Published By: Random House
Pages: 400
Released On: 11/05/2023
No one saw it happen.
You stand on a crowded tube platform in London. Your two little girls jump on the train ahead of you. As you try to join them, the doors slide shut and the train moves away, leaving you behind.
Everyone is lying.
By the time you get to the next stop, you’ve convinced yourself that everything will be fine. But you soon start to panic, because there aren’t two children waiting for you on the platform. There’s only one.
Someone is to blame.
Has your other daughter got lost? Been taken by a passing stranger? Or perhaps the culprit is closer to home than you think? No one is telling the truth, and the longer the search continues, the harder she will be to find…
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
Ooooh this is good. Very good.
There’s no preamble at the start of this book. Within the first chapter we’re thrown into the story.
Roughly, every other chapter is a flashback from the previous few days, getting to know Aaron’s friends, to put a few potential suspects into the frame, to see the actions that have built up to the disappearance.
Otherwise, the story is set over just one day. And I think that was a brilliant way of writing it. It showed just how quickly things like this can happen, but it also shows us just how long a day can feel.
You end up finding things out at the same time as the characters. You think you’ve got it figured out, but then something else comes out of the woodwork and you’re back to square one. Key points are hidden and you have to unwrap them at a frustratingly (in a good way) slow pace.
There are a number of subplots to keep track of but they flow so well that it is never difficult. Every story is perfectly written and works well with everything else, and help frame the main plot.
There are a lot of different characters and so potentially lots of different suspects. If you’re like me, you will start suspecting them all, but you’ll never be 100% certain with your choice. It’s full of red herrings and twists and turns and surprises that really will have you on the edge of your seat.
I read it in one sitting. I would suggest you read this on a day where you have nothing else to do because you will not put it down. I generally have a rule which means I only read happy, uplifting books in bed, but I broke that rule with this book as I jut couldn’t stop.
Andrea is not an author I was familiar with, but if this book is anything to go by, I’ll definitely be looking out for her.
I was on edge within the first chapter, and it doesn’t let up until the final page. It’s anxiety inducing, stressful, fast-paced, frightening, claustrophobic…and you’re with Sive and Aaron throughout the whole story, desperate to help them.
This had the potential to be a bit far fetched. Not necessarily the main plot because, sadly, that does happen, but maybe the amount of subplots, but it really doesn’t. I don’t know how she’s managed it, but every single page feels so honest and real and terrifying.
Books By Your Bedside 