A shocking subject sensitivity handled, the book showed police procedures but more importantly how the family coped with the worst nightmare of any parent. When your child doesn’t come home from school !
Beware there are tears in this book tears of sadness tears of joy and tears of frustration for this poor boy and his family. Read it you won’t be disappointed

Evan and friend Stewie are delayed from leaving rugby practice by Evan looking for his boot. They go to the newsagents for crisps and a can of Fanta, but the time they reach the bus stop Evan has missed his bus so Stewie walks home and leaves Evan to wait for the next bus. Sadly Evan never boards the bus as he disappears!!

The police investigate his disappearance but the case soon goes cold. After 8 months Evan is discovered but he returns too traumatised to talk. Getting Evan back is not the end of the story, as we see what happens after a kidnapped child returns. Evan hides in his room too afraid to go out, with the family not knowing what to do for the best.

When another boy goes missing, the police are having to rely on Evan to help them.

I am guilty of saying I will not read a book about missing children again, as this seems to be a popular topic, but I thoroughly enjoyed this,It was a beautifully written story about families, loss and learning to move on.

Will definitely be looking out for Erin Kinsley’s next book. Can’t believe this is her debut.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review.

Found is a brilliantly balanced book - it is at once a gripping thriller, and a heartbreaking family drama.

Thrillers and crime books aren't a genre I read that often, so when I do I want it to be a good one! One with a few dimensions, and really well drawn characters as well as a compelling plot. And this is certainly what I got with Found. The thriller element is certainly gripping - when 11 year old Evan disappears, it is every parent's worst nightmare and everyone (us as readers included) are obviously desperate to find out what has happened to him.

The threads of the story following the police investigation are really compelling, but in many ways aren't the main thrust of the narrative. I also thought Kinsley handled things really sensitively, as there is much about what happens to Evan that we don't hear that much about.

So on that front, It is a bit of a slow burner (which I loved), as much of the book actually explores the emotions and dynamics of the family and friends left behind. Evan's parents handle the devastating news in very different ways (which is the part that very much reminded me of the brilliant BBC drama The Missing. Evan's close friend Stevie, experiences feelings of both responsibility and guilt at his friend's disappearance. The most surprising and endearing parts for me were scenes with Evan's grandparents Jack and Dora - I'm sure Jack in particular, with his kindness, patience, love of the outdoors and nature, will be a firm favourite with readers.

All in all, a really gripping and emotional read.

Wow – a beautifully written book and a fantastic début! This novel was much more engaging than a typical police procedural/ suspense thriller. It was a superb piece of writing by Erin Kinsley who handled the subject of child abduction so sensitively and with care. The reader does not hear the detail of Evan’s ordeal as the author concentrated more on the reactions of the family. The story is told from so many different perspectives - the detectives, parents, grandparents and little Evan too.

'Found' was an incredibly captivating, heart-wrenching and addictive read about a horrific crime and one which was written and handled in a truly beautiful way. Well worth five gold stars!

I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel, at my own request, from Headline via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

Found – Erin Kinsley

For a debut novel this is pretty good. It gathered pace early and took me along for the ride. Child abduction is such an emotive subject for an author’s first foray into the land of psychological thrillers. Well done you for writing it in such a way as to reduce me to tears and on more than one occasion (that’s no mean feat).

We meet DI Naylor and her team who all bounce off each other giving us the sense that they are a well-oiled team that know there niche and DI Naylor knows exactly how to get the best out of them in the direst of situations. I was made to think about the prioritisation of crimes due to funding cuts and manpower. It must be so hard to work that way when the motto is to protect and serve and pounds shillings and pence dictate what you can work on and for how long.

Reading of a child being abducted and not seen again for several months
is most definitely a parent’s worst nightmare? But for the family in this
novel. I think what’s worse is that the child has been found and returned home as a selective mute. Imagine them being so afraid that they have withdrawn into themselves as a coping mechanism.

It makes you think about how you would cope if you were in this situation. Would we find solace in the bottom of a bottle and distance ourselves from the people we need the most? Would we be able to try to live a normal life when we don’t know what’s happened to our child? Thank the lord for Grandparents in this situation.

Had the grandfather/grandsons relationship not been as strong as it was I fear that Evan the abducted child would never have begun the long hard road to recovery. There were parts in the book that the support was a two way street between them. I loved that when Evan was having nightmares, which his grandfathers’ calm soothing voice helped settle him down again.

This is a really easy book to recommend to people. It’s a cross between a police procedural and a psychological thriller leaving much to the readers’ imagination. If you only read one new author please make it Erin Kinsley I have a feeling she may be one to watch out for in the future.


Read for an honest review. Thank you Erin Kinsley, Netgalley and Headline.

This book is such a unique and clever perspective on the crime of child abduction as it focuses on not only the perspectives of the police procedures, but it takes you deep within the heart of the family.  It's this perspective that really toys with your emotions and as a parent, your worst nightmares.

When Evan goes missing on his way home from school his family and friends are devastated.  The police have no leads and the outcome is looking more grim as each day goes by.  This part of the story is suspenseful and devastating and is told from various viewpoints to provide a real insight into the effect on all involved. 

Months later Evan reappears with no clue as to where he has been or why.  He is frightened and scared and not the same little boy he was before.  I often wonder in cases like this what the effect are.  I remember as a child watching the story of Steven Stayner  who was missing for many years and then found.  The reality of it was lives were destroyed and couldn't be fixed.  This book explores that aftermath beautifully but terrifyingly. 

Showing the perspectives of family and the police gives this book a clever edge and takes the reader on a roller coaster ride of emotions.  It's cleverly written, pacy and a hard one to put down.  It leaves a lingering feeling in you that is hard to shake off for days. 

A brilliant and emotional crime thriller.

Found is a book I flew through, this was a book I wasn’t expecting to grab me like it did but it did and I finished it in a few hours.
Claire and Matt are living a nightmare when we meet them, their son, Evan, hasn’t returned home from school. Much work is fine but months later and there is no sign as to what happened to him. Until one day, one very lucky day when he is found but he is not the boy that was taken, instead of a normal eleven year old like he was he has been replaced with a very scared little boy that will not talk to anyone including his parents. We see all sides in this book, the parents side, Evans side and the police side.
This is in parts a harrowing read with a lot of emotional distress from different characters but it is done well and I was engrossed from start to finish and could not rate it any lower than 5 stars if I tried.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Headline for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first book by this author. Books with a story featuring child abductions (especially when the boy in the book is the same age as my child) always make me a little uneasy! And whilst I’m not saying that this book didn’t make me feel like that, because it did, I did think this book was absolutely brilliant!! I honestly couldn’t put it down and was snatching a few minutes here and there just to move on through the book a little bit quicker.

The story centres on the abduction of 11 year Evan, who disappears on his way home from school. It’s not just based on Evan’s story and how his family cope, but also on the police investigation into his disappearance. The Police Officer in charge of the case, DI Naylor, discovers there are no viable leads into Evan’s abduction, but when Evan is found months later DI Naylor finds herself under pressure to find the people responsible.

Fab, fab, fab…that is all I can say about this book! Obviously, it’s not fab for poor Evan, disappearing without a trace to be found eight months later. The Evan that returned is not the same boy who was sat at the bus stop all those months ago and it’s so upsetting to see the, what I assume to be, post-traumatic stress that Evan goes through on his return home. My son is the same age and I couldn’t begin to understand what Evan’s family must have been going through. It certainly made me want to give my son an extra hug that night. The story covers every single aspect that a good crime/police procedural thriller should do. It not only has the crime and the investigation, but the background, the family emotions and how the investigating officers deal with it professionally and personally. It also gave us little glimpses into the personal lives of these officers and what their lives are like away from the office.

There was so much emotion within this book that it had me all teary at the turn of every page. I loved seeing how Evan developed and him coming to terms with his trauma. His relationship with his grandparents was particularly endearing and again brought tears to my eyes. In fact, my favourite character was his grandfather, Jack – an amazing grandfather with so much love for his family. The grandparents’ story was heart-breaking, and, like so many other places in the book, it had me looking and remembering my own family.

The author has written this superbly, covering topics which are difficult to read and write about. It has been written with sensitivity yet the author has still managed to keep the story high in tension and suspense. I didn’t really see this book as a “whodunit” (although of course we were kept in the dark as to who was involved until near the end), but more of it detailing the trail of devastation that was left behind when Evan disappeared. This is the kind of book that I would want to read all over again, and do you know what….I definitely will!! Heart-breaking, emotional, devastating, this book is up there in my list of “Book of the Year”. Highly highly recommended!

Thank you to the author, the Publishers and Anne Cater for providing me with a review copy and finding me a space on the Blog Tour!

Claire and Matt Ferrer find themselves plunged into every parents worst living nightmare when their eleven year old son Evan vanishes on his way home from school. The police find themselves under massive pressure to solve the case but find they have no answers to where Evan is.

Then,..months later Evan is unexpectedly found but he is severely traumatised and refuses to speak. His family are overjoyed that he is home again but begin to realise that their lives will never be the same again.

DI Naylor and her team know that unless the people who abducted Evan are found,other children are in danger. But with Evaan not talking,will they find themselves in a race against time to find the perpetrators before it is too late.

Although Found is a police procedural,the heart of the story is how Evan's family are affected and cope during and after his abduction. It was obvious that Claire loved her son deeply and her conflicting feelings about how much she wanted to know about what happened to Evan were portrayed realistically. I don't know how much detail I would want to know if I found myself in the same situation. Evan's relashionship with his grandfather Jack was heart warming,Jack had so much patience with Evan and the scenes where Jack went into Evan's bedroom at night and read to him when he was having nightmares were lovely and brought a lump to my throat. I liked Claire and Jack but I can't say I liked Matt very much,he seemed to have a very negative attitude towards everything and never seemed interested in helping his son recover from his traumatic experience.

I loved the banter between DI Naylor and her team,they worked well together and there was none of the oneupmanship and back stabbing that you normally find in a lot of police procedurals. I think that it is disgraceful that in the twenty first century,the police are forced to prioritise cases due to lack of resources and cases like Evan's can be shelved and not even one officer be left investigating and trying to find new leads. And yet certain cases are constantly having large pots of money put into the resources fund by the government,have large teams of detectives but are still unsolved. Cases involving missing children should all be top priority and be funded more fairly.

Found is a beautifully written story that is difficult to read at times,the subject matter is written with care and sensitivity. It's not what you read but what you imagine happened to poor Evan. The story really pulls at your heart strings and caused me to experience a myriad of emotions,I was honestly almost in tears at one point. I will definitely be reading more books written by this author in the future. Highly recommended by little old me.

WoW............Found by Erin Kinsley was Just an amazing read. I heard a radio station chatting about it one morning. I am so glad I requested it and got approved. This book was chilling and You really felt for the people who were involved.

A young lad called Evan Ferrers , who is eleven is running late from school. He waits for the next bus home. But, he fails to return home.
Parents worst nightmare when a child disappears without any trace or clues where they could be, His parents, Claire and Matt are distraught and phones his friends to see if anyone has seen him. Evan was last seen leaving school with his best friend and they parted at the bus stop.
The Police are called. Weeks pass and then months and the police, are under massive pressure, they still have no answers, on what happened to Evan............

Eight months Later Evan is found and reunited with his parents.

Where has he been all this time?

Evan's will not say anything on what happened and will not talk!

Evan goes and stays with his beloved grandparents at their farm. Where Evan has a lovely relationship with his grandparents..............

Life will never be the same again for any of them.

Another Young child goes missing and the clock is ticking! Will Evan help the Police to find this child?

What a brilliant Book full of emotions throughout. This is a book I would Highly recommend and it will stay with me for a long time.

Big Thank you to NetGalley, and Headline for giving me the chance to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book was not the police procedural I expected to read. Yes, there is a police procedural side to it, but it is so much more. It is the story of Evan and his family and how they cope with the terrible thing that happened to them.

Erin Kinsley describes the different relationships so realistically. There is the relationship between Rachel, who goes to pieces when her son goes missing, and her husband, and how their marriage is falling apart and they are leading separate lives. I absolutely loved the beautiful relationship between Evan and his grandfather, who helped Evan to recover from his horrific ordeal with love, patience and understanding. I have to admit to shedding a few tears.

The book deals with a very difficult subject, but does so sensitively. We are not told any of the details of what Evan went through, although that doesn't make it any less disturbing.

Found is a real page-turner and deserves it's 5 stars.

I have seen this book mentioned a lot lately and I was pleasantly surprised when I was approved on Netgalley (sorry for swearing there!) to read it, I wanted to make sure I read it in time for today! This is a little gem of a book, tackling a horrifying situation in such a way made this story all the more moving.

Evan goes missing one day after school, taken from a bus stop, no rhyme nor reason to why. Just gone! When reading that my heart stopped, making me live terrors I never want to have to face with mini-me. How could he just disappear? Why?

Found is told from multiple points of view and flits between first and third-person narration. I loved this! A couple of times I got confused but once you got in the flow of the book, I found it easy to know where I was and with who. To me, this narration made more of an impact, to allow us to separate from the situation we are in with Evan and his family. The chapters are all headed up with the date, further adding to the dread of whether Evan would come home?

I did find the book dipped a little in the middle because I couldn’t see where it was going. I wasn’t going to stop reading or anything, and then I found once I got through the midway I was racing to the end to get answers. This is not a thrill-seeking flying book, this book attempts to allow you to feel the gravity of such a situation, chapters highlighting the day, showing how slow and long investigations can take. How long a journey that Evan and his family must take to regain new normality.

We live the months of Claire and Matt, Evans’ parents, trying to survive each day, living separate lives, one finding solace down the end of a bottle and the other, well we never quite know. We also focus on Naylor and Hagen the lead detectives on the case. Feeling the frustration they feel with the constant dead ends, and then being told to focus their energies elsewhere. Then Evan comes home!

The middle part of the book focuses on this. How he has withdrawn himself from the horrors and finds a sanctuary at his grandparent’s house. A place he feels safe as he can see all around. Here my heart broke, his relationship with his grandpa Jack brought me to my knees. A man who is overwhelmed to have his grandson back, never pushing him to talk, just takes him fishing, helping on the farm. Such a wonderful support for him. Not going to lie I cried in a few of these pages and then a lot at the end. Jack’s love shines through and this helps Evan take those small steps back to our world.

The last part is where it does ramp up. Another boy has been taken, can Evan help? This was tough as a reader, you never quite know what Evan has gone through as you are never told. But from the snippets that Naylor and Hagen mention you can imagine the horrors he has experienced.

I think what Kinsley has done here with this book is immense. She has shown us such a difficult subject to read, there is no glamour nor glorification, more a realistic indication of how things work. The in-depth police procedural was thrilling to read, uncovering each new piece of evidence, new leads, the breath of emotion when things don’t always pan out. Alongside this, was the everyday mundane we take for granted. A family wanting to get back to “normal” whilst trying to pick up the pieces of this shocking situation. Seeing Naylor lead her life, the talk of the police Christmas party amplifies this, a break from the horrific.

I will be keeping an eye out for Kinsley future works as this was taut and left me dealing with so many overwhelming emotions. I cried a lot at the end, for the relief and for the pain in Found, I needed to know that there would be a conclusion and one that was satisfying. Sitting back and thinking of this book as a whole, has left me speechless, where at first I thought “I enjoyed it, it was good.” I am rethinking this and I think I did absolutely enjoyed it and think it is a must-read. You may feel in places that paragraphs don’t add to the book, or they are cumbersome but when reflecting they meant something, they were powerful, highlighting the differences in the separate lives. For me, I am adding this to my list for book of the year. I am so moved by this book, I want to say it’s a beautifully woven story, but I can’t explain why due to the plot. I do feel like it’s beautifully told, the growth from the characters, albeit unnecessary as no one should have to go through this, showed strength, a family finding themselves again.

Claire and Matt are faced with every parent’s worst nightmare when their son, Evan, fails to return from school. Evan was taken from a bus stop in broad daylight. With no witnesses, zero leads and a reconstruction that doesn’t provide any answers, detectives fail to move forward in their investigation.

Months go by, until Evan is unexpectedly found and returned home to his parents. But the damage has been done. Evan won’t talk, will not venture outside and hides himself away in his bedroom. Detectives are desperate to hunt down Evan’s kidnappers for fear they might strike again and kidnap another child but without Evan’s help, they don’t even know where to start.

I must say, this didn’t at all turn out the way I expected it to. This is one of those books that doesn’t quite fit into just any category. There’s the police procedural angle as the reader follows detectives on their frustrating journey to answers. But there is also more of a family drama side to this story as Evan’s family first go through the horrible period of his disappearance and then later need to deal with his return and the changes he’s undergone.

These were the chapters that are still very much at the forefront of my mind. The relationship between Evan and his granddad, especially, really got to me. It was just so warm and genuine, full of love and patience and I adored every minute they spent together. I never really considered that Found would move me as much as it did.

As harrowing as Found’s topic may be, I feel the author really managed to get events across without bombarding the reader with disturbing scene upon disturbing scene. A lot is left up to the reader’s imagination, be that a good or a bad thing. The story is chilling enough on its own, it didn’t need any added shock value and I appreciate that Erin Kinsley shied away from that and dealt with things in an incredibly sensitive way.

Found is a compelling and often devastating read, beautifully written and extremely sympathetically done. A truly impressive debut by Erin Kinsley.

Eleven years old Evan disappears on the way home from school and despite extensive searching & investigating all leads go cold. Then by chance Evan is found in the boot of a car but is unable or unwilling to talk about his trauma.

Erin Kinsley's Found is a well written and excellently paced novel that follows Evan's story in a compassionate way whilst simultaneously detailing the police investigation.

The author has definitely produced an excellent book and one that I thoroughly recommend

Found is the debut novel by Erin Kinsley and what a gripping thriller it is.
After rugby practice Evan and Stewie go to the local newsagents, at first, they are undecided what to buy, Evan decides to buy a can of Fanta and Stewie chooses salt and vinegar crisps. They part company when Stewie walks up Church road and Evan walks towards the bus stop but, he never makes it, he disappears.
The police look for Evan but without no proper leads and other cases taking precedence. The case runs cold. Until months later, Evan is found. But Evan is not the same boy. At first, he will not speak. He is totally traumatised. He goes and lives with grand parents on a farm. He loves it there and soon Evan starts to open and when news that another boy has gone missing it’s up to him to help the police.
I really enjoyed this. This is a great page turner, not as fast paced as other thrillers but, it had an interesting storyline and a great character. I thought it was well written and sensitively done considering the subject matter. I would highly recommend.

The subject matter is distasteful but the author has treated it with dignity and respect. Evan an eleven year old boy leaves school at the end of the day and never reaches home. This is every parents worse nightmare. Months later Evan is unexpectedly found. This is the story of how his family tries to deal with what their son has been through. How Evan tries to deal with what he has been through. Then another boy is abducted and the police really need Evan's help. I have run the gamit of all my emotions while reading this book. I applaud the author for the sympathetic way she tells Evan's story. Heartfelt, traumatic and just an amazing read. An easy five stars and so Highly Recommended.
I would like to thank the author, Headline and Netgalley for the ARC in return for giving an honest review.

This is a much different book to what I was expecting and a very well written story dealing with some pretty hard subjects but done in a sensitive way that made for a compulsive read. Matt and Claire Ferrers world fall apart when their son Evan goes missing on his way home from school and after an extensive search and tv reconstruction the case grids to a halt until a few months later Evan is found but this a very different Evan to the happy boy his parents once knew. The story continues with the aftermath of this incredibly sad situation where Evan refuses to communicate and goes into his own world much to the despair of those around him. The police still are trying to find out where Evan has been kept and by who and this really has been portrayed so well by Erin Kingsley and all credit to this author in making some difficult situations totally readable and I can highly recommend the book.
My thanks to NetGalley and Headline for giving me the chance to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

** spoiler alert ** 2.5 stars

I couldn't decide what this book was trying to be,a mystery/police detective type book,or a family drama,because depending on what page you opened it on,it could be either.
It's a very readable book,but for me,there just felt a lack of urgency,a litte laid back.
I can't really put my finger on it... I felt something was missing,or possibly I missed something?

That said,I rather wanted to move in with grandad myself.

Wow – a beautifully written book, that is far more engaging than your typical police procedural/psychological thriller. 11-year-old Evan disappears on the way home from school. There are no clues to what’s happened, and his family – mum Claire, Dad Matt, Grandad Jack and Grandma Dora – are completely destroyed. Police have no clues and eventually the case begins to wind down. Then 9 months later Evan is found alive. He returns home and refuses to speak, traumatised by what has happened. This is a brilliant piece of writing, with the subject handled so sensitively. We don’t hear the detail of Evan’s ordeal, but Kinsley concentrates on the reactions of the family. We see a mother driven to drink, a father incapable of drawing his family back together, a grandfather with a firm belief in nature as a cure for his grandson. Moving, emotional and very cleverly written. Loved it.

A great, believable read. Great characterisation and a look at the “bigger issues” which gives it real depth. Will be looking out for more work by this author - recommended.