All the Missing Children

by Zahid Gamieldien

Ilene, a working-class mother, is struggling to survive and desperate to reconnect with her children, Jack and Lonnie, in the aftermath of a near-fatal tragedy.

But her children vanish, setting off a chain reaction within the community.

Suspended detective Omar helps out with the investigation, uncovering disquieting clues, but he keeps getting pulled away by a dangerous cold case.

Benji, a recovering addict, finds peace by breeding lorikeets and caring for his mother, only to have his clean life upended by a stranger’s menacing threat.

Nera, a city lawyer grieving on a country farm, wants to find out who killed one of her animals and is faced with increasingly strange and unsettling answers.

In this gripping tale of human frailty and the other-worldly, each character must confront the mystery of what really happened to Jack and Lonnie.

Genres: Audiobook, Australia, Mystery Thriller

330 pages, Paperback

Published July 30, 2024

About the author

Zahid Gamieldien is a writer, tutor and former lawyer. In the last 12 months, his fiction has been accepted for publication in Tincture, Mascara Literary Review, Bahamut, Pantheon Magazine and the print version of Overland.

Reviews

[Sammy thebookninja_ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an exceptionally eerie read, the kind that sends chills down your spine with its ever-present sense of foreboding. The narrative shifts between four characters, each segment feeling like a standalone short story, yet skillfully woven together. The author's ability to immerse you in each storyline from the outset is truly impressive—I was so captivated that I often wasn’t ready to transition to the next narrative. The writing is brilliant, filled with such palpable tension that I found myself holding my breath through much of it. However, despite feeling as though it would be one of the best reads I've encountered this year, I was a little disappointed by the ending, as it didn’t provide the resolution I was craving.

[Amy Louise · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don’t know what it was about this book but I just could not get into it, I didn’t enjoy it at all.

[Craig and Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Big thanks to Ultimo Press for sending us a copy to read and review.
The looping circles on the cover may represent that the continuation of life happens, even when individuals are faced with personal traumas and dramas.
Your life may be at a standstill but nothing stops time moving.
Ilene may not be the best mother in the world but she tries.
Continually at odds with her children and the principal of their school.
When they vanish it sets off a chain reaction.
People within the community at the time of the disappearance go about their lives in different ways.
Omar is triggered by it, it resembles a cold case he was involved in.
This investment causing him turmoil.
Benji is content to tend to his birds in the aviary.
Trying to forget that life has an under current of badness.
Nera has escaped the city and her own problems to live rural.
Issues within her own boundary reign supreme in her priorities.
A story that reflects the way we all are.
Some news headlines will have an impact while others we brush past.
We harden as life experiences shape our reactions.
Set in different parts they seem disconnected but like a circle they encompass a commonality.

[Alessandro · Rating 5 out of 5]

A stunning read that transcends genre.

5 parts, 4 interludes, each a blurry puzzle piece of a slow portrait. Five not-so-easy pieces exploring the ripple effects of intergenerational trauma.

In part 1, we feel the itch of gambling addiction, the struggles of parenting in poverty, the sadness of unrequited familal love.

In part 2, we follow a former cop on his quest to resolve an indelible obsession.

In part 3, a gentle heroin junkie goes on a clumsy quest to protect everything he loves.

In part 4, a fearless widow moves to the Australian countryside and struggles with loneliness and isolation.

In part 5, we find out what happened.

Since finishing it I have been obsessing over how all the parts fit together. There are no easy answers.The interludes are a link in the chain, which I recommend re-reading after finishing. A must-read for lovers of literary fiction who are hungry for more than just another story.

[Sharah Powell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an extremely unsettling story. I really liked it, but I couldn't quite connect all the parts together.... would love to know other people's thoughts on the supernatural elements that occurred and whether Amma was involved?!

[Nikki · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this, but just couldn't get into it at all, and feel quite dumb after reading it as I still don't understand it. The narrative, divided into five parts, had moments of intrigue, particularly in part one. However, as the story progressed, I found myself increasingly lost and disengaged.

By the fifth and final part, I just wanted it to be over. I wish I had just abandoned the book earlier. After the time l invested, I've tried to find a spoiler synopsis to make sense of what I've read but can't find it - not the aftertaste, so to speak, that I want after a book.

I did like the writing style and the idea behind it, but it just lacked cohesion & depth. At times, I was taken out of the book with language choices that seemed so out of place. It was jarring having to Google what a word meant in the context of a very normal sentence, but again, maybe my literary proficiency is lacking, as I struggled overall with this. Just not for me

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh! This book was such a great read and really hooked me in... that is until the end! There was ZERO resolution for ANY of the characters! So irritating!!!

[EA · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really really wanted to rate this book highly but I couldn't.

To start off with, I liked the writing style and the plot started off strong. While it was disheartening, and frustrating at times to follow Ilene, and even though you know something awful is going to happen, I found her intriguing and wanted to know how her story was going to end.

Moving on to part two following Omar the police officer felt like a logical progression; the kids have just gone missing and Omar is involved in the investigation (albeit very much not officially). It was interesting to explore how past traumatic cold cases can have ongoing effects on the people tasked with getting to the bottom of them, and I do wonder if the author was inspired by the case of William Tyrell, where the lead detective on that case was also put under investigation and charged for misconduct involving the lead suspect in the case.

The book really started to lose me towards the end of part two and into part 3. I didn't understand the connection to Benji, and part 4 felt even more disconnected, even though the kids (or their ghosts?) seemed to make an appearance. I was relieved to get to part 5 where we finally get to follow the kids themselves, it felt like maybe this was finally going to bring everything together, but unfortunately this just didn't happen.

You don't get to learn what happened to the children, although it is heavily implied they were taken by someone. I don't have a problem with us not finding out what happened - a story doesn't need to answer every question to be good. More importantly, we don't always get those answers in real life either. My issue is that no question was answered, and, while there is absolutely links all throughout the parts, there is no real reason for it. It was confusing, and I found myself having to replay parts of the audiobook multiple times to see if I missed something (I didn't).

After reading some other reviews, it would appear that the idea of the story was to explore the effects an event like two missing children can have on the community, with a supernatural element weaved through. To address the supernatural element, it really didn't add anything to the story. I think if that element of the story was addressed, or at least explained, I would have appreciated it a lot more, but because it wasn't it just felt like a series of really odd, disconnected events that didn't actually have much place in the story.

If the intention of the book really was to explore the aftermath of a shocking crime event like a missing child case has on the community - actually make it have an effect on them. Neither Benji nor the lady from part 4 seemed to give a damn or even really know that two kids were missing. Like with Omar, I think this story would have had a much higher impact if the other characters were somehow affected. Maybe the teacher from part 1? A school friend? Even someone who didn't know the kids or the family but had been following the case on the news? I just think the story missed a massive opportunity to really have an impact, but it didn't.

I'm also a bit disappointed that none of the storylines had a resolution. As I said, we don't need to know what happened to the kids. Often, we never get answers in these types of cases. But not resolving ANYONE'S storylines? It just felt like a very unsatisfying ending.

[neve · Rating 3 out of 5]

between 2.5 and 3 stars 😔

i was definitely bored for most of this book as well as lost because there were different perspectives that didn’t really add anything to the story.

it was written really well and i kind of understood it but 9 times out of 10 i was lost and struggling to get through it.

[Scotia Mullin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was given an uncorrected proof of this book due to a bookclub that I am a part of so some of the story of words and stuff may change during the editing process so take my review with a pinch of salt.
I didn’t love the book. I found it confusing, slow burning, and lacking depth. I found that the characters sometimes lacked development and that the plot was confusing and disjointed.
While the book is marketed as spooky and mysterious I found this to be untrue. There were a few moments where I thought it could get really spooky and was waiting for a climax but it then sloped off.
Overall I was very excited when I got to the last pages. I don’t love giving poor reviews but this book was just not for me.

[Carriin · Rating 2 out of 5]

2

Confusing.

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really expected to love this book. Based on not very much. I’m a great fan of the newish Australian publisher Ultimo, and for a time I was buying pretty much everything they published but I can’t keep up now…

I bought All the Missing Children fairly soon after the 2024 publication I think, and even though I’d never known anyone to read it I found it calling to me fairly often.

So I went into it knowing almost nothing. I didn’t reread the blurb. I found an audio on one of my apps and found myself starting last week.

Told in five parts this is rather a sprawling narrative of missing children. In Part One we focus on single mother Ilene who works night shift at the local supermarket in Western Sydney, but she is a bit too fond of the pokies and is struggling to control life with her two kids, Jack and Lonnie. I was really invested in the story of these three characters.

But I became more confused with Part 2 and Omar and the subsequent parts. I thought the spiral of the cover artwork was spiralling out a bit too much, and while it did spiral back in in part 5, it was a bit late and remained confusing to me. Part 4 was a bit fever dreamy and that is not my thing at all.

But I really did like the sense of place, the western Sydney themes, workers clubs, lorikeets breeding and the premise of the central story of Ilene, Jack
And Lonnie. But I found too many other characters, too many other missing children. And while whiffle is a most excellent word you can’t use it more than once per book.

I will be interested to see where the author goes with his next book though.

[Isabella Kassa · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5/3 This was chosen as my book club book and I was optimistic!
Things I loved:
- Definitely felt like I was reading an Australian book! Lots of Australian slang, places etc
- I found this to be super engaging; plot, pov changes all kept me very interested
- It does almost edge into horror/surrealism which can be a bit of a risk but I thought was done fairly well

Unfortunately, just a little confused about some of the writing choices ie. does every noun need a descriptive adjective before it? probably not? I don't think the author is a bad writer at all, but I found the editing questionable and thought it maybe could have used more. Also the classic style i've noticed lately where authors maybe want to leave themselves open to an adaptation on the screen, so it feels like every interaction and visual is almost made for a TV show, NOT a novel.

The structure follows one "main" event that happens in the beginning and how it impacts the community through POV changing of new characters throughout, wrapping up with the alternative POV of the main events at the end. TBH! I thought the middle stories would have worked completely fine as a short story collection on the Australian experience. Otherwise, the events in this book are at best loosely related and at worst completely detached from any commonality. Maybe I'm missing something, but I had a feeling this story was not coming to any sort of conclusion, it was just too large in ambition. Would love love love to read a better edited and more polished version where the characters are given the resolutions they deserve OR a full commitment to being a short story collection.

[Alegria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this read. Ambiguous ending but I’m not mad like the rest of y’all

[Alisha Henderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too many stories that didn’t pull together.

[Genaline Puckeridge · Rating 1 out of 5]

Took me too long to focus and hooked.. then I just found myself throughout and especially at the end more confused than I was during the book. No answers were solved, no characters stories got an ending. Now I'm going to google to see what others think of the ending tf

[Sarah Payne · Rating 2 out of 5]

But like… huh?!??!?

[Katrina Bell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this a challenging read, and wanting to delve deeper into each character. I found the ending disappointing and was looking for more closure, but maybe that was the point.

[Despina O’Neill · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was on such a roll this month, having already read so many fab books… and then we got to this 😭 I’m still so confused by what happened if I’m being perfectly honest 😅

It started off strong… a mum, with a gambling problem, trying to take care of her two kids and honestly not doing too well. Until one day, when she’s playing the pokies while her kids are in the car, she realises they’ve gone missing.

I was sooooo eager to find out what happened.

But instead, got about 75938 other POVs from people who are kind of connected in some way but make no sense at all.

I’m still confused by so much within this book.

The end. That is all.

On the positive side though - this marks another one off my 26 in 2026 list 🥳

[Lish Seny · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was something here but it got lost. So confusing even early on in the book.

[Kasia Czachowski]

No plot, no ending.. just a pointless read

[Marles Henry · Rating 3 out of 5]

A debut novel by Zahid Gamieldien, and written in five parts. All of them reflect upon the way in which the disappearance of Jack and Lonnie, two small children has on each of the characters in each part. And even though this sounds like a simple narrative, it is delivered in such an unusually eerie way, almost with a lingering and foreboding presence.

“Another loss another loss another loss another loss another loss.”

We are introduced to the children, and their mother, Ilene, who does not seem to cope very well with having them at all. This heartbreaking feeling seems to permeate the whole story through each part. Their story, and the actions of their mother, and father are gut wrenching. The next part involved a suspended detective with an obsession of an old cold case, and the next flows into a story about a recovering heroin addict who is trying really hard to stay straight, breeding birds as a way to focus his mind on something else and away from violence that seems to be lingering. The next part was a bout a widow who moved to a farm, mourning in the loss of her husband and affected by the slaughter of her farm animals. And the last part was a story through the eyes. Whilst all of these parts seem so different, you need to read very closely to connect them altogether. They are all connected the experience of trauma.

There is also something a little bit disconcerting about all of these parts, and the wider story. The sense of feelings and seeing things, and the impact of such a very traumatic story about two lost children infiltrates your perception of the other parts of this book. It is in that last story where the eyes of the children and what they say and what they experience and what is running through their minds. This was quite unsettling and although it did not provide closure, it provided a space to dwell on what could have happened.

[Amy Margaret · Rating 2 out of 5]

.....📚 𝑩𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝑹𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘 📚.....

All The Missing Children by Zahid Gamieldien is one of those books that I can't wrap my head around enough to be able to even review well.

We start with Ilene, a working class mother, who is struggling to survive and desperate to reconnect with her children, Jack and Lonnie, in the aftermath of a near-fatal tragedy. But when her children vanish, a chain reaction is set off within the community.
Next, we meet suspended detective Omar, who helps out with the investigation, uncovering disquieting clues, but he keeps getting pulled away by a dangerous cold case that has chilling similarities to these missing siblings.
Following Omar, the story then introduces us to Benji, a recovering addict, who finds peace by breeding lorikeets and caring for his mother, only to have his clean life upended by a stranger’s menacing threat. Finally, we meet Nera, a city lawyer grieving on a country farm, who wants to find out who killed one of her animals and is faced with increasingly strange and unsettling answers.

All of these peoples lives are marked by tragedy and trauma, and each almost feels like its own short story. Whilst the writing was able to elicit a sense of eerie foreboding, I struggled to find the overall connection and found it more than a little confusing. This was one of those books that, when finished, I felt I'd missed something important. I'd love to hear from others who have read this one.

[Book My Imagination · Rating 3 out of 5]

A darker read surrounding 2 missing children and the effect that it has on people.
The book is linked via viewpoints of 4 main characters.
The overwhelming feeling I had throughout reading this was the subtle horror of not actually knowing what happened to them and the knowledge of what their parents had previously done.
A lot of the time, the connection is vague, but it is there if you connect those dots.
Small moments that occur may seem random, but they have meaning later.
Each viewpoint has an otherworldly sense, a moment of suspense.
This author has a distinctive feel to his writing, and it may not be for everyone, but the rawness of his characters is special.
For me, this is evident in Benji, the recovering addict and his love for his birds and their importance to his recovery. However, skewed it may be.
And in Omar the detective and the similarities with 2 other missing children.
The last chapter was a very poignant ending to this book.

Thank you to @ultimopress
for sending this out for my thoughts.

[Ash · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Summed Up: Raw, Gritty Debut

- - -
The lovely people at @ultimopress kindly gifted me this book and said the vibes would be ‘creepy, mysterious and spooky’.

I’ll admit that those are not my usual vibes and I’m the kind of person who can only watch a horror movie between a small gap in my fingers with both hands over my eyes 🫣

I’m happy to report that I was super brave and read this start to finish. Despite some gory moments, it wasn’t as terrifying as I feared! 😰 Phewph!

The plot, as the title hints, revolves around missing children but was a little tricky to follow and disjointed at times. While it had suspense, the story just didn’t quite lead where I had hoped and I have a pet peeve with unresolved endings - it’s just a me thing, but I get invested and I need closure!

However, the writing style was a highlight. Raw, gritty, and reminiscent of NZ author Gavin Strahan, it kept me hooked the whole time even when the plot didn’t always.

Overall, All The Missing Children was a solid debut from @zahidgamieldien with one of the coolest covers I’ve seen. It’s not my usual genre, but if you’re into darker reads, this one’s for you!

[Monika Johnston · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written and intriguing, I have to confess I also found this a little 'try hard'. I don't mind things being ambiguous in a book but I felt this was trying so hard to be ambiguous (with a a touch of the mystical) just for the sake of it and it didn't quite land for me.

[Monika Johnston · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written and intriguing, I have to confess I also found this a little 'try hard'. I don't mind things being ambiguous in a book but I felt this was trying so hard to be ambiguous (with a a touch of the mystical) just for the sake of it and it didn't quite land for me.

[Doris Vaarwerk · Rating 3 out of 5]

This not a review as such, but more a comment.
I was going to give this book a four but found the ending disappointing. Hence the three.
Also, there were passages in the book that read as if the author spent hours scouring a thesaurus. I found much of the vocabulary excessive.

[Jimmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best Australian novels of 2024. It moved me, challenged me, scared me, made me laugh. I almost cried when I got to the end. My only criticism is that the plot connections could be less subtle so more people could 'get it.' I recommend giving it a close read. It's worth it.

[Alexandra R. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Go Zahid, give us absolutely nothing! 😍