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Acht Stunden Angst
Der neue Thriller von Nicci French ist Spannung pur.
Der Schrecken beginnt als Idylle. Auf Sandling Island hält der Winter Einzug, doch Nina ist an ihrem 40. Geburtstag mit den Gedanken bereits im sonnigen Florida. In wenigen Stunden wird sie mit ihren beiden Kindern zum Flughafen aufbrechen. Doch die 15-jährige Tochter Charlie kommt nicht nach Hause. Nina wird schnell klar, dass jede Minute zählt. Sie muss Charlie finden – koste es, was es wolle...
Nicci French beschreibt perfekt die zunächst unterschwellige, dann immer beherrschendere Angst einer Mutter, die alle Grenzen von Normalität und Konvention ignorieren muss, um ihre Tochter zu retten.
Der Schrecken beginnt als Idylle. Auf Sandling Island hält der Winter Einzug, doch Nina ist an ihrem 40. Geburtstag mit den Gedanken bereits im sonnigen Florida. In wenigen Stunden wird sie mit ihren beiden Kindern zum Flughafen aufbrechen. Doch die 15-jährige Tochter Charlie kommt nicht nach Hause. Nina wird schnell klar, dass jede Minute zählt. Sie muss Charlie finden – koste es, was es wolle...
Nicci French beschreibt perfekt die zunächst unterschwellige, dann immer beherrschendere Angst einer Mutter, die alle Grenzen von Normalität und Konvention ignorieren muss, um ihre Tochter zu retten.
350 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2005
About the author
Nicci French
73 books3,825 followersNote: (Nicci Gerrard and Sean French also write separately.)
Nicci Gerrard was born in June 1958 in Worcestershire. After graduating with a first class honours degree in English Literature from Oxford University, she began her first job, working with emotionally disturbed children in Sheffield. In that same year she married journalist Colin Hughes.
In the early eighties she taught English Literature in Sheffield, London and Los Angeles, but moved into publishing in 1985 with the launch of Women's Review, a magazine for women on art, literature and female issues.
In 1987 Nicci had a son, Edgar, followed by a daughter, Anna, in 1988, but a year later her marriage to Colin Hughes broke down.
In 1989 she became acting literary editor at the New Statesman, before moving to the Observer, where she was deputy literary editor for five years, and then a feature writer and executive editor.
It was while she was at the New Statesman that she met Sean French.
Sean French was born in May 1959 in Bristol, to a British father and Swedish mother. He too studied English Literature at Oxford University at the same time as Nicci, also graduating with a first class degree, but their paths didn't cross until 1990. In 1981 he won Vogue magazine's Writing Talent Contest, and from 1981 to 1986 he was their theatre critic. During that time he also worked at the Sunday Times as deputy literary editor and television critic, and was the film critic for Marie Claire and deputy editor of New Society.
Sean and Nicci were married in Hackney in October 1990. Their daughters, Hadley and Molly, were born in 1991 and 1993.
By the mid-nineties Sean had had two novels published, The Imaginary Monkey and The Dreamer of Dreams, as well as numerous non-fiction books, including biographies of Jane Fonda and Brigitte Bardot.
In 1995 Nicci and Sean began work on their first joint novel and adopted the pseudonym of Nicci French. The Memory Game was published to great acclaim in 1997 followed by The Safe House (1998), Killing Me Softly (1999), Beneath the Skin (2000), The Red Room (2001), Land of the Living (2002), Secret Smile (2003), Catch Me When I Fall (2005), Losing You (2006) and Until It's Over (2008). Their latest novel together is What To Do When Someone Dies (2009).
Nicci and Sean also continue to write separately. Nicci still works as a journalist for the Observer, covering high-profile trials including those of Fred and Rose West, and Ian Huntley and Maxine Carr. Novels include Things We Knew Were True (2003), Solace (2005) and The Moment You Were Gone (2007). Sean's last novel is Start From Here (2004).
Nicci Gerrard was born in June 1958 in Worcestershire. After graduating with a first class honours degree in English Literature from Oxford University, she began her first job, working with emotionally disturbed children in Sheffield. In that same year she married journalist Colin Hughes.
In the early eighties she taught English Literature in Sheffield, London and Los Angeles, but moved into publishing in 1985 with the launch of Women's Review, a magazine for women on art, literature and female issues.
In 1987 Nicci had a son, Edgar, followed by a daughter, Anna, in 1988, but a year later her marriage to Colin Hughes broke down.
In 1989 she became acting literary editor at the New Statesman, before moving to the Observer, where she was deputy literary editor for five years, and then a feature writer and executive editor.
It was while she was at the New Statesman that she met Sean French.
Sean French was born in May 1959 in Bristol, to a British father and Swedish mother. He too studied English Literature at Oxford University at the same time as Nicci, also graduating with a first class degree, but their paths didn't cross until 1990. In 1981 he won Vogue magazine's Writing Talent Contest, and from 1981 to 1986 he was their theatre critic. During that time he also worked at the Sunday Times as deputy literary editor and television critic, and was the film critic for Marie Claire and deputy editor of New Society.
Sean and Nicci were married in Hackney in October 1990. Their daughters, Hadley and Molly, were born in 1991 and 1993.
By the mid-nineties Sean had had two novels published, The Imaginary Monkey and The Dreamer of Dreams, as well as numerous non-fiction books, including biographies of Jane Fonda and Brigitte Bardot.
In 1995 Nicci and Sean began work on their first joint novel and adopted the pseudonym of Nicci French. The Memory Game was published to great acclaim in 1997 followed by The Safe House (1998), Killing Me Softly (1999), Beneath the Skin (2000), The Red Room (2001), Land of the Living (2002), Secret Smile (2003), Catch Me When I Fall (2005), Losing You (2006) and Until It's Over (2008). Their latest novel together is What To Do When Someone Dies (2009).
Nicci and Sean also continue to write separately. Nicci still works as a journalist for the Observer, covering high-profile trials including those of Fred and Rose West, and Ian Huntley and Maxine Carr. Novels include Things We Knew Were True (2003), Solace (2005) and The Moment You Were Gone (2007). Sean's last novel is Start From Here (2004).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 618 reviews
August 17, 2026
Nina Landry is having a wild day - she and her kids are just hours away from catching a plane to spend their Christmas holidays in Florida - but then...one of her kids goes missing.
Nina is distraught, devastated and above all ready to haul ass to get her daughter home.
But the police? They're moving slower by the minute.
Increasingly desperate, Nina decides to take things into her own hands.
Ahhh....so. This was a pretty intense book. But the longer the book went on...the less I loved it.
We get a blow-by-blow of everything that happened on the day that Charlie (Nina's daughter) goes missing.
But the timeline seemed really off. The story gives an almost minute-by-minute account of what happens but weirdly enough it doesn't seem to account for travel time.
Nina spends a lot of time going across the island to investigate various clues (both in a car and on-foot) and yet she seems to get from event to event in under ten minutes.
And the plot in general just didn't feel super believable.
It felt like the stakes just got higher and higher and higher and rather than being impressed as the intensity is jacked up...I found myself rolling my eyes.
The other thing that threw me out of the book was Nina's general likeability.
I'm all for a book that follows a desperate mother trying to find her daughter but she was...really rude.
Like...I don't know if I'm conveying this in the right way...but essentially, I give the whole parents-trying-to-find-their-children trope a lot of leeway when it comes to behavior.
BUT despite that setup, I found Nina to be really unlikeable. It felt like she was a user and just couldn't be nice to save a life - which (again) she's in a really stressful situation...but it seemed more like a base-personality-thing opposed to situational.
Rubbed me the wrong way.
June 23, 2021
Losing You by Nicci French is a 2020 William Morrow Publication (Originally published in 2005)
Nina and her kids are excited about their upcoming trip to Florida, where Nina will celebrate her birthday with her new boyfriend. Her plans go horribly awry when her teenage daughter, Charlie, fails to come home after a sleepover.
Law enforcement is useless, quoting their usual spiel about teenagers- suggesting Charlie will turn up soon, or that she could be a runaway- etc.
Refusing to sit on her hands, Nina goes in search of her daughter, only to discover she didn’t know Charlie as well as she thought…
I will snap up any book this dynamic duo writes. Because of that, I picked this book up thinking it was a new release, only to discover, once I sat down to read it, that it was a reissue.
The book was originally published back in 2005, which irritated me a little at first, because while the book wasn’t expressly marketed as a new release, it was implied. I shook it off, though, because I have always wanted to read some of French’s older books, so no harm, no foul, really.
This may not be the absolute best effort by French, but for some reason, once I got started on the book, I found myself unwilling to put it down. I blew through it at lightening speed, compelled by Nina’s Herculean task of locating Charlie virtually on her own. The atmosphere was also a plus, and the way the story was layered and how it unfolded kept me riveted to the pages.
Other than Nina’s tenacity to save her daughter, and the frightening secret lives of teenagers, the book doesn’t really allow the reader much of an opportunity to attach themselves to the characters. The story is not original, by any stretch of the imagination- but for some reason, that missing child/teen trope sucks me in every single time. The pacing is brisk, without sacrificing the suspense, but the book is a little sparse and narrowly focused on Nina’s one-woman show.
Still, it works, for an ‘in the moment’ spot of entertainment. I don’t know if, six months from now, I’ll be able to recall specifics of this book, but overall, it was a thrilling way to pass away a hot, muggy afternoon.
3.5 stars
Nina and her kids are excited about their upcoming trip to Florida, where Nina will celebrate her birthday with her new boyfriend. Her plans go horribly awry when her teenage daughter, Charlie, fails to come home after a sleepover.
Law enforcement is useless, quoting their usual spiel about teenagers- suggesting Charlie will turn up soon, or that she could be a runaway- etc.
Refusing to sit on her hands, Nina goes in search of her daughter, only to discover she didn’t know Charlie as well as she thought…
I will snap up any book this dynamic duo writes. Because of that, I picked this book up thinking it was a new release, only to discover, once I sat down to read it, that it was a reissue.
The book was originally published back in 2005, which irritated me a little at first, because while the book wasn’t expressly marketed as a new release, it was implied. I shook it off, though, because I have always wanted to read some of French’s older books, so no harm, no foul, really.
This may not be the absolute best effort by French, but for some reason, once I got started on the book, I found myself unwilling to put it down. I blew through it at lightening speed, compelled by Nina’s Herculean task of locating Charlie virtually on her own. The atmosphere was also a plus, and the way the story was layered and how it unfolded kept me riveted to the pages.
Other than Nina’s tenacity to save her daughter, and the frightening secret lives of teenagers, the book doesn’t really allow the reader much of an opportunity to attach themselves to the characters. The story is not original, by any stretch of the imagination- but for some reason, that missing child/teen trope sucks me in every single time. The pacing is brisk, without sacrificing the suspense, but the book is a little sparse and narrowly focused on Nina’s one-woman show.
Still, it works, for an ‘in the moment’ spot of entertainment. I don’t know if, six months from now, I’ll be able to recall specifics of this book, but overall, it was a thrilling way to pass away a hot, muggy afternoon.
3.5 stars
September 30, 2021
Not too long separated from her husband, but rebuilding her life, Nina Landry is living amongst the isolated Sandling Island community with her two children, when her eldest, her 15 year old daughter does not return home (from a night out) for their holiday flight to Miami. Like us all, Nina, knows how important the first 24 hours so refuses to wait as advised by the police and finds herself investigating the mystery herself, a mystery that reveals as much about her daughter, their community and police bureaucracy. With almost everyone convinced her daughter's runaway, Nina is the sole voice suspecting something worse.
The set-up for this story in the isolated island community works well, but thereafter it just sorts of repeats itself; people doubt, mum finds another clue - over and over again, until the sort of not too surprising finale. The married couple that make up Nicci French have finally written a book that I don't like, and it maybe no surprise that it is the first book written solely from a female point of view, as opposed to the mixed POV of a lot of their other work.
The set-up for this story in the isolated island community works well, but thereafter it just sorts of repeats itself; people doubt, mum finds another clue - over and over again, until the sort of not too surprising finale. The married couple that make up Nicci French have finally written a book that I don't like, and it maybe no surprise that it is the first book written solely from a female point of view, as opposed to the mixed POV of a lot of their other work.
February 17, 2021
The thrill 🙀 this book had so much suspense! When her teenage daughter disappears and everyone tells her she’s run off and will come back, Nina trusts her mom gut and goes looking. I don’t want to give anything away, but I thought this was a great mystery! My only complaint would be the level of detail.... every.... single.... vein... in... the... leaf.... is..... described. 😳 So it gave me the anxious... get on with it already.... feeling. But some people enjoy that... 🤷🏼♀️
August 12, 2022
My first Nicci French novel, Losing You is a page turner. Whenever there's a lost child in the story it ramps up the sense of urgency for me and this story is no different. Nina is leaving on a trip to Florida with her two kids in the afternoon and her morning is busy with last minute tasks. As the morning wears away and it's her birthday too, Nina becomes more and more anxious about where her daughter, Charlie, is. Charlie spent the night with some frenemies and did her paper route, but Is still not home.
Nina calls the police, who ignore her mother's instincts and poo poo her concerns. No one seems willing to help, so Nina must solve this mystery on her own, if she wants to see her beloved daughter ever again.
Nina calls the police, who ignore her mother's instincts and poo poo her concerns. No one seems willing to help, so Nina must solve this mystery on her own, if she wants to see her beloved daughter ever again.
August 3, 2016
No need to go into the 'plot ' really as so many have done so before, suffice to say that it is dificult to imagine getting annoyed and bored with a woman character whose daughter has gone missing - but Losing You managed this for me.
The term comicbook heroine has been used before by other reviewers and a very perceptive description it is too. Nina is - reasonably- interesting at first, but you've got to wonder about a character/person who lets their teenage daughter sleep out overnight, unpacked, the night before an overseas trip, especially a daughter scatty enough to arrange a surprise birthday party for 11 am ( 11am !) that day , when departure from the house is to be by 1pm. They have a dog too, a Labrador who Nina calls Sludge . I worry about a person who calls animals or children by deliberately ugly names, but be that as it may. The question is really, why does the dog have to be introduced into the story at all, she serves no purpose, and the same can be said for the strange cousin(?) Renata, who arrives ostensibly to take care of said dog and then takes to her bed , or rather Nina's bed, apparently deeply depressed . And then leaves, saying she is "only in your way" ........... I can see why the completely stupid party had to be used to further the plot . But Renata? Sludge?
I can only think that the party, the dog, the cousin and other sundry annoyances are somehow intended to show how our redoubtable heroine can overcome anything in a single bound.
Heaven knows, she does have to overcome stuff. Nobody much likes her it seems, maybe that's why they all came to the party as she was packing for the plane, just to piss her off. Nope, that doesn't figure , mostly they don't even know her, it's only the people who do know her who don't much like her. No idea why all those people - and it is described as dozens -would turn up to such an event. Imagine, a teenager who you barely know invites you to a 11am party for her mother, a woman you don't know at all . "It'll be a surprise for her 40th birthday and we are going to Florida later in the day" says the teenager . "Oh lovely " you say, "We' ll be there, and what is your name again dear? "......
But onward.... once she believes Charlie to be really missing and panic starts to build, she then has to contend with Everybody Else in The World, all of whom are too stupid ,too slow, too disbelieving or too deliberately obstructive to help her . Fortunately Nina is so unimaginably intuitive and clever and unstoppable that she manages the whole thing herself, all the detective work, all the interviews, all the fieldwork, all the denoument, the rescue, the natural justice, everything.
Oh and I forgot , and the the hospital staff are also completely inept and also need Nina-ising, right to the last moment.
The Bad Guy? I hardly remember who it was,so little was created around his character and motive.
The term comicbook heroine has been used before by other reviewers and a very perceptive description it is too. Nina is - reasonably- interesting at first, but you've got to wonder about a character/person who lets their teenage daughter sleep out overnight, unpacked, the night before an overseas trip, especially a daughter scatty enough to arrange a surprise birthday party for 11 am ( 11am !) that day , when departure from the house is to be by 1pm. They have a dog too, a Labrador who Nina calls Sludge . I worry about a person who calls animals or children by deliberately ugly names, but be that as it may. The question is really, why does the dog have to be introduced into the story at all, she serves no purpose, and the same can be said for the strange cousin(?) Renata, who arrives ostensibly to take care of said dog and then takes to her bed , or rather Nina's bed, apparently deeply depressed . And then leaves, saying she is "only in your way" ........... I can see why the completely stupid party had to be used to further the plot . But Renata? Sludge?
I can only think that the party, the dog, the cousin and other sundry annoyances are somehow intended to show how our redoubtable heroine can overcome anything in a single bound.
Heaven knows, she does have to overcome stuff. Nobody much likes her it seems, maybe that's why they all came to the party as she was packing for the plane, just to piss her off. Nope, that doesn't figure , mostly they don't even know her, it's only the people who do know her who don't much like her. No idea why all those people - and it is described as dozens -would turn up to such an event. Imagine, a teenager who you barely know invites you to a 11am party for her mother, a woman you don't know at all . "It'll be a surprise for her 40th birthday and we are going to Florida later in the day" says the teenager . "Oh lovely " you say, "We' ll be there, and what is your name again dear? "......
But onward.... once she believes Charlie to be really missing and panic starts to build, she then has to contend with Everybody Else in The World, all of whom are too stupid ,too slow, too disbelieving or too deliberately obstructive to help her . Fortunately Nina is so unimaginably intuitive and clever and unstoppable that she manages the whole thing herself, all the detective work, all the interviews, all the fieldwork, all the denoument, the rescue, the natural justice, everything.
Oh and I forgot , and the the hospital staff are also completely inept and also need Nina-ising, right to the last moment.
The Bad Guy? I hardly remember who it was,so little was created around his character and motive.
October 19, 2020
Full go, no stop, no bullshit.
Just awesomeness.
Just awesomeness.
December 1, 2018
Congratulations to the authors, you made me dislike a woman whose daughter was missing, that's quite an achievement! Nina was annoying and rude, and I completely understand why the people on the island didn't seem to like her. The timeline was incredibly unrealistic: this book took me about 5-6 hours to read, which more or less corresponds to the time that elapses in the story and in this time our main character drives to the other side of the island a few times. To give an example: early in the book, Nina mentions it's 11am. She then makes coffee, reads her mail, puts some bags in her car, does the dishes, cleans the kitchen floor and collects the sheets from all the beds. She proceeds to call her daughter... at 11.13am. I wish my housekeeping was this time-efficient!
December 9, 2025
Now here is a real page-turner! Read this thriller in only two days. Such an incredibly suspenseful story, I just couldn’t stop!
August 4, 2021
This is a suspenseful story about a teenage daughter who goes missing on the day the family is supposed to leave on a Christmas vacation.
By family, I mean Nina, her BF, and her two children. Mother’s intuition tells Nina that her daughter has not run away and she becomes frustrated that the police are not taking the situation more seriously. Nina is determined and swears that Charlie shares most things with her. But when she begins talking to her friends, she finds that her daughter has an entire different life she knows nothing about.
Looking back at my own teenager at 15-years-old, I think Nina handled the situation better than I would have! At that age, I was also a single mother, but my son did everything he could do irritate me, so my first reaction to that situation would not have been that calm, lol!
The writing was fantastic, and the plot was good. But the story felt too detailed and slow, so I forget that it all takes place on only one day.
My first book by Nicci French (the writing team Nicci Gerrard and Steve French) wasn’t as wonderful as I hoped, but I’m not ready to give up. I’ve heard great things about their books, so I’ll try another. If I had paid attention and noticed this one was first published in 2005, it wouldn’t have been my first choice.
Sincere thanks to Edelweiss, HarperCollins, and Nicci French. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
My Rating: 3.5 ⭐️’s (rounding down)
Published: January 28th 2020 by HarperCollins
Audio: 10 hours
#LosingYou #Edelweiss #Thriller #PsychologicalThriller #Audiobook #InExchangeForReview #ARC #JustFinished #BookReview
After publication my reviews can be found at Amazon, Twitter, GoodReads, Barnes and Noble, BookBub, NetGalley, and Edelweiss
@FrenchNicci @edelweiss_squad @HarperCollins
By family, I mean Nina, her BF, and her two children. Mother’s intuition tells Nina that her daughter has not run away and she becomes frustrated that the police are not taking the situation more seriously. Nina is determined and swears that Charlie shares most things with her. But when she begins talking to her friends, she finds that her daughter has an entire different life she knows nothing about.
Looking back at my own teenager at 15-years-old, I think Nina handled the situation better than I would have! At that age, I was also a single mother, but my son did everything he could do irritate me, so my first reaction to that situation would not have been that calm, lol!
The writing was fantastic, and the plot was good. But the story felt too detailed and slow, so I forget that it all takes place on only one day.
My first book by Nicci French (the writing team Nicci Gerrard and Steve French) wasn’t as wonderful as I hoped, but I’m not ready to give up. I’ve heard great things about their books, so I’ll try another. If I had paid attention and noticed this one was first published in 2005, it wouldn’t have been my first choice.
Sincere thanks to Edelweiss, HarperCollins, and Nicci French. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
My Rating: 3.5 ⭐️’s (rounding down)
Published: January 28th 2020 by HarperCollins
Audio: 10 hours
#LosingYou #Edelweiss #Thriller #PsychologicalThriller #Audiobook #InExchangeForReview #ARC #JustFinished #BookReview
After publication my reviews can be found at Amazon, Twitter, GoodReads, Barnes and Noble, BookBub, NetGalley, and Edelweiss
@FrenchNicci @edelweiss_squad @HarperCollins
February 1, 2020
Unenthusiastic 2.5 stars
This is the biggest reading disappointment in a long time. Not the worst book, but the biggest disappointment.
My dismay is big enough that rounding to 3 stars feels generous, but I can’t bring myself to go lower. It’s Nicci French.
I’m a major fan and I had this preordered on audible. Not long into listening, I decided that this must be a new audio release of a book published early in their career. It looks like a new release in print, too. But after looking at the quite old reviews here, this must be a re-release, but one better left in the past.
The greatest difficulty I had with this was the angsty melodrama. A mom spends a day (the whole book) wringing her hands and heart over her missing teenager and scurrying around trying to grind information out of people—while emoting emoting emoting.
The narration leaned into the agitated, desperate tone, amplifying whatever was on the page. I couldn’t wait to be finished. I did finish, though, hoping for late-breaking redemption.
Tedious emotionality and uninspired plotting were my experience of the story, which really had some potential and was in the hands of talented writers.
This is an example of how much we don’t want reality as much as relatable credibility in fiction. All this breathless heart-pouring would be the experience of a real mother who lost her daughter—but I don’t want to stay in that place for the length of a novel. A taste of maternal vexation is plenty in this genre.
Missing person novels aren’t my favorite, but they can be engaging and fascinating. This one obviously missed the mark.
I’m going to believe that with this novel the writing team got this writing style out of their system and that led them to be the stars in this genre they’ve become.
Want to Read
February 18, 2020Giveaway win!
February 10, 2020
If you can get past the hysteria and armchair sleuthing of Nina, this book isn't too bad. It's a decent mystery set up by a multitude of incidents that lead to Charlie being missing and her mother desperate to find her.
What didn't work for me were the things mentioned above--Nina's absolute hysteria when Charlie is missing and pages and pages of her trying to convince people that Charlie didn't run away and that something terrible has happened to her, and the police insisting that Charlie has just run away. Over and over again. It got old very quickly and didn't move the story along, despite it probably being the actual reactions that both parties would have if it were a real situation. Even after the police start to buy into Nina's theory, they are still not as capable as Nina with her armchair sleuthing, which didn't seem believable to me at all.
I figured out where the story was going pretty much from the beginning, but it still was a decent book if you can get through the beginning and get to the actual investigation.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own.
What didn't work for me were the things mentioned above--Nina's absolute hysteria when Charlie is missing and pages and pages of her trying to convince people that Charlie didn't run away and that something terrible has happened to her, and the police insisting that Charlie has just run away. Over and over again. It got old very quickly and didn't move the story along, despite it probably being the actual reactions that both parties would have if it were a real situation. Even after the police start to buy into Nina's theory, they are still not as capable as Nina with her armchair sleuthing, which didn't seem believable to me at all.
I figured out where the story was going pretty much from the beginning, but it still was a decent book if you can get through the beginning and get to the actual investigation.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own.
February 21, 2011
An impossible timeline - a week's worth of activities are accomplished in about 5 hours. A ridiculous scenario - a birthday party attended by a horde of people that the celebrant barely knows or doesn't know at all. Said surprise party scheduled two hours before celebrant and family are to leave for an international flight. Top all that off with a missing 15 year old daughter - the party planner. The mother/protagonist, Nina, chucks out the guests with maybe 15 minutes to go before departure time,and still no daughter. Yes, she is distraught, but goes out of her way to be abrasive to all,as she mounts a search for her daughter. A quick read,not worth your time.
December 14, 2008
This book was made very different by not having chapters. It caused it to be very difficult to put the book down since there were no breaks in the action. I found the book to be engrossing, and very quick to read. The story was very suspenseful and had lots of action. This was the first book I have read by Nicci French, and I enjoyed this one enough to read more by the author.
Nina Landry is thrilled to be going on a Christmas vacation with her two children and her boyfriend. Nina and her children plan to leave their home on Sandling Island and pick up her boyfriend, Christian, enroute to the airport in London. They are traveling to Florida, where they will spend Christmas together. As the day of their departure begins, Nina's plans are first altered as her car needs mechanical adjsutments that a friend attempts to provide, and then she arrives back home to find that her daughter, Charlie, has invited a large number of people for Nina's surprise birthday party. Nina begins to find it strange that her fifteen year old daughter doesn't show up for the party she planned, and then she becomes worried when no one seems to know where to find Charlie. Nina begins to question those she knows Charlie saw earlier in the day about her possible whereabouts. Nina quickly realizes that Charlie is truly missing, and she goes to the police who do not take this couple hour disappearance by a teenager seriously. Nina finds items missing from Charlie's room that point to the idea that she has run away. Nina is devastated and determined to find Charlie quickly. As she checks Charlie's paper route, she is terrified when she finds Charlie's bicycle hidden in the woods. She knows that Charlie has been abducted, and she conducts the police again. The police begin to move very slowly, not yet searching for the teen, and Nina continues to conduct her own search, during which she questions several individuals. The police are frustrated with her and try to stop her, but Nina is certain that time is of the essence. This frantic mother knows that she is her daughter's only hope and she will do anything to find and save her.
I thought that the absence of chapters and Nina's frantic search made the book seem exceptionally fast paced. I literally could not put the book down, and felt like I was racing to finish it while Nina raced to find her daugther. I read it in one sitting in just a couple of hours. The book focused more on the plot than the characters. I am interested to read more by the author and find out if they are all as suspenseful as this one.
Nina Landry is thrilled to be going on a Christmas vacation with her two children and her boyfriend. Nina and her children plan to leave their home on Sandling Island and pick up her boyfriend, Christian, enroute to the airport in London. They are traveling to Florida, where they will spend Christmas together. As the day of their departure begins, Nina's plans are first altered as her car needs mechanical adjsutments that a friend attempts to provide, and then she arrives back home to find that her daughter, Charlie, has invited a large number of people for Nina's surprise birthday party. Nina begins to find it strange that her fifteen year old daughter doesn't show up for the party she planned, and then she becomes worried when no one seems to know where to find Charlie. Nina begins to question those she knows Charlie saw earlier in the day about her possible whereabouts. Nina quickly realizes that Charlie is truly missing, and she goes to the police who do not take this couple hour disappearance by a teenager seriously. Nina finds items missing from Charlie's room that point to the idea that she has run away. Nina is devastated and determined to find Charlie quickly. As she checks Charlie's paper route, she is terrified when she finds Charlie's bicycle hidden in the woods. She knows that Charlie has been abducted, and she conducts the police again. The police begin to move very slowly, not yet searching for the teen, and Nina continues to conduct her own search, during which she questions several individuals. The police are frustrated with her and try to stop her, but Nina is certain that time is of the essence. This frantic mother knows that she is her daughter's only hope and she will do anything to find and save her.
I thought that the absence of chapters and Nina's frantic search made the book seem exceptionally fast paced. I literally could not put the book down, and felt like I was racing to finish it while Nina raced to find her daugther. I read it in one sitting in just a couple of hours. The book focused more on the plot than the characters. I am interested to read more by the author and find out if they are all as suspenseful as this one.
December 11, 2015
Have you ever been in a busy mall and thought just for a moment that you had lost your wallet? Your heart starts to pound, blind panic sets in... In Losing You Nina Landry has lost something much more precious, her teenage daughter, Charlotte...
It is Nina's 40th birthday and she has made plans to take her son and daughter on a trip to Florida over the holiday season. Her daughter Charlotte (Charlie) has stayed overnight at a friend's house. When she is late coming home Nina is irritated, but as the hours pass her irritation turns to panic. Set on a British island in the North Sea in the dark days prior to Christmas, one feels a sharp sense of place which contributes greatly to the overall increasing sense of foreboding.
Nina reports her worries to the local police. They do not take her concern very seriously. A teenage girl late home...they see it all the time. Events come to light that make Nina even more concerned. Nina's relationship with Charlie seems to be not as sound as she previously thought. A mother's guilt and the natural divide between teenager and parent make Nina wonder more. Because of the apathy shown by the police she tries to discover Charlie's whereabouts herself. The police do not take kindly to her interference. When Nina discovers a young girl's body, the police become interested at last, but is it too little too late?
I have read several other novels by this husband-and-wife writing team and none so far have disappointed. All are psychological thrillers, but all are very different from one another. Much of the pleasure in reading this novel comes from the connection you feel with the protagonist, Nina. Her fears, insecurities, guilt and self-doubt are feelings that all parents share.
With "Losing You" some readers might be skeptical of a novel in which all of the action takes place in one single day. But true to the genre "Losing You" is a page-turning novel of suspense. You'll probably read it in one day as I did. All in all, a day well spent.
It is Nina's 40th birthday and she has made plans to take her son and daughter on a trip to Florida over the holiday season. Her daughter Charlotte (Charlie) has stayed overnight at a friend's house. When she is late coming home Nina is irritated, but as the hours pass her irritation turns to panic. Set on a British island in the North Sea in the dark days prior to Christmas, one feels a sharp sense of place which contributes greatly to the overall increasing sense of foreboding.
Nina reports her worries to the local police. They do not take her concern very seriously. A teenage girl late home...they see it all the time. Events come to light that make Nina even more concerned. Nina's relationship with Charlie seems to be not as sound as she previously thought. A mother's guilt and the natural divide between teenager and parent make Nina wonder more. Because of the apathy shown by the police she tries to discover Charlie's whereabouts herself. The police do not take kindly to her interference. When Nina discovers a young girl's body, the police become interested at last, but is it too little too late?
I have read several other novels by this husband-and-wife writing team and none so far have disappointed. All are psychological thrillers, but all are very different from one another. Much of the pleasure in reading this novel comes from the connection you feel with the protagonist, Nina. Her fears, insecurities, guilt and self-doubt are feelings that all parents share.
With "Losing You" some readers might be skeptical of a novel in which all of the action takes place in one single day. But true to the genre "Losing You" is a page-turning novel of suspense. You'll probably read it in one day as I did. All in all, a day well spent.
December 27, 2019
Have you ever lost something precious to you? A wallet a gift? A Daughter?
Losing you by Nicci French means literally that.
When Ninas daughter Charlotte goes missing she immediately is more than worried. Her teenage daughter, who of all days is excited to be going on holiday to Florida that day - so why would she be late home?
At first Nina is annoyed because everything is running so smoothly and this trip is a much needed one for the family. So when Charlie appears to be a little behind she is irritated by her daughters lateness. But when guests arrive to their home to congratulate her at the surprise birthday party, the one Charlotte organized for her mum - Ninas alarm bells start ringing loudly and she wonders - shouldn’t she be there to celebrate it?
Charlie is definitely missing and no one seems to be worried. So Nina goes on a mission. What would a mother in desperation do? She becomes detective when the police say it’s too early to be worried! Really. She starts her own undercover investigation and begins to draw out information from Neighbor’s, boyfriends and anyone who can help. She searches through all the little clues in Charlies bedroom until she starts to piece together what may be happening.
The book is told in real time and with no chapters. (I love books with no chapters) as it makes the book more pacey.
I have read other novels by these authors - a husband and wife team who form the pseudonym of Nicci French and haven’t been disappointed yet.
I felt this novel focused more on the plot than the characters. Usually I prefer a stronger collection of characters ( hence 3 stars) but I felt that the book still held suspense and flowed well.
Not my favorite thriller but easy to read and held my attention.
Losing you by Nicci French means literally that.
When Ninas daughter Charlotte goes missing she immediately is more than worried. Her teenage daughter, who of all days is excited to be going on holiday to Florida that day - so why would she be late home?
At first Nina is annoyed because everything is running so smoothly and this trip is a much needed one for the family. So when Charlie appears to be a little behind she is irritated by her daughters lateness. But when guests arrive to their home to congratulate her at the surprise birthday party, the one Charlotte organized for her mum - Ninas alarm bells start ringing loudly and she wonders - shouldn’t she be there to celebrate it?
Charlie is definitely missing and no one seems to be worried. So Nina goes on a mission. What would a mother in desperation do? She becomes detective when the police say it’s too early to be worried! Really. She starts her own undercover investigation and begins to draw out information from Neighbor’s, boyfriends and anyone who can help. She searches through all the little clues in Charlies bedroom until she starts to piece together what may be happening.
The book is told in real time and with no chapters. (I love books with no chapters) as it makes the book more pacey.
I have read other novels by these authors - a husband and wife team who form the pseudonym of Nicci French and haven’t been disappointed yet.
I felt this novel focused more on the plot than the characters. Usually I prefer a stronger collection of characters ( hence 3 stars) but I felt that the book still held suspense and flowed well.
Not my favorite thriller but easy to read and held my attention.
January 31, 2020
On the morning of Nina Landry’s fortieth birthday, just hours before she and her children are due to fly out to Florida for a vacation, fifteen year old Charlie disappears. At first Nina is simply irritated that her daughter is nowhere to be found on the tiny island off the coast of England on which they live, but as time runs on she becomes increasingly convinced that something has happened to Charlie ...something terrible.
While the story takes place over less than a day, I devoured Losing You by Nicci French in about two hours, breathlessly accompanying Nina in her search for her missing teenage daughter. What begins as an ordinary, if chaotic, day as Nina’s car plays up, as she’s trying to finish packing for their trip, as her depressed cousin/dog sitter arrives, as she unexpectedly hosts a few dozen people for a surprise party organised by her daughter, as she fields calls from her belligerent ex-husband, turns surreal when Nina realises Charlie is not simply late, but missing.
One of the most difficult things I have found about being a mother to teens is that they have areas of their lives that no longer include me, and even those that they deliberately exclude me from. I’m not always confident that I have taught them enough to independently make good choices and to protect themselves from situations, or people, that could threaten their well-being. Charlie, who Nina describes as ‘recalcitrant, volatile, emotional, romantic and intense’, seems more likely than most teenagers to keep secrets, especially when you factor in the issues with her father, who has recently abandoned the family, and her mother’s new relationship. As it happens, none of what Charlie has kept hidden is particularly earth shattering, but her secrets, and the secrets of others, do play a part in unraveling the mystery.
I empathised with Nina’s frustration with the police who are initially content to dismiss Charlie as a runaway, and are incredibly patronising as they do so. Objectively I understand the need of the police to gather the facts and plan the investigation, but in Nina’s shoes I think I too would disregard their orders and do what I could to unearth anything that could provide answers.
Losing You is not perfect, there was for example, the odd character I thought was superfluous, but Nina is relatable and convincing as a panicked mother, and the pacing is superb. A quick thrilling, read.
While the story takes place over less than a day, I devoured Losing You by Nicci French in about two hours, breathlessly accompanying Nina in her search for her missing teenage daughter. What begins as an ordinary, if chaotic, day as Nina’s car plays up, as she’s trying to finish packing for their trip, as her depressed cousin/dog sitter arrives, as she unexpectedly hosts a few dozen people for a surprise party organised by her daughter, as she fields calls from her belligerent ex-husband, turns surreal when Nina realises Charlie is not simply late, but missing.
One of the most difficult things I have found about being a mother to teens is that they have areas of their lives that no longer include me, and even those that they deliberately exclude me from. I’m not always confident that I have taught them enough to independently make good choices and to protect themselves from situations, or people, that could threaten their well-being. Charlie, who Nina describes as ‘recalcitrant, volatile, emotional, romantic and intense’, seems more likely than most teenagers to keep secrets, especially when you factor in the issues with her father, who has recently abandoned the family, and her mother’s new relationship. As it happens, none of what Charlie has kept hidden is particularly earth shattering, but her secrets, and the secrets of others, do play a part in unraveling the mystery.
I empathised with Nina’s frustration with the police who are initially content to dismiss Charlie as a runaway, and are incredibly patronising as they do so. Objectively I understand the need of the police to gather the facts and plan the investigation, but in Nina’s shoes I think I too would disregard their orders and do what I could to unearth anything that could provide answers.
Losing You is not perfect, there was for example, the odd character I thought was superfluous, but Nina is relatable and convincing as a panicked mother, and the pacing is superb. A quick thrilling, read.
December 15, 2012
I don't even have to go into much detail to review this book. I totally agree with everything Barbara Hoyland says in her review of it in June, so you can just go and read that. But here are a few of my own comments:
I usually like books by Nicci French as kind of a guilty pleasure once in a while. Some have been better than others, but I haven't totally disliked any. Until this one. It was just plain awful. I should have realized it when I had to read the very first line of the book 4 times, and still don't quite get it. Isn't an opening line meant to pull you in and make you want to read on? Well, here's the opening line from this one: ""Sometimes I still felt that I had fetched up on the edge of the world." There, you be the judge. I don't even know what it means, and I've read the whole book, which surprises even me.
The main character is a mother whose daughter is missing, and she spends the whole book trying to find her. I hated this woman. She was constantly hanging up on people, taking everything into her own hands without apology, and just someone I'm glad I don't know. She was suspicious of everyone in the world of abducting her daughter, yet she was stupid enough to allow her daughter to go to a sleepover at another girl's house the night before they were leaving on a major vacation trip, one which the girl had not even packed for yet. Really a responsible act.
Anyway, the only person I kind of felt sorry for in the book was the younger brother of the missing girl, who just got pushed between assorted babysitters the whole time, and the dog. I agree with Barbara that the dog, and the mother's cousin were both just thrown in for no reason. Also, I have to question the mom's boyfriend. He is stuck in traffic somewhere thru most of the book and doesn't even show up again at the end. And what was up with the dumb surprise birthday party that the girl invited everyone to at 11:00 on the day they were to leave for the airport at 1:00? Huh????
If I was ever going to throw a book at the wall in frustration, this would be it.
I usually like books by Nicci French as kind of a guilty pleasure once in a while. Some have been better than others, but I haven't totally disliked any. Until this one. It was just plain awful. I should have realized it when I had to read the very first line of the book 4 times, and still don't quite get it. Isn't an opening line meant to pull you in and make you want to read on? Well, here's the opening line from this one: ""Sometimes I still felt that I had fetched up on the edge of the world." There, you be the judge. I don't even know what it means, and I've read the whole book, which surprises even me.
The main character is a mother whose daughter is missing, and she spends the whole book trying to find her. I hated this woman. She was constantly hanging up on people, taking everything into her own hands without apology, and just someone I'm glad I don't know. She was suspicious of everyone in the world of abducting her daughter, yet she was stupid enough to allow her daughter to go to a sleepover at another girl's house the night before they were leaving on a major vacation trip, one which the girl had not even packed for yet. Really a responsible act.
Anyway, the only person I kind of felt sorry for in the book was the younger brother of the missing girl, who just got pushed between assorted babysitters the whole time, and the dog. I agree with Barbara that the dog, and the mother's cousin were both just thrown in for no reason. Also, I have to question the mom's boyfriend. He is stuck in traffic somewhere thru most of the book and doesn't even show up again at the end. And what was up with the dumb surprise birthday party that the girl invited everyone to at 11:00 on the day they were to leave for the airport at 1:00? Huh????
If I was ever going to throw a book at the wall in frustration, this would be it.
October 25, 2021
I have a fondness for Nicci French although I've rated more books 3 star and bellow more then I've giving them higher. When they are good, they are amazing. My library and other near me has tiny collection of their books so I jump on everything im able to find which is not always a good thing. Missing teenager or kids on danger in general is not really something I like in my thrillers and crime, so wouldn't have picked it up if it wasn't my the writing duo Nicci French.
Read
April 27, 2026I could not stop reading! Suspenseful, powerful writing, and a theme of mother/child love and the unbreakable bond it creates.
January 17, 2021
I would've given this book 5 stars, if not for the fact that it DOES NOT HAVE ANY CHAPTERS?! I get that this is supposed to keep you reading, but I just found it REALLY ANNOYING. It did the opposite for me. Normally I think: 'Oh, I'll just read one chapter', and now I didn't have that kind of motivation.
Story-wise, I thought this is a really great book. The lead character, Nina, is a bit annoying. However, I thought this was really understandable, since absolutely no one saw the urgency of the disappearance of her daughter. In my opinion, Nicci French really caught the feeling of losing someone you love and doing everything in your power to get them back. This woman was brave and strong.
So everything summed up: I do recommend this book!! It took me a while to start, but after that I finished it in one day :)
Story-wise, I thought this is a really great book. The lead character, Nina, is a bit annoying. However, I thought this was really understandable, since absolutely no one saw the urgency of the disappearance of her daughter. In my opinion, Nicci French really caught the feeling of losing someone you love and doing everything in your power to get them back. This woman was brave and strong.
So everything summed up: I do recommend this book!! It took me a while to start, but after that I finished it in one day :)
September 27, 2020
I LOVED this thriller. I had absolutely no idea why Nina's daughter, Charlie, went missing and who (if anyone) was involved in her disappearance until the last chapters. French does a great job of replicating what a mother would do and how they would react if their child went missing. I would have done the same exact things that Nina did in order to find my child. I listened to the audiobook version of this story, read by Imogen Church (who narrates all of the Ruth Ware novels). Highly recommended.
May 31, 2022
Build me a willow cabin at thy gate, and call upon my soul within the house . . .
Let the babbling gossips of the air cry out.
- William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night (text variation)
Losing You takes place over the course of one eventful day, on the occasion of Nina's 40th birthday. Although I try to avoid this type of drama and busy lifestyle in my own life, it does make for a short thriller and quick read. Losing You explores how people may react differently than expected when dealing with extreme circumstances.
A related book I recently read: The Daughter by Jane Shemilt.
Favorite Passages:
. . . once, late at night, when she was a bit tipsy, she'd confided to me that life rushed at her out of a fog, constantly taking her by surprise.
______
"I think Christmas should be cancelled," Karen was saying. "Eammon has a kind of ideological objection to it anyway, and is always trying to make us celebrate the winter solstice instead, stand around a bonfire at midnight like witches."
_______
"I looked at myself in the mirror, and I thought, That's you now. No escape. That's who you are."
_______
Walking down the stairs I almost collided with what looked like a peculiar half-boy, half-robot coming up. It was Jackson, looking through the camcorder Rory had bought for us a year ago and which I'd never even got out of the box.
_______
I had woken into a new world, a world that was cold and harsh and entirely different from anything I had ever imagined for myself, and I had to think about it carefully and with clarity.
_______
I didn't want to talk to anyone unless it was Charlie or someone who could tell me how to find her. Everything else was noise, an irrelevant hiss and rumble from a world to which I no longer felt connected. I looked around me constantly, thinking I might glimpse some tiny sign of Charlie if I was alert enough, if I was looking in the right place. Behind the hedge, down the alley, in the car, up in the lighted first-floor window of the gabled house, going into the shop, disappearing round the corner like that dog-walker now, in the ploughed field that in summer was golden with wheat, among the boats that stood in the yard, halliards tinkling and tarpaulins flapping. I was terrified of looking in the wrong direction, terrified she might be just behind me or just in front and that I would miss her because I wasn't alert enough. My eyes zigzagged along our route, until everything I saw seemed surreal, plucked out of its everyday context.
_______
In the hidden cinema of my mind, I glimpsed a series of pornographic freeze-frames . . .
_______
Charlie's bedroom was like an orange from which I had extracted the juice but which I kept squeezing and squeezing to see if there was any left. But in truth the problem was the opposite. There was a Niagra Falls of juice and what I had to do was find something I could use. There was so much data, so many clues, so much information that I could lose myself in.
_______
There was a newspaper on the front seat folded up in a roll. It must have been left by Tom the vicar because on the while space he had written, in large capital letters, "SERVICE ME!" I think he meant the car.
_______
The water licked the beach; the torch threw long, quivering shadows against the rippled surface of the sand and the sea. The moon hung its sickly light above us. The ripped doors of the huts banged uselessly in the wind. A dog barked somewhere. The world was as unreal as a nightmare.
_______
I brought up my right hand and slapped him hard, then again with the left. I felt so very, very angry. About his silence, his evasions, but also his being here, with music and friends and dope on this night of all nights, for laying his hands on my daughter, for loving her but not being out on the marshes howling her name, for letting life go on while she was in danger, for being young and thoughtless, for being safe and alive. He hardly reacted, just breathed deeply, his eyes filling with water.
"You fucking cretin," I said.
Let the babbling gossips of the air cry out.
- William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night (text variation)
Losing You takes place over the course of one eventful day, on the occasion of Nina's 40th birthday. Although I try to avoid this type of drama and busy lifestyle in my own life, it does make for a short thriller and quick read. Losing You explores how people may react differently than expected when dealing with extreme circumstances.
A related book I recently read: The Daughter by Jane Shemilt.
Favorite Passages:
. . . once, late at night, when she was a bit tipsy, she'd confided to me that life rushed at her out of a fog, constantly taking her by surprise.
______
"I think Christmas should be cancelled," Karen was saying. "Eammon has a kind of ideological objection to it anyway, and is always trying to make us celebrate the winter solstice instead, stand around a bonfire at midnight like witches."
_______
"I looked at myself in the mirror, and I thought, That's you now. No escape. That's who you are."
_______
Walking down the stairs I almost collided with what looked like a peculiar half-boy, half-robot coming up. It was Jackson, looking through the camcorder Rory had bought for us a year ago and which I'd never even got out of the box.
_______
I had woken into a new world, a world that was cold and harsh and entirely different from anything I had ever imagined for myself, and I had to think about it carefully and with clarity.
_______
I didn't want to talk to anyone unless it was Charlie or someone who could tell me how to find her. Everything else was noise, an irrelevant hiss and rumble from a world to which I no longer felt connected. I looked around me constantly, thinking I might glimpse some tiny sign of Charlie if I was alert enough, if I was looking in the right place. Behind the hedge, down the alley, in the car, up in the lighted first-floor window of the gabled house, going into the shop, disappearing round the corner like that dog-walker now, in the ploughed field that in summer was golden with wheat, among the boats that stood in the yard, halliards tinkling and tarpaulins flapping. I was terrified of looking in the wrong direction, terrified she might be just behind me or just in front and that I would miss her because I wasn't alert enough. My eyes zigzagged along our route, until everything I saw seemed surreal, plucked out of its everyday context.
_______
In the hidden cinema of my mind, I glimpsed a series of pornographic freeze-frames . . .
_______
Charlie's bedroom was like an orange from which I had extracted the juice but which I kept squeezing and squeezing to see if there was any left. But in truth the problem was the opposite. There was a Niagra Falls of juice and what I had to do was find something I could use. There was so much data, so many clues, so much information that I could lose myself in.
_______
There was a newspaper on the front seat folded up in a roll. It must have been left by Tom the vicar because on the while space he had written, in large capital letters, "SERVICE ME!" I think he meant the car.
_______
The water licked the beach; the torch threw long, quivering shadows against the rippled surface of the sand and the sea. The moon hung its sickly light above us. The ripped doors of the huts banged uselessly in the wind. A dog barked somewhere. The world was as unreal as a nightmare.
_______
I brought up my right hand and slapped him hard, then again with the left. I felt so very, very angry. About his silence, his evasions, but also his being here, with music and friends and dope on this night of all nights, for laying his hands on my daughter, for loving her but not being out on the marshes howling her name, for letting life go on while she was in danger, for being young and thoughtless, for being safe and alive. He hardly reacted, just breathed deeply, his eyes filling with water.
"You fucking cretin," I said.
January 22, 2025
Nicci French tells a good story. She maintains suspense. She makes you care about her characters. The bad news: She overwrites. Badly. In the middle of a suspenseful scene, she takes two paragraphs to describe inconsequential scenery or the state of the main character's shoes and clothing. I skimmed a lot while reading this book. In fact, I was reading two other books at the same time, something I don't normally do, but two of the books I was reading (this one and Being Audrey Hepburn) moved so slowly that I chose a third to change up the pace.
Any mother can identify with the main character's panic at realizing her daughter is actually missing rather than having run away, and her frustration at the glacial pace of the police investigation. It is doubtful that a parent in the U.S. would be able to run around doing her own sleuthing like this mother did, but the novel is set in a small English village, so I have no idea whether this would be in the realm of possibility there. I could see it happening in an extremely small town in the U.S., so it is possible, I suppose.
Nonetheless, despite the good points listed, the fact that the pace dragged because of the author's penchant for superfluous description dictates two stars for this novel.
Note:
Any mother can identify with the main character's panic at realizing her daughter is actually missing rather than having run away, and her frustration at the glacial pace of the police investigation. It is doubtful that a parent in the U.S. would be able to run around doing her own sleuthing like this mother did, but the novel is set in a small English village, so I have no idea whether this would be in the realm of possibility there. I could see it happening in an extremely small town in the U.S., so it is possible, I suppose.
Nonetheless, despite the good points listed, the fact that the pace dragged because of the author's penchant for superfluous description dictates two stars for this novel.
Note:
November 4, 2019
Only after reading about 10 pages in this book, I realized I've already read it. Years ago! So why kept my mind telling me not to read this book for a second time? Well, obviously, because this was not one of my favorite Nicci French' books, which showed because I just couldn't remember what happened exactly.
I tried, but a second reading didn't make the book any better for me than just 'below average' for this couple of excellent authors. The main character who we see running around all the time is very unresponsible by letting her daughter go to a sleepover the night before a holiday. The daughter is your typical teenager; mother and daughter cannot seem to understand each other anymore. Nothing new there...
A nice book if you don't expect too much, and need something light for a long flight or so.
Thanks to Edelweiss for this digital review copy.
I tried, but a second reading didn't make the book any better for me than just 'below average' for this couple of excellent authors. The main character who we see running around all the time is very unresponsible by letting her daughter go to a sleepover the night before a holiday. The daughter is your typical teenager; mother and daughter cannot seem to understand each other anymore. Nothing new there...
A nice book if you don't expect too much, and need something light for a long flight or so.
Thanks to Edelweiss for this digital review copy.
June 17, 2008
Piece 'o crap thriller. A plot from which something could have been made, but wasn't.
June 10, 2010
3.5 some unanswered questions at the end.
July 16, 2020
Rating: 5 Stars!! (Wish i could rate it 10 stars!!)
Review:
First off Thank you to Katie Leary at Harpers Collins and Goodreads for picking me to win this book in a giveaway on here back in May. This was my 2nd time reading a book by Nicci Gerrard and Sean French this year!! I am definately hooked on their books!!
This book was bout a mother named Nina Landry who wakes up on her 40th birthday anticipating a day filled with excitement where Nina, her boyfriend and her two kids Charlotte (Charlie) and Jackson are taking a trip leaving their home on Sandling Island, England for a dream vacation to Florida as soon as her 15 year old daugther Charlotte (Charlie) comes home from a sleepover at her best friends house BUT when Charlie doesnt come home on time Nina starts to panic etc.
Through the book we learn about family secrets, love and betraying friends.
At first this book was slow for me til Page 100 than picked up with so many twists coming up it was hard to stop reading.
It reminded me alot of the movie Twister but with a Thriller twist it minus the weather aspect to it.
If you want a good Thriller book with twists in it to read for a readathon etc than THIS BOOK IS DEFINATELY FOR YOU!!
Can't wait to read more by Nicci and Sean in the future!!!
Review:
First off Thank you to Katie Leary at Harpers Collins and Goodreads for picking me to win this book in a giveaway on here back in May. This was my 2nd time reading a book by Nicci Gerrard and Sean French this year!! I am definately hooked on their books!!
This book was bout a mother named Nina Landry who wakes up on her 40th birthday anticipating a day filled with excitement where Nina, her boyfriend and her two kids Charlotte (Charlie) and Jackson are taking a trip leaving their home on Sandling Island, England for a dream vacation to Florida as soon as her 15 year old daugther Charlotte (Charlie) comes home from a sleepover at her best friends house BUT when Charlie doesnt come home on time Nina starts to panic etc.
Through the book we learn about family secrets, love and betraying friends.
At first this book was slow for me til Page 100 than picked up with so many twists coming up it was hard to stop reading.
It reminded me alot of the movie Twister but with a Thriller twist it minus the weather aspect to it.
If you want a good Thriller book with twists in it to read for a readathon etc than THIS BOOK IS DEFINATELY FOR YOU!!
Can't wait to read more by Nicci and Sean in the future!!!
May 7, 2022
A kidnapped daughter, a somewhat frantic yet strongwilled mother searching for her. Whats not to love.
It did start off a bit slow, with nina repeating several times she was going on a vacation. But once you get passed that it gradually picked up. She did show quite a bit of restraint with dealing with rude mothers and annoying teenagers, ontop of an annoying exhusband.
It had a sufficient amount of twists and turns to keep you intrigued. Nina literally did all the detective work in this entire book. The police force came across as useless and slow on the draw.
Out of all the culrpits i assumed to be the kidnapper, i was proven wrong. I'd say though maybe a little bit more work could have been done into maybe making it known how this kidnapper was involved. It didnt give much info on that other than nina' supposition.
Also, what happend to her boyfriend. He was stuck on the m25 the entire story and he didnt even make it in the end. Was this a character forgotten. Guess id never know.
Id say a 3.5 is good enough for this.
It did start off a bit slow, with nina repeating several times she was going on a vacation. But once you get passed that it gradually picked up. She did show quite a bit of restraint with dealing with rude mothers and annoying teenagers, ontop of an annoying exhusband.
It had a sufficient amount of twists and turns to keep you intrigued. Nina literally did all the detective work in this entire book. The police force came across as useless and slow on the draw.
Out of all the culrpits i assumed to be the kidnapper, i was proven wrong. I'd say though maybe a little bit more work could have been done into maybe making it known how this kidnapper was involved. It didnt give much info on that other than nina' supposition.
Also, what happend to her boyfriend. He was stuck on the m25 the entire story and he didnt even make it in the end. Was this a character forgotten. Guess id never know.
Id say a 3.5 is good enough for this.
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