Member Reviews
An original ideal in the mystery thriller category, I definitely enjoyed read this book. A book i would recommend
Good book. Very Agatha christiesque, with numerous protagonists, several red herrings and a few tricky misdirections to keep you guessing until the end. Keeps you on your toes with the time flips throughout the book from modern day to the 1980s and back again. Well worth a read.
This was a brilliant read. As soon as I started reading this book I just knew I was going to love it. Highly recommended
This book was a book of two halves. The first half was slow…and I mean slow. So slow I was wondering whether to carry on. I wasn’t invested in the story and I drifted off when I was listening to the audiobook.
Then the second half happened and I was intrigued by what was happening and the parallels between Anne and her mother Debbie.
I did feel for Debbie suffering from post-natal depression but no one noticed it. No one helping her and someone playing on her fears. I felt when we found out the history behind the holiday it was a bit anti-climactic and I was hoping for a bit more pow. I didn’t feel like we had a build-up to it, more oh here you go, and let’s move on. Then the book pretty much finished, on a nice note yet I am not sure there will be any penance for what happened.
I am on the fence with this book, I wanted to love it but I just didn’t. There was mystery and intrigue but I found I didn’t care overall. Maybe if I read this instead it might have been a different story. But I can’t blame everything on the narrator, it was my concentration too. It wasn’t my cup of tea but that’s to say it won’t be yours. It is a slow burn as we build up to a reveal of how everyone fits in the present day and if it wasn’t for the fact Anne wouldn’t give up then there would be no story to tell.
This is a novel which is very good for discussion - which means that it is a bit controversial. While I did like it thoroughly the most time, it also was because I thought it was aiming for a different genre: mystery. If this was a mystery with differing end, it would be a very fine one, I think. But without spoiling anything I would like to say this is a psychological novel. While I was not disappointed (the main story line was still very worth reading and putting some very important issues into the light), I feel that the title and description is misleading.
Omg wow this book is amazing it's full of twists and turns it will keep you up all night I really enjoyed this book
This story was tantalizing, juicy and fun! I found myself really enjoying this tale of thrilling twists and turns. A very addictive page turner that I can highly recommend!
This was an ok read. A bit of a slow start and what felt like a rushed ending gave it a bit of a disjointed feel.
This is quite emotionally intense with quite a focus on mental illness. The present-tense narrative didn't work (but then, it never does, in my opinion). Nor, in this instance, did the first-person POV; the disappearance of a young mother on holiday in Tenerife has a profound effect on more than just the main narrator, and we never really quite get into the minds of the other characters also distressingly affected by it all. There are, in fact, two narrators: the mother who disappeared, telling her story, and the daughter, Anna, telling her story, thirty years later. The build-up to the ending is compelling, but the final 'reveal' was a little disappointing, flat and a tad unbelievable.
Although I did quite enjoy it, it turns out that the book blurb is slightly misleading. 'And then a body is found'. Well, yes, but not until the very end and you've pretty much guessed whose it is by 75%, in any case. Moreover, the title is also misleading. The '11 missed calls' only get a brief and passing mention. If you blinked while reading that bit, you could well have missed it.
It's quite well written and the author certainly portrayed both narrators well. The anguish and anxiety of them both came over well and sympathetically.
Editing-wise, I do wish authors and their editors would learn that standing is not the same as standing up and sitting is not the same as sitting down. Look it up.
Okay, but not great.
This book was a good read. But had a slow start and didnt quite grab me as I would have hoped. Still good though.
I had enjoyed the previous book by this author and was keen to give it a read. It was again very compelling and great Sunday afternoon read where you can pretty much read it in one sitting however I don't feel it kept me guessing enough. I don't know that I would read this authors work again.
OK so this book wasn't terrible but it all just seemed a bit rushed as you near the end of the book. I really hated how the chapters jumped from one person's perspective (in the past) to another person's (in the future), I felt like you were just getting into one person when you had to jump to the next and found it difficult to remember where we left off the previous person. It's strange because I read another of the author's books and she wrote exactly the same way and I enjoyed it in that book. I also didn't care for the ending, I felt as if the author wasn't really sure what was going to happen until it did and it was really quite disappointing in my opinion. It was an OK book and I liked the build up just didn't think the pay off matched up.
Thanks to Avon Books UK for allowing me tor ead this book in exchange for an honest review.
I've never read a Elisabeth Carpenter book before, so the storyline grabbed me from the beginning. I kept stopping and starting the book as life often gets in the way, but over the past couple of days I've really got engrossed in the story and needed to find out what happened.
What happened at the cliff edge? Who was there? Who died? Where is Debbie? All these questions being asked in the story.
Annie (Anna is what she likes to be called) and her mum Debbie recount their lives 30 years ago (going back and forth in chapters of their life and what really happened on that cliff top). Who really died on that cliff top? What are other people hiding. All will be revealed when you read the heart stopping 11 Missed Calls.
Anna was only a month old when her mother, Debbie went missing. Presumed dead by many, left her kids and ran off with a lover by others. For the past 30 years Anna has been obsessed with finding out the truth about what happened to her mother. Out of the blue Anna receives a letter and knows it has to be from her missing mother ... But how?
11 Missed Calls jumps between Anna's present day viewpoint to Debbie's viewpoint 30 years prior before she went missing.
A slow start but once I got into it I couldn't put it down.
3.5 Stars
Thirty years ago, Anna's mother disappeared. Anna has always believed her mother died, but all of a sudden she is receiving notes .. could they be from her mother? Her father wound up marrying her mother's best friend ... were they having an affair?
Anna is not having a good time. She only knows a few things about her mother, no one seems inclined to tell her exactly what happened that night.
Upset because everyone keeps telling her she's crazy and to forget her mother for good, she turns to her husband for support .. and comes across a picture and she fears her husband is having an affair.
She has a history of having stalked a women who looked like her mother, now her family worry that she's going to be repeating history.
This drama is told in chapters, alternating between 30 years ago and today. Not everyone who makes an appearance along the way are who they say they are. And when Anna starts to feel threatened and is afraid someone is following her, she has to wonder why someone wants to keep the truth from her.
This is well written with clearly defined characters .... not all are likeable, not all of them trustworthy. The suspense is low key, but the reader will have a hard time putting the book down until reaching the conclusion. The ending was a bit of a disappointment, felt a little rushed, not what I had expected.
Many thanks to the author / Avon Books UK / Netgalley for the digital copy of this psychological drama. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.
Anna was a baby when her mom Debbie disappeared while they were on vacation with a family friend named Monica and her family. 30 years later, Monica is married to Anna's father. One day Monica receives an email allegedly from Debbie setting Anna on a craze to discover what really happened to her mother.
This book was an interesting study of character. It started a little slow for me but it developed well. A roller-coaster ride for most of the story, but with a deflating end that left me disappointed.
I'm really sorry to admit I was incredibly bored by this book. I quickly lost interest when I discovered how predictable the story is. If you are just starting to develop an interest in thriller books, then you may enjoy this story. However, those who typically read only thrillers have seen this story line along the way.
11 Missed Calls by is a cleverly told story written from several points of view, with two different timelines. We see what happens before Debbie disappears leaving her two young children behind, we also see her grownup children Anna and Robert 30 years later, as they are still struggling to come to terms with the reason their mother would just walk away from them whilst they're away on holiday in Teneriffe. During this time, Anna has become increasingly worried that there is something her family is not telling her, and she begins to do some digging around and finds a private detective to help her. Is their mother dead, or is there another reason she walked out of their lives for good?
I think the author captured Debbie's and Anna's characters and what they each went through really well. I totally did not see that ending coming and I was convinced I had all the answers, right up until the very end. I felt for Anna and how lonely she was when she finds her husband's love letter from another woman, which ingeniously added another twist to this family drama. Overall this was an entertaining read, rife with family secrets, lies and surprises!
When I read the description, I knew this book would be right up my alley. While the book had a great storyline, I felt like it left a lot of questions unanswered for me. I usually love an intense book however this one was almost too intense, with some unexpected twists that made it hard for me to keep up. I think the ending was rushed, which made it hard to process based on the intensity of the book and plot twists before that. Even so, I still felt engaged with the book and wanted to follow through until the end. I look forward to future work from the author.
I am a sucker for mysteries'/thrillers where someone goes missing. This wasn't as action packed and twisty as I hoped, but it still delivered.