MY SYNOPSIS
Imagine This: You are the mother of three
hormonal teenagers. And a surgeon whose job demands she spends little time with
her kids. A neurosurgeon for a husband who’s good at sneaking into your bed
late at night for some good-loving at a bad timing––when you just want to doze
off. You wish you could spend more time with your kids. You wished your eldest
daughter wouldn’t be watching you with eyes that say, you have no clue
whatsoever. You wished the oldest of your boys wouldn’t stare at you with so
much distaste. They want their independence, you keep consoling yourself. They
would appreciate you more when they get older and attempt to strike the perfect
work-family balance like you have.
Your life
isn’t perfect. But you are working on it.
Until your
daughter gets missing, adopted, raped, murdered, does anyone have the answers? She’s just nowhere to be found, and
amidst the fear and the worry and dealing with the police who keep looking in
all the wrong places, you keep asking yourself whether you’ve got the whole
motherhood thing wrong from the start.
Everyone
seems to be lying. Everyone you thought you could trust. If anyone knows what
happened on the night your daughter, their
daughter, their sister disappeared, they are not saying.
And as if
that isn’t enough all the blame is being shifted to you for being the bad guy
when all you want to do is help the police find your daughter and keep your
family from gradually falling apart as a result of this crisis.
What’s more,
the police’s findings keep coming up. And you should be relieved because they
are always one-step-closer to finding your daughter. But the closer they get
with these findings, the more you are sure this couldn’t be the daughter you
raised.
Jenny Malcolm’s dilemma summed for
your delight.
MY REVIEW
Another
great storyline for a psychological thriller to keep you on your toes (seat,
whatever position you prefer when reading). What’s so different about this
title from just every other title with a character disappearing is how differently
Jane Shemilt penned this. The presentation of flashbacks at appropriate moments
whilst telling life a year after the character’s disappearance is what makes
this title special. Throughout the opening pages you’d be on your toes (again,
whatever position you prefer) to know if the main character found her daughter
in the present day’s account. Another feature that makes this title different
from others is how confused the main character gets as the police discovers
details about her daughter, details she’s just so sure the police might be
mixing up someone else’s missing daughter with hers. Fab storyline. ── ★
Jenny Malcolm
is a character every mother out there would relate to. Jane Shemilt portrayed
her main with the exactness another mother going through the same predicament
would react. The kind of character who could win an actress an Oscar. The
paranoia, the fear, the dreams, the visions, the moments when you want to keep
it together but just don’t find the courage to when your daughter is out there
being battered to death, raped, buried alive, all the worst case scenarios you
see on Medical Detectives. You would
adore Jen’s strength, her perseverance, her will to cast aside various shocking
lapses of other characters to focus on finding her daughter. Throughout the
novel, you’d be the hand reaching out to pat her on the back, sympathizing with
her. A star to her. ── ★★
Other characters
you would revere are Naomi, the missing daughter whose smug smiles keep
flashing everywhere you cannot help but wonder if she planned this whole ordeal;
Michael, the cop heading the investigation; Theo, the only son who sees his mum
as a super-hero, Mary; the old woman next-door filled with self-deprecating wisecracks
to make her audience chuckle. A star to these characters. ── ★★★
The suspense
in this novel is unsettling, way too many plot complications, too many useless
leads going nowhere, enough to keep you glued to your seat. The ending was also…
different and mind-boggling (not in the confusing way, the thought-provoking
way) ── ★★★★
My rating:
Four-stars. (4/5 stars).
Jane
Shemilt’s psychological thriller with all the features akin to huge Hollywood
motion-pictures is available on amazon.
I recommend
this book to anyone who loves their psychological thrillers thrilling enough,
anyone who wants a book with a main character and an issue they could
absolutely relate to, and anyone who wants a title that keeps them intrigued as
(or even when) the plot keeps unravelling.
My work not
done here. Off to post my review on Goodreads.
