Member Reviews
4.5 stars. This was a cracking thriller full of twists and turns which I thoroughly enjoyed. I genuinely didn’t know what to expect or how it was going to turn out. It was so well written and compulsive reading. I haven’t read anything by this author before but will definitely be looking for her other books now
This was a fast paced , psychological thriller about a child who goes missing whilst in the care of a friend. What a scenario and it lives up to expectations.
Oh my god I loved it and have read loads of books like this, it was brilliant and I believ a stand alone novel if I’d kind though there are many around none are like this!!!!.....
Brilliant basically Charlotte is looking after her friends kid and the kid goes missing!....totally tense and gripping full of secrets and lies and who can you trust issues!
Loved it can’t say enough get the book you’ll love it too!!!
I love a good thriller and this fast-paced book did not disappoint. I would not put as high up as my personal favorites but it was certainly entertaining and kept me going.
Wow! This book started off good, became great, then absolutely brilliant. It’s such a good story and the twists are completely unexpected. Read over two evenings I genuinely didn’t want to put this down
Now you see her by Heidi Parks is a 5 star read.
I loved this book so much I read it twice in a row and I know I will read it again. The author kept my interest from the first page and kept me on the edge of my seat throughout.
This is an ok thriller. It's about a missing four year old girl. There were plenty of twists and turns and the book held my interest to the end.
How much do you trust your friends?
How much do you know about them?
When mother-of-three Charlotte agrees to take her friend Harriet’s daughter to the school fete, she has no idea that this kind and mundane act will have tremendous consequences for everyone. I did not know either. I am now convinced I will never take my kids (or others’) to those events!
Now You See Her talked to me instantly. The blurb was intriguing enough for me to not think twice and agree to review the book. What exactly drew me to it?
First and foremost, the originality of the plot. No simple husband and wife domestic noir, no police procedural, no ‘regular’ psychological thriller.
Another missing-persons case? Yes, but with a twist, a layer that I had never read before: women friendship. We don’t get to see them explored enough but the author’s idea of leaving your child to someone you talk to, you trust, you rely on, is the perfect background to set a compelling and intense read.
Told through both women’s voices and with a Before and Now timelines, you get to know Charlotte and Harriet through each other’s eyes, something I felt was beautifully done. Where a relationship lays, two points of view happen. What you share, what you keep to yourself, how you interpret the other’s reaction, everything is subjective. At times, I felt I was reading two different stories with a oh-so-thin thread reuniting them: Alice. The missing little girl.
Losing your child in a crowd is a parent’s nightmare, but what do you do when the missing child is not yours? I was torn between my sympathy for Charlotte and my broken heart for the mother’s horrendous ordeal. Reading the ‘Before’ chapters kept me hungry for more. I was given answers to questions I hadn’t thought about! Going back and forth kept me on my toes and had me thinking about just how quick things can go wrong.
Two lives are at the heart of Now You See Her but the waves they swim through impact many other lives. Charlotte’s kids and ex-husband, Harriet’s husband, friends, neighbours, an entire town. In our days, missing kids make the front page quickly and journalists often act as vultures to reach their audience, feeding off people’s despair to satisfy a voyeurism we are guilty of. Have you never thought ‘It could have been me/my kid/my friend/mother…’ when reading or watching the news? I know I have. Now You See Me allowed me to put myself in the shoes of each party.
Could Charlotte be considered guilty for Alice’s disappearance? Would it have been different had Harriet been less protective of her daughter, letting her learn how to behave on her own? Lots of questions ran through my mind when the search began but what I thought would be a case of two parties clashing in a black and white backdrop suddenly turned into a complicated tale of families, trust, friends, secrets, and lies. The author leads you into a dark room with no escape door, each character stuck in their role, in their guilt, in their life. I am not a mother, but God did I feel for both women. I can barely leave my dogs to someone for an hour, I can’t imagine leaving my child to someone. Yet, I was raised by an overprotective mother and I would be lying if I said it did not play a part in my being crazy!!
On top of the obvious question about motherhood, Heidi Perks pokes into family life and family bonds, testing waters and most of all, what women can do for one another. Manipulation can take you so far, is there a hand strong enough to bring you back? The novel’s pace is absolutely perfect, ratcheting up tension as you turn pages, stirring feelings and leaving you begging for answers. Fingers are pointed. The weight of responsibility and our human need to find a culprit to alleviate our pain taint the novel in a chillingly realistic way.
I did not know what to believe, I suspected there was more than met the eye and boy I was so right! I never once guessed what would happen next! I was simply and utterly addicted!! I couldn’t tear myself away from the book and I just got swallowed in the action and the skillfully dissected emotions the author played with.
Now You See Her is a strong psychological thriller led by a five-star array of characters you will love to question!
Once I started this book I couldn't put it down. Imagine your friend asking you to look after her daughter and she goes missing in your care. A nightmare for anyone. Harriet had never let her daughter out of her sight and Charlotte was happy to look after Alice since she already had 3 children of her own. And then the nightmare began. The twists and turns of the story were intriguing and held me captive eager to know the truth of hat happened. What a truth it was. A very enjoyable read.
Now You See Her is a very good suspenseful thriller that I enjoyed and did not see the twist coming at any point.
Charlotte is Harriet’s friend in fact she is her only friend, Harriett wants to get her life back on track so goes and attends a book keeping course, leaving her young daughter, Alice in the hands of Charlotte who with her own three children will have her hands full. Whilst Harriet is at the course Charlotte takes Alice and her children to the school fair but whilst there she looses Alice.
When Alice has been missing a few days there was a niggle in me into how Harriet seemed calmer than I would have been but put it down to her awful husband, Brian who does nothing but put her down and makes her think she’s losing her mind.
The story had a good pace throughout and I have to admit that Charlotte was my favourite character although she did lose Alice it could probably happen to anyone that quick and felt for her when she was left out of the circle at school and awful comments were made on social media about her.
I would definitely recommend this as a book to read if you like a suspenseful read.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Random House Uk Cornerstone, Century for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.
I would like to thank NetGalley and the Publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this book.
What a tiny rollercoaster of emotions this turned out to be. The story is told from the sides of two best friends when one daughter is kidnapped. The story takes you on highs and lows as you follow the event and you find yourself going back and forth with feelings. (Well I did)
Well done Heidi Perks for keeping me in the edge of my seat all the way through.
I would definitely recommend this book.
What a brilliant book, the story was so well written and not predictable at all. I started reading this last night and I didnt want to put it down.
Charlotte only took her eyes of the children for a few minutes, but that is all it took for her to loose Alice her friends daughter.
'Now You See her' is a story of every parents worst nightmare and the lengths you may be willing to go out of sheer desperation.
I can not recommend this book enough.
A gripping tale of the sheer gut-churning agony of losing a child - bad enough to lose your own but to lose someone else's in your care is unforgivable. Clever twists which I did not see coming and a different perspective on the intricacies of relationships whether at the school gate or in the home, bringing up children or staying in touch with parents.
What could be worse than losing your child while visiting the local school fete? Losing someone else’s!
Charlotte and Harriett are best friends and when Harriett finally builds up the nerve to leave her four year old little girl Alice with someone else for the day, Charlotte a mother of three herself, seems the obvious, if not only, choice. That is a decision that they both will live to regret as Alice goes missing while waiting to go on a bouncy castle with Charlotte’s two older children. Despite the crowds of people present Alice seems to have disappeared into thin air.
Harriett, devastated by the loss of her little girl, finds it impossible to face Charlotte in the aftermath and Charlotte finds herself under suspicion and losing trust from those around her. Many lives are turned upside down by the little one’s disappearance but the priority is to find her – hopefully alive. Who has taken Alice? And why?
This book swallowed me up from the first page and whenever I attempted to put it down it demanded that it not be for long! The sense of intrigue from the start had me devouring chapter upon chapter without any sense of time – I suffered a full on book hangover with this novel!
The characters are well written, particularly the leading ladies Charlotte and Harriett. They have cultivated a relationship over a period of around five years and despite their huge differences in character and Harriett nor being particularly popular with others, they have become firm friends. They are very real as are many of the supporting characters in the book and the normality of the people within and the utter horror of what they are facing makes the book even more compelling to read.
I was taken on an emotional rollercoaster which built and built as the story progressed and since finishing it I am still thinking about the characters almost as though they are people I know. I think that’s always a sign of an excellent novel.
Needless to say, I thoroughly recommend this book. It would be a great one to take on holiday as is easily consumed in just a few sessions (if not all in one).
My thanks to #NetGalley and #RandomHouseUK for a copy of #NowYouSeeHer in return for an honest review.
Oh wow! I don’t want to say too much for fear of spoilers, but when Harriet leaves her only daughter with her only friend Charlotte, who is taking her to a school fete whilst she does a course, the whole town gets involved when the daughter disappears and everyone is looking at Charlotte aghast as she was checking Facebook when the little girl went missing.
A fabulous book that will have you guessing until the end.
A gripping mystery which will resonate with every mum out there. Distinct voices and strong female characters, unexpected plot twists and an ending that didn't take the easy option.
would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this gripping book
my first heidi perks book but it wont be the last, a gripping story that had me hooked from the first time i started to read it
an happily married couple that have a child...and then the wife starts to do some crazy things...or is she...
and then the daughter goes missing...who could have taken her
and slowly the story unfolds....gripping stuff
Thank you to Random House UK, Cornerstone and NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Wow, what an utterly gripping, chilling and thought provoking read this was!!
As a parent of young children myself, having read the synopsis, I knew this book would be a "must read" for me.
I was drawn in right from the word go. The narratives were clear and easy to read, but not being a fan of "thens and nows", I found the jumping about a little annoying and had to double check what I was reading occasionally.
After the half way point, this book was totally unputdownable. This isn't a word I use lightly, as I usually only read a few chapters a day and books usually last me a week. I fell asleep gone midnight reading this one and woke at 4am to continue and read until it was finished this morning!
The final segments of the story were very chilling, and I could picture the whole situation playing out. The ending was the best possible outcome although nonetheless thought provoking and sad.
Wow, what a book this was. It was absolutely brimming with tension and full of so many unexpected twists and turns that I felt dizzy.
This book covers one of my worst fears, losing one of the kids in a public place and not being able to find them. Having lost Douglas for five terrifying minutes in Matalan once (I say lost but he’d actually decided to hide behind some coats) I know how scary it is and the author’s fabulous descriptions really brought the incident back to me as it was very true to what I remember.
The story goes back and forth between then (when Alice disappeared to the present day. This definitely intigued me as the present day thread seemed to hint that a lot had happened since the fete where Alice disappeared and that something dodgy had happened. As the two threads continue and start to merge together secrets start to be revealed. I found myself reading faster and faster as I desperately wanted to get to the bottom of things.
I felt very sorry for the two main female characters in the book. The guilt that Charlotte felt about losing Alice was almost tangible and I hated seeing her tearing herself up over what happened, especially when it comes to light that she was having a sneaky look at Facebook when Alice went missing (how many of us do that). The abuse she receives on the internet about it was hard to read and I felt that the police should perhaps have done more to protect her. Harriet’s grief over Alice was heartbreaking as the little girl was obviously her world. I really felt for her as such a situation must be truly terrifying.
I really didn’t like Ben, Alice’s father however. From the moment you meet him he comes across as quite a dislikeable, controlling bully who I couldn’t feel sorry for. His absolute determination to blame Charlotte for Alice’s disappearance and his behaviour towards her was shocking and made me wonder what he was hiding. At the beginning I passed it off as grief but as things get murkier and his behaviour worsens I got more angry towards him and more suspicious.
The ending was brilliant and one that I didn’t guess was coming. A fantastic way to finish this fabulous book!
This is the author’s second book and I’m very excited to read any future books by her. I will be be recommending this book to everyone as it’s a real must read. Just make sure that you have lots of time to finish the book, as once you’ve started its its to put down.
Huge thanks to Arrow Publishing for my copy of this book via Netgalley and to Rachel Kennedy for inviting me onto the blog tour.
I flew through this book, reading it in a few hours over a few days.
Charlotte promises Harriet that her daughter Alice will be safe with her at the school fete. Harriet’s never left Alice with anyone before, but she trusts her friend. Charlotte is distracted by her phone for a few moments and in that time Alice vanishes.
How do you tell your friend that you lost her daughter and what would you do to make it right?
The book is told in the present and the two weeks since Alice’s disappearance. The characters are realistic and the premise is relevant and you could imagine it happening.
I did guess the ending but it didn’t spoil it for me.