Really enjoyed this book! Just as good, if not better than, Elizabeth is Missing. Good to see mental health portrayed in fiction too.

Whistle in the Dark is Emma Healey’s second book. It focuses mainly on Jen, whose 15 year old daughter, Lana, goes missing in the Peak District for four days. As Lana has longstanding mental health concerns including depression, self-harm, and suicidal thoughts, Jen assumes that the worst has happened. When Lana returns unharmed, but unwilling to discuss what happened whilst she was missing, Jen struggles to cope with her daughter’s unwillingness to talk. The book covers the months following Lana’s disappearance, and the way it affects the family and their individual beliefs and realities.

After reading Healey’s debut novel Elizabeth is Missing in 2015, I was excited to have the chance to read Whistle in the Dark before the publication date. The synopsis was intriguing and I was keen to know what had happened to Lana, and why she refused to talk about it. Unfortunately, after the first few chapters I began to lose interest and got frustrated at the lack of clues as to what had happened to Lana. I found the relationship between Lana and Jen difficult to connect with, and was irritated by the way Lana treated her mother. More infuriating was that Jen put up with Lana’s behaviour.

Despite this, I found Healey’s portrayal of teenage children and their parents to be an interesting one. I felt she had a good grasp of Lana as a sullen teenager, and although irritating, Healey clearly showed Jen’s desperation to become closer to her distant daughter. It made me fearful of the secrets that can separate children from their parents, leaving parents worried about what they might not know.

There was a lovely passage in the novel where Jen reads a self-help book that has been annotated (probably) by a mother who read it before her. Within these scribbles, Jen recognises her own fears, and imagines a woman who has already walked the path that she now finds herself on. This was a clear demonstration of the power that books have to give us hope and strength, or to finally feel understood.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read Whistle in the Dark.

I started to read this book with high expections as the brief for the storyline captured my attention. Jen's rather difficult daughter went missing and for those 4 days Jen's world was filled with despair as she was convinced that Lana had come to harm. When Lana was found injured her mother was sure something untoward had happened but Lana insisted she had been merely lost . What had happened in those 4 days? I thought I would never find out as the rest of the book very slowly ground on showing the difficult relationship between a mother filled with anxiety and fear about .her self harming daughter. The truth eventually emerges at the end of the book and I have to say I was relieved it was over. For a book with such a gripping opening and tantalising storyline it was disappointing to find it failed to reach its potential. I was given the opportunity to read this book by Netgalley in return for an honest review

I read Emma Healey’s ‘Elizabeth is Missing’ in 2015 when it came out in paperback and loved it. So when I got her second book ‘Whistle in the Dark’ from Viking via NetGalley I was delighted – thanks to them both.

’Whistle in the Dark’ is a well written, unsentimental view of a family whose 15 year old, Lana, suffers from depression. Written from the mother, Jen’s point of view. It starts with Jen and Lana on a painting break together and then Lana goes missing. Four days later she is found but won’t talk about what happened, saying she doesn’t remember. Jen, along with husband Hugh, was frantic and needs to know what happened. Jen worries that something awful happened and there will be terrible consequences, she lives like she is walking on egg shells and yet cannot stop asking questions. Hugh is less confrontational. Meg, the older daughter, informs her parents that she is pregnant and has broken up with her partner.

The mystery surrounding Lana’s disappearance is something Jen finds impossible to put aside, Hugh thinks Lana will tell them – eventually. Jen picks away at it, snooping around Lana’s social media, asking questions, wondering what happened. The police, since Lana insisted she had just been lost, have no reason to further investigate. Lana insists she cannot remember, that she was just lost. Jen cannot accept a void, she needs to know. Lana needs space, Jen needs answers. The ending brings a bittersweet explanation and possibilities- what more can you ask for?

Emma Healy writes about those areas of a life that can be hard for us to read about but so convincingly that you feel there, in the moment and it is so real that it can become a little overwhelming. That – that small moment that may give just a peek, just a tiny insight into what it is like to be caught up in a family that has as part of it someone who suffers from depression and how it might effect that person and those around them. That is why Emma Healey is such a good writer.

4* - Recommended

en Maddox has just been reunited with her 15-year-old daughter, Lana, following Lana’s four-day-long disappearance.

Jen and Lana had gone on a mother-daughter painting holiday when Lana went missing – sparking a huge search and nationwide missing persons campaign. Now that Lana’s back, she won’t tell anyone what happened to her. Seeing her daughter cut, battered and bruised, Jen fears for what Lana has been through. She, husband Hugh, and elder daughter Meg are also concerned for Lana’s mental health – how will this ordeal have impacted upon Lana’s depression?

I thoroughly enjoyed Emma Healey’s debut Elizabeth Is Missing (you can find my review here), so I was so excited to see Whistle In The Dark appear on NetGalley and instantly requested it. The thing is though, when you’ve loved an author’s first book, do you have unfairly high expectations for the next? I fear that was the case with this novel. I enjoyed it but I couldn’t help but compare it.

The mystery surrounding Lana’s disappearance and her unwillingness to share her story is what spurred on my reading with this book. I really did want to learn what had happened to Lana and why she wouldn’t discuss it.

I like the way the story was told from Jen’s perspective – a mother who has long tried to the best for her child, to help her through her mental health difficulties and who finds herself faced with a seemingly changed daughter, with an unknown trauma.

With Jen as narrator, we see the characters through her eyes. Her elder daughter, so together and unlike her mother, her husband who, while supportive, does seem to think she overreacts, and Lana whom she can’t get close to – can’t even tell if she likes her.

I guess I found this book to be overall a bit flat. I kept reading, kept waiting for all to unravel and I was left feeling that I wanted a bit more from this book. I really enjoy Healey’s writing, but as I said at the start, I fear I went into reading this with unfair expectations, and that probably left me feeling the way I did.

I must add though that, like Elizabeth is Missing, this book addresses some important subjects and I’m sure it will help to raise awareness.

The synopsis sounded intriguing, the reality not so much. Having raised three (now adult) children I’m well aware of how uncommunicative teenagers can be but I still found the way Jen tippy toed round her daughter Lana really frustrating. I wanted to shake them both then throw them at the useless husband/father (violence is never the answer but thoughts don’t hurt lol). It does keep you interested & wanting to know what happened to Lana and there are a few red herrings swimming about to keep you on your toes. However I wasn’t really engaged with the characters and the ending was a little damp squibbish. Not a stinker but not a corker either.

I had very high expectations of this book, having read and thoroughly enjoyed Elizabeth is Missing. The writing is once again very good - once again I was impressed with the author's insight and humour - but sadly I really did struggle to engage with both the character's and the plot from fairly early on in the book and merely plodded through to the end. In retrospect I can honestly say I got no particular enjoyment out of this read - even the ending, which I'd only just managed to hang on for, was rushed and failed to impress me.

A strange book. At points hard going whereas at others I raced through it. Intriguing and with a. Great denouement, a good read

This book has kept me fascinated and reading through your. The story includes flashbacks which fill in the backstory and the main characters are portrayed well. I empathised with Jen and felt the confusions of Lana particularly. It is a true story of motherhood and understanding your children will and how hard this sometimes is. I enjoyed the shorter chapters too.

This book was really clever, rather than the normal child goes missing, it is about the child being found, four days after she dissapeared. The relationship between the parents is brilliant and very amusing at times. The storey follows the mothers journey to find out what had happened while the daughter was missing, it is basically eating her up not knowing, she becomes almost a female detective to find out....But does she?

I really wanted to like this book - it had such an interesting premise of what happens to a family when their teenage daughter goes missing, then is returned home physically ok, but refusing to discuss what happened. The central mother daughter relationships were well written but in the end I felt I didn't really know any of them, and the whole book seemed to drag in the middle, weighed down by literary quotes and local Derbyshire myths. I was pleased to discover what happened to Lana, but felt the ending was very contrived and too long. However, I enjoyed the author's first book and will look out for future novels by Ms Healey.

I was given a copy of this book from NetGalley in return for my review of the book.

I found this a really difficult book to get in to and had trouble feeling any kind of empathy for any of the characters - with the result this took me ages to read.

The summary of the book sounded as though it could be really interesting, but in actual fact it was really dull. The only reason I finished it was because I thought I'd come this far, I may as well. Now that I've finished it, I wouldn't recommend.

Sorry
Review posted on Goodreads 26.04.2018

I am a huge fan of “Elizabeth Is Missing” and was very much looking forward to reading this. The blurb was very enticing - depressed teenage girl goes missing and when found refuses to answer any questions. In reality it is a dull and slow story with the world's most paranoid mother.

The characters were so unlikeable. Lana, the teenage daughter, is supposedly unstable but she comes across as just an attention-seeking brat. Her overanxious mother imagines the worst whilst stalking her on social media to try to find out more. It soon becomes clear that part of the problem is mother and her over-active imagination.

Unfortunately I got halfway through this book and gave up. No ending would be good enough to save this story.

Men's fifteen year old daughter goes missing for four agonising days. When Lana is found unharmed, everyone thinks the worst is over. But Lana refuses to tell anyone what happened.

Jen, Hugh, Meg and Lana are just an average, middle class family. Jen is devastated when Lana goes missing while on a painting holiday in the Peak District. When Lana is found, she swears she can not remember what had happened to her. The police draw a blank so Jen tries to uncover what happened by searching through her personal belongings and following her daughter to school. The relationship between a mother and daughter is put to the test in this book. It can be quite grim at times, but it's a touching story of family life. There are some lighter moments as well.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Penguin Books UK and the author Emma Healey for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Rather dull and slow, an 'aftermath' story with the world's most paranoid mother.

2.5 stars.

Alright, I DO understand that a mum whose child has been missing and then is found is going to be emotional, paranoid and worried about what's happened, how the daughter is coping, wondering what really happened...

But: "Gang affiliation? It hadn't been something Jen was worried about, but she'd add it to the list now." This is just one of dozens of things the mother panics about. On another occasion she asks her husband if he thinks their daughter is blinking too much or too little...

Jen's daughter went missing on a holiday in the Peaks for several days, and when she does appear, claiming she remembers nothing, Jen cannot let it drop. I can relate, I'm sure I'd want to know exactly what happened to, but Healey manages to make Jen more a shrew/nag than an empathic concerned mother in my eyes.

There is a mystery element of course, as we wonder along with Jen and her husband - just what happened to Lana? Where did she vanish to and what happened to her?

It seemed like an interesting plot but I soon tired of Jen's character and the slow, slow movement of the story, repeating the same pattern time and again - a new behaviour or 'clue' from Lana that Jen then obsesses over.

The conclusion, as we do find out the truth, did little to make me feel the read was worth it. I felt let down. The most interesting part for me was the look at relationships between mothers and daughters, but for me this was a frustrating book.

With thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy, provided for review purposes.

I had expected this to be much darker than it was. But I still really enjoyed it. Perfect 24 hour read.
Throughout the book I had tried to figure out what happened to Lana. I ended up being wrong every time. Which I liked. I hate figuring it out too early.

A depressed teenager goes missing, then won't say where she's been when she reappears. One thing that's obvious is that she's been hurt - the cuts and bruises attest to that. This novel is nothing like the author's first, Elizabeth Goes Missing - but it is none the worse for that. A mystery with a sad, almost broken family at its heart, this book slowly drew me in and kept me guessing to the finish. When it did end, it was unexpectedly moving.

I was so excited when I heard that I'd been accepted for an ARC copy! I loved Elizabeth Is Missing, Healey's first book, and I did not shut up about it for months so I knew I would be excited for her second.

Whistle In The Dark is very different in plot to Elizabeth Is Missing as it focuses more on family relationships and the way that familial love can be both positive and negative in it's intensity. Hence, the plot is a lot slower, it's very character based, and I found that while the central mystery of those four missing days kept me reading on, so did Jen's relationship with her daughter. I related to both Jen and Lana, though through Jen's lens Lana is very frustrating as a character, but you do see the good in her too. It was also great to see that the plot did not go where I thought it would, due to a few red herrings early on in the story.

Personally I think I will always love Elizabeth Is Missing more, but I have a feeling that Whistle In the Dark is a grower. They are very different books in terms of plot, but both play to Healey's strengths in her ability to really connect with readers through her thoughtful portrayal of very emotional themes. The ending itself was brilliantly written, because while it would have been easy to go for a very dark, shocking end, instead you are left contemplating Jen and how the events have brought her closer to her distant daughter. It speaks to a wider theme of how mutually understanding people rather than giving in to that impulse to immediately try and fix the situation, (as if there'll be one question and one answer that will magically resolve everything) can bring us closer together and create a feeling of solidarity.

Overall I really liked Whistle In the Dark and Emma Healey will remain a firm favourite of mine, and I will definitely be picking up a physical copy (and probably recommending it to everyone within earshot too).

I really loved Emma Healey's book Elizabeth is Missing so was delighted to get an advance copy of her new book. However I'm sorry to say that I didn't really enjoy it. It was very slow throughout and didn't really keep me interested.

I was underwhelmed by this book. It started out promising but just couldn't keep up the momentum.