to the crime in a way that your present mind can’t even imagine? Meet Margot; teacher by profession and agony aunt in her spare time, at first glance Margot seems a normal middle aged woman about to get divorced… but she’s not.
Local girl and pupil at Margot’s school; Katie, has been kidnapped. Around the same time Margot begins to get letters to her agony aunt column (Dear Amy) from a girl that got kidnapped nearly 20 years ago. It’s clear there’s a connection between the two kidnappings but all is not as it seems …. I’ll stop there before I give away the HUGE plot twist that is unbelievably clever and takes this book from being a distinctly average thriller to a well thought out page-turner – top marks to Callaghan.
The book mainly looks at the story through Margot’s eyes however, about 20% of the book is seen from Katie’s view point as the kidnaped and 15% from inside the mind of the kidnapper…. which did a fantastic job at building up the suspense and linked the present kidnapping to the past kidnapping.
If you’d asked me my thoughts on this book when I was halfway through, they’d show a complete contrast to my thoughts now. After reading the first few chapters I was underwhelmed by the plot and began to skim read…. never a good start but as you can guess from the positiveness of this review – the plot began to pick up and about half way through I was hooked. In my critique mode, I felt I could tell it was a first novel, it wasn’t just the lack of build up, it was also the writing style – I felt as the book progressed so did Callaghan’s confidence and the writing style towards the end is much more sophisticated and refined.
This book is definitely worth a read, it’s a plot that provided a fresh twist on the kidnapping thriller genre which means I can forgive the rather slow start. For a first novel, Callaghan has definitely left an impression – I will be picking up her next book with confidence and without reading the blurb knowing full well that I’ll enjoy it.
Until next time, Chloé x
P.S. I’m currently reading The Forgetting Time by Sharon Guskin and I’m OBSESSED!
P.P.S. Feel free to add me on twitter @dougieDV 🙂
Reviews by Chloé 
Sounds good-great review, thanks!
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Thanks Samantha 🙂
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Weirdly I loved the start but kind of went off it a little after the twist as I didn’t like how the narration shifted more to other perspectives (trying to describe without spoilers is a nightmare)
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How funny – just shows different styles appeal to different people! Totally agree I thought I’d keep this review short and sweet because if I gave away the twist, some people might not be motivated to read it!
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I liked this book although I think that it had some really bizarre/unrealistic sections especially around the middle.It was still a good read though. Great review!
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Totally agree – I think you could tell it was a first novel as the logic was sporadic at times!
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Well now, I can’t wait to get this one on my shelf! 🙂 Thanks for the review!
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