‘How had this become her life? It wasn’t even a life.
She felt like a ghost.’
Abby Henshaw is on her way to visit a friend after a
doctor’s appointment with her eight-month-old baby daughter, Beth. The journey
she makes will change her life forever. Suffering a horrendous assault and
abandoned at the roadside in a remote spot in the country, Abby faces not only
the after effects of the brutal attack, but also comes to a terrifying
realisation about Beth – she is gone, stolen. DI Michael Gardner investigates
the case and as he looks into Abby’s life and those closest to her, he starts
to uncover huge secrets amongst them, and he also finds himself forming a bond
with Abby and unable to let the case go even when any leads seem to have gone
cold.
Rebecca Muddiman successfully portrays how Abby’s life
is utterly destroyed by Beth’s disappearance, and how she is tormented by the
secrets she kept and the decisions she made. She is reduced to scouring public
places in the vain hope of ever seeing Beth again, and when there is new hope
she depicts the struggle Abby has to convince those around her to believe her
and not let this lead slip away.
This powerful debut is a compelling, page-turner of a
crime novel from a talented new author. The story slowly builds in tension, I
was a bit keen for it move slightly quicker at times in the middle, but when the
revelations come towards the end, I felt they were powerful and shocking. The
chapters are very short and keep the story ticking along at a good pace. The
plot is always central to this novel – the reader questions what the outcome
will be throughout – but the novel is also very much character driven, as we
get a strong insight into Abby’s drastically altered life and into DI Gardner’s
rather empty life and his mindset as he continues to doggedly pursue this case
for Abby, despite it having been shelved and seemingly without any hopes of
resolution, whilst under pressure to solve his other cases.
I was really keen
to discover the ending to this story and learn if what I had suspected was
true; there are clues for us but the whole truth when it comes is more shocking
than I had thought. I look forward to reading more from this author.
Published by Moth Publishing and Winner of the Northern Crime Competition 2012
I originally reviewed this book for Newbooks magazine.
You can find the author on twitter @RebeccaMuddiman and visit her blog here.
That sounds like a really intriguing book! It's on my list.
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting Elaine. It was intriguing wondering what had happened and how it would be resolved.
DeleteThis sounds really powerful. I'll have to put it on my to read list.
ReplyDeleteGreat review.
Sarah