What do you think?
Rate this book
Missing
Psychological revelation of family secrets.
A mystery of family bonds, love, lies, deception, and jealousy. Laura grew up in foster care, she has no relatives or remembers her past life -she is a nobody.
She returns to her birthplace; Russet House. In attic, she finds old newspaper reports of a tragic event. Her mother is missing. Her father is dead.
Through shocking turns, a fifteen-year-old secret unravels in a final twist.
"Trust me it is better to accept a lie than invent the truth."
A mystery of family bonds, love, lies, deception, and jealousy. Laura grew up in foster care, she has no relatives or remembers her past life -she is a nobody.
She returns to her birthplace; Russet House. In attic, she finds old newspaper reports of a tragic event. Her mother is missing. Her father is dead.
Through shocking turns, a fifteen-year-old secret unravels in a final twist.
"Trust me it is better to accept a lie than invent the truth."
320 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 1, 2019
9 people are currently reading
10 people want to read
About the author
James McEwan
3 books2 followersJames McEwan is a writer of short stories and blogs flash fiction. After a career in engineering he completed a degree; BA (Hon) Humanities with Creative Writing combined with German Language and Culture.
Missing is his first novel.
Other work included The Listener–A collection of short stories.
The Case of the Mahjong Dragon, an original variation on the Sherlock Holmes canon and the stories were criticised for not being long enough.
He has contributed charitable work to:
A Thousand Cranes – Scottish Writers for Japan.
Simply Read Too - Lanark Writers - poetry and short stories, with an audio CD.
Falling Leaves - Lanark Writers - poetry and short stories.
The web sites Literallystories.com and Fictiononthe web.co.uk. publish his work.
He lives in Central Scotland and has two adult daughters
Web-site: www.jplmcewan.wordpress.com
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 25, 2019
There is a terrific creep factor in the writing with this novel.
James McEwan paints a compelling picture of small town life, of families closing ranks against an outsider, of secrets and lies and murder.
Laura return’s to the place of her birth to learn the truth about why she was fostered away. Why would her parents give her up? Through a series of detailed investigations involving genealogy searches, photos, old news papers and a trunk hidden in an attic, Laura starts to unravel the truth and exposes a terrible family secret putting her own life at risk in the process.
The pace of the unwinding plot is nicely balanced with the odd way family members can hold two conversations at once, lying and revealing the truth inside at times banal conversations. A clever tale of a family’s destruction.
Laura wants the truth, but finding it will hurt her more than she can ever know.
James McEwan paints a compelling picture of small town life, of families closing ranks against an outsider, of secrets and lies and murder.
Laura return’s to the place of her birth to learn the truth about why she was fostered away. Why would her parents give her up? Through a series of detailed investigations involving genealogy searches, photos, old news papers and a trunk hidden in an attic, Laura starts to unravel the truth and exposes a terrible family secret putting her own life at risk in the process.
The pace of the unwinding plot is nicely balanced with the odd way family members can hold two conversations at once, lying and revealing the truth inside at times banal conversations. A clever tale of a family’s destruction.
Laura wants the truth, but finding it will hurt her more than she can ever know.
November 16, 2019
I regret to say that I couldn't finish reading this book. I've been persevering with it for quite some time, but I've finally had to give up.
It's a shame, because this really isn't a bad book. It's well written (despite a number of grammatical errors) and the characters are fairly compelling. The problem is that it is SUCH a slow burner. Having read 70% of this book, I still feel as though I am waiting for the plot to get going. Throughout the narrative, the protagonist reflects on a series of events from her past. I almost wish that these events could have been made more real in terms of the narrative, perhaps through the form of dreams or flashbacks. As it is, they feel somewhat disconnected from the agonisingly slow pace of the story.
I really wanted to finish this book, as I could sense that it was going to get better towards its end, but, unfortunately, I am no longer enjoying reading it, and there is no point in persevering with a book that you simply aren't enjoying. That said, I think I big reason why I had to stop reading this book was due to my own personal preference, and I sincerely hope that this review doesn't put off any readers. Give it a chance and come to your own conclusions!
It's a shame, because this really isn't a bad book. It's well written (despite a number of grammatical errors) and the characters are fairly compelling. The problem is that it is SUCH a slow burner. Having read 70% of this book, I still feel as though I am waiting for the plot to get going. Throughout the narrative, the protagonist reflects on a series of events from her past. I almost wish that these events could have been made more real in terms of the narrative, perhaps through the form of dreams or flashbacks. As it is, they feel somewhat disconnected from the agonisingly slow pace of the story.
I really wanted to finish this book, as I could sense that it was going to get better towards its end, but, unfortunately, I am no longer enjoying reading it, and there is no point in persevering with a book that you simply aren't enjoying. That said, I think I big reason why I had to stop reading this book was due to my own personal preference, and I sincerely hope that this review doesn't put off any readers. Give it a chance and come to your own conclusions!
August 17, 2019
Laura is trying to trace her birth parents after they gave her up. What seems like a simple story, soon blows up. What secrets were they hiding? A decent thriller that kept me turning the page. Highly recommended.
August 3, 2019
Laura goes in search of the parents who gave her up as a baby. As she travels to the place where she was born, she starts to unravel the mystery. I thought this was an interesting book and I wanted to know what happened and what secrets were being hidden. I would recommend this book.
September 8, 2020
My second time reading this lovely book. I found the plot intriguing and wanted to know the outcome.
The characters were strong, the story flowed well.
The characters were strong, the story flowed well.
September 8, 2020
Review to follow but a really great book from an indie author.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews