Published By: Michael Joseph
Pages: 368
Released On: 27/06/2024
Notting Hill, London. One May evening, seventeen-year-old Maggie Parker’s mother walks out of their front door and doesn’t return . . .
With her little brother in tow, desperate to find her mother, Maggie is drawn into a labyrinthine world of antiques and shadowy figures, far from the grand stucco terraces. There she befriends another young person living on their wits. But can he help solve the mystery of her mother’s disappearance?
Twenty-one years later, in a Parisian apartment, Maggie’s phone rings and her hard-won grown-up life shatters. While in London, the new owner of the Parker’s old Notting Hill house is excavating a basement, unaware of what might lie beneath, and the clock starts ticking on buried secrets.
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Michael Joseph for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I do look forward to a new Eve Chase book! But this book had me undecided.
It’s split between scenes in 1998 and in 2019, and the flitting back and forth took a little while to get to grips with. We follow Maggie and her brother Kit, immediately after the disappearance of their Mother, and then 20 odd years later.
I blew hot and cold with the siblings. I liked their relationship, I felt that was lovely to read. But individually they didn’t hold much merit for me. Especially Maggie. I liked her at first, she had to play Mum for so long and she’s clearly hiding something, worried about something. But I felt she was quite morose and she tired me out somewhat. Kit I had no real opinions on either way.
I’ve said before that I prefer character over plot, but this felt too character heavy even for me, maybe because it didn’t have many? It felt a bit two dimensional at times. And so then it needed the plot to bolster it and it just didn’t come together for me.
It wasn’t immediately gripping. I generally liked it, it was interesting, but you know how some books grab hold of you instantly and you know you won’t do anything else until you’ve finished reading it? I wanted that, but I didn’t get it. I enjoyed it and wanted to continue to read it, but I did feel my mind wandering at times.
This had a different feeling to others of hers I’ve read. I can’t fully explain why, but her others had this bit of magic I felt, whereas this felt more real. That’s not necessarily a negative, just an observation and it would be interesting to hear what others felt.
What I will say is that Eve is great at putting the everyday person into slightly different circumstances and seeing how they play out. Which is interesting because you have a sense of familiarity so you can put yourself into the story, but there’s this edge, this “what would you do” feeling. #
This might be a generalisation as I haven’t read all of her books, but the ones I have show me that she has a particular talent for writing lost people: those who feel alone, loners, orphans, those who have lost something, those just wandering about.
There were some twists and surprises I didn’t see coming, but for the most part it didn’t shock me. It felt a bit…like it’s been done before? Nothing felt fresh for me, which was a shame.
I can’t fault Eve’s storytelling, we all know she’s a fabulous author. But for me, this wasn’t her best (looking at other reviews I can see I’m in the minority). Lots of positives to take away from it, and it definitely won’t stop me reading her others, but it just didn’t have the same spark I’ve come to expect from her work.
Books By Your Bedside 