The Boy in the Photo by Nicole Trope is getting rave reviews and its another one you must add to your TO-READ list immediately. Anything where a child disappears sparks my interest. Can you even imagine something so scary happening? It’s every parent’s nightmare. And what if your child came back to you…but now he’s different and not in a good way?

Here’s the scoop:

Megan waits at the school gates for her six-year-old son, Daniel. As the playground empties, panic bubbles inside her. Daniel is nowhere to be found.

According to his teacher, Daniel’s father picked up his son. Except he and Megan are no longer together. After years of being controlled by her cruel husband, Megan finally found the courage to divorce him. Hands trembling, she dials his number, but the line is dead.

Six years later

Megan is feeding her new baby daughter when she gets the call she has dreamt about for years. Daniel has walked into a police station in a remote town just a few miles away.

Megan is overjoyed – her son is finally coming home. She has kept Daniel’s room, with his Cookie Monster poster on the wall and a stack of Lego under the bed, perfect to welcome him back. But when he returns, Daniel is quieter than she remembers…

Desperate to find out what happened to her little boy and to help him heal, Megan tries everything – his favourite chocolate milkshake, a reunion with his best friend, a present for every birthday missed – but still, Daniel is distant.

And as they struggle to connect, Megan begins to suspect that her son is hiding a secret. A secret that could destroy her family…

This book is out now! Get it here.

A mother's worst nightmare comes true for Megan while waiting for her 6 year old son to come out of school one day - he's not there. Someone else has collected him from school without permission, and they have both disappeared. Greg was abusive to Daniel's mother during their marriage, and now he's getting his revenge.
Years pass, until finally the long awaited call comes - they've found Daniel. But things don't go quite as she always dreamed it would....
I enjoyed this story, wondering myself the whole time how I would cope after all the time of wishing your son to come home, and then when he does it's not exactly how you always dreamed it would be. He seems scared, angry and distant. Is is (understandable) trauma or is it something more?

Nicole Trope had me shaking my head and upset many times in The Boy In The Photo. I knew it would be an emotional read based on the synopsis, but I was unprepared for the feelings that surfaced. Ms. Trope laid out a story that kept me reading steadily. The events that unfolded were predictable, but she managed to make them seem fresh because of the depth and complexity of the characters. If you like character driven, emotion packed domestic suspense, I can recommend The Boy In The Photo, but be warned, the overall subject is difficult and dark.
I received my copy through NetGalley under no obligation.

Wowza!! Simply Amazing. The Boy in the Photo is one amazing book you HAVE to get your hands on if you like suspense, but this one also comes with with a lot of emotional and nerve-wracking content. I completely enjoyed this book from start to finish. And for some strange reason, even after the mystery was solved I wanted to keep going long after the last chapter was done.

Recently divorced Megan with her six-year-old Daniel is still coming to terms with the trauma that was her marriage. When she finally found the courage to break free from Greg, she doesn't have the hear to separate her little boy from his father, but this mistake costs her dearly when one day after school Greg picks up Daniel, never to be seen again.
Six years later Megan has re-built her life and has a daughter Evie. She's moved on but has kept looking for her boy Daniel. When one fine day, she receives the call she's been waiting every day for the past 6 years - Daniel is found. When Daniel finally returns home, Megan's joy knows no bounds, but something is off about Daniel - he's quiet, speaks without emotion, rebuff's her attempts to hug him. And as they struggle to connect, Megan begins to suspect that her son is hiding a secret. A secret that could destroy her family…

Both characters and the plot of this book are simply outstanding. There are a few books out there that have explored the topic of parental child abductions, but this one takes the cake. It felt authentic and real.
The Boy in Photo keeps the momentum going up till the very end. You feel the thrill all along. I figured out the ending earlier in the book, but that didn't stop me neither did my interest wane. Nicole Trope has done a wonderful job with the topic and I look forward to reading more of her books soon. Highly recommend this one!

Thank You, NetGalley, Bookouture and NetGalley for an arc!

Daniel was six years old when he was kidnapped by Greg, his father, his mum Megan, has never stopped looking for him and thinking about him. Six years have passed and we find Megan has finally remarried to Michael, who is a detective she met when he was I investigating Daniel’s kidnapping. She also now has a baby daughter Evie. One night, out of the blue, she receives a telephone call saying that Daniel had walked into a police station saying there has been a fire and his father Greg, is dead. But Megan’s euphoria at being reunited with Daniel soon disappears as she realises that he is cold, distant and withdrawn and has been totally brain washed by Greg after he told him that she didn't want him and was going to put him in a foster home. Megan then realises that Daniel is keeping a secret from her and ends up putting her life in danger. The chapters then gives us glimpses of how Daniel’s life has been and what trauma he has gone through and also chapters goIng back over the six years through Megan’s eyes and how she coped. I did find the story predictable but It did not deter me from enjoying this book. A highly recommended read.
Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

This was a mixed bag for me - but I loved all of them.
Told over 6 years, by mum Megan and by son Daniel and told in both past and present it gives us both sides of the story of 6 year old Daniel, taken at the school gates by his father - only to return 6 years later - completely changed!
There were parts of the book that were heartbreaking, parts that were sinister and parts that were heart warming!
None of that takes away the true message of the damage that can be done to a small child and what that kind of brain washing does!
Excellent and sensitively written, it took me to a place that terrified me, mainly because I am a mother to a young boy!
Totally recommend this whatever genre of writing you like.

You are waiting for your child to get out of school, like you do every day. As you watch all the children run out to greet their waiting parents, yours is not among them.

It is every mother’s nightmare.

And it becomes a nightmare Megan has to live when her six-year-old son Daniel disappears – taken by his father – the abusive ex-husband she left so that she could give them both a better, safer life.

Panicked and terrified Megan calls the police, but Daniel has vanished. Devastated and broken, Megan has to learn to accept a life without her son, but the hope that he might one day return, never dies.

Six years later, Megan has found life around the gaping hole in her heart - finding comfort and happiness with Michael, the detective who was in charge of her case; they are now married with a baby daughter. One day, she gets the news her heart has wanted to hear: Daniel has been found.

But the little boy, who was taken from her so long ago, is nowhere to be seen in the brooding, uncommunicative youth, now returned. Daniel spent six years in hiding. Six years of hearing how his mother no longer wanted him. Six years of believing the lies his now dead father, told him. This Daniel is angry, confused, troubled and volatile.

Megan is determined that her love for him will help to heal what he suffered at the hands of his abusive father, and show him how family love should be. Soon, she realizes she may not have her happy ending. Struggling to connect and relate to Daniel, Megan begins to suspect that he may be hiding a dangerous secret. Did Megan bring a threat into her family fold?

I was totally invested in these characters, especially Megan: her pain, her sorrow, her despair - were so respectfully delivered. Daniel’s torment and confusion; not knowing who to believe or where he belonged – a ticking emotional detonation. With plenty of twists and surprises in the story line, Trope does a very clever job of keeping you on the edge of your seat, begging for the end to finally just happen.

The Boy in the Photo is an excellent must-read that drives your emotions and commands your full attention.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the read of Nicole Trope’s, The Boy in the Photo.

The opinions expressed in my review are my own.

Megan is divorced and is raising six-year old son Daniel. One day, when picking him up from school, he is nowhere to be found. Quite naturally, in full panic mode, Megan approaches school authorities. When it is discovered that her ex-husband, Greg, actually picked Daniel up, the police are notified, as this was not part of the custody arrangement. Despite several phone calls, along with the police's help, Greg and Daniel have completely disappeared.

Fast forward six years later. Megan has never given up looking for Daniel, having used whatever sources she could. She is now married again, with a baby, Evie. One day her now husband, Michael, a detective, calls her with the news that Daniel has been found. Equally eager and nervous, Megan prepares to reunite with Daniel.

Things are quite difficult now that Daniel is back with Megan. For starters, his head was filled with awful lies about her so he is more than guarded. Not only is Daniel now missing his father, he has a secret and odd behaviors that give both Megan and Michael pause.

The story is mainly focused on the present, but snippets of Daniel's life while living with his father are revealed. Sadly, the dangerously abusive situation that Megan experienced with Greg are in some ways being reflected in Daniel's thoughts and actions. Not only does Megan worry about her daughter's safety around Daniel, but she is worried about her own.

This was truly a heartbreaking story. Quite naturally, I was very sad for Daniel for having his childhood snatched by a cruel father, but I so worried about the adjustment period. Also of concern was whether or not Daniel would be able to trust his mother after hearing the things his father told him. This highly charged book had an explosive ending that left me in tears.

There were a few twists and turns in this compelling story, but the one at the end left me in utter shock. I hadn't read anything by Nicole Trope before so I simply was not prepared for the excellence that was laid before me.

Many thanks to Bookouture and to NetGalley for this ARC to review in exchange for my honest opinion.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.* This is a book that tugs at the heart strings and touches on important issues such as family violence, trauma and overseas adoption. Megan's life is torn apart when her six-year-old child is kidnapped from school by her abusive ex-husband, Greg. Then begins a heart-wrenching hunt for her child. Fast-forward six years and Megan has attempted to have a fresh start, with new husband Michael and baby Evie. However, she never forgets the little boy she lost all of those years ago. When she gets the call saying that Daniel has been found, Megan thinks that her happy ending has finally come true. However, all is not as it seems with Daniel - now a hulking adolescent - and Megan's troubles are not yet over. An engaging and thoroughly enjoyable read. As a bonus, this novel is also set in Australia. I look forward to reading more of Nicole Trope's work.

This was an intense book! Some places were predictable but the writing was excellent and I really enjoyed it! I think the author did a great job capturing the feeling.

Megan finally plucked up the courage to leave her husband. Greg had constantly professed to love her whilst belittling & abusing. Fearing the way Greg's behaviour might affect her son she tried to create a loving home for six year old Daniel.

One day she goes to pick up Daniel from school and waits for him to come out. When all the children have streamed past with no sign of him she thinks he might have been up to mischief & goes to find him. She is horrified to find that Greg has picked him up early in the day. And so begins the nightmare of life without her son. Every year on the day Daniel went missing the Detective who was in charge of the case phones to see how she is coping.Six years on Megan is married to the detective, they have a baby daughter who she loves dearly but she still longs for her first born.

Out of the blue they get a call to say Daniel has been found! There was a fire in an isolated cabin. A body has been found and Daniel is alive.But twelve year old Daniel is a world away from the loving six year old. For half his life he has listened to his father poison him against his mother. They have lived like recluses. Daniel has not been able to have friends or attend school but he has had to live with his father's moods & abuse. Megan wonders how she can get her boy back.


This was an engrossing story. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this great book.

Thank you NetGallery for my ARC!

I enjoyed this book. It kept me on my toes the entire time I read it. I didn't see the ending coming at all. Would I recommend this book, you betcha!

What happens next when your 6-year-old son is kidnapped by you ex-husband? How do you live, year after year, waiting, hoping to see him again? What happens when he is returned six years later, not the sweet, loving little boy you knew, but an almost teenager who has been told horrible lies about you? Anyone who is a parent knows that this is one of those worst nightmare situations.

The Boy in the Photo is a quick, easy read. I guessed all of the twists in the first few chapters -- which happens a lot, but maybe not to this degree -- but it was still a fun enough read to want to finish it anyway. Solid 3.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an arc. It has not influenced my review.

What a great read, I was absorbed from the first page. I will certainly be recommending this to everyone.

This was such a good read. A missing child of which there are many books out there with that theme but this comes with a difference - the returned child. A heart wrenching story of a boy taken from school by his father leaving no trace. A grieving mother and extended family who never stop looking. Then six years later Daniel appears in a police station. The story follows the struggle of the family adapting to being reunited. Daniel is not the cute little boy anymore but a traumatised adolescent. This was such a gripping story with wonderful characters - the good and the bad. Twisty and turning and a great ending.

That terrifying moment when all the children have come out from school except yours. Dawdling in the cloakroom perhaps? However Megan’s son can’t be found as he was collected by his Father. That controlling, abusive husband Greg that Megan had just divorced. It would be 6 years before Megan saw Daniel again.

I really enjoyed this book and was gripped from start to finish. Anyone can imagine the sheer terror of loosing a child and the author makes that a very real feeling. How do you cope year after year? how is it possible to move on? Then of course there is the delight of having your child back – but who have they become in the missing six years?

There are plenty of twists in this book. I did have my suspicions about a few events but I did enjoy the way that the author made them unfold. Keep your wits about you reading this book – small comments can be important.

The characters are excellent. How do any of us know how we would react at the loss of a child. How would we cope in the intervening six years & how would we react to this stranger who comes back. Megan was convincing and her reactions seemed spot on to me. I enjoyed seeing the characters actions & reactions to each other. This was crucial to the plot and the author did it well.

A well written book with an excellent plot. Leave yourself plenty of time to read this book – you won’t want to put it down.

I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley.

This was a pretty good read. I wasn’t surprised by any of the twists, but still enjoyed it! This was a quick read for me and enjoyable despite figuring out the twists. Great writing!

Two simple words, LOVED IT 💕
I don't have a child but I would imagine if I did, I would hug them a little more tightly after reading this story.
I often wonder how people go from loving someone and having a child with them to hating them so much that they can't agree on anything to do with raising the child.
My heart broke for Megan turning up at her son's school to collect him only to find her ex husband had collected him without telling her and disappeared completely off the face of the earth.
You wonder how it could get to such a low point in their relationship that one does this to the other.
In this situation it is the father but in others, it could quite easily be a mother that does this.
How do you pick yourself up and carry on with your life when you can't find your little boy?
The sheer grief of it alone makes my eyes water...
It's a heartbreaking read but most definitely one you should read.
Nicole has written this story taking such great care with her characters.
Her storyline is solid, it's heartbreaking and really hits you in the gut.
You will fly through the pages desperate to find out what happened to this little boy.
There are plenty of OMG moments for you throughout and I'd be a little surprised if you're not in meltdown by the end of it..
Well worth taking the time for this one...
I very much doubt you will regret reading it ❤

OMG...WOW! What a fantabulous first read for me by Aussie author Nicole Trope! Set in Sydney and the small Hunter valley town of Heddon Greta (which, admittedly, I'd not heard of till I read this book), THE BOY IN THE PHOTO is fast paced, edge-of-your-seat and an emotional rollercoaster that was a thrill ride from beginning to end.

Megan's son Daniel is 6 years old when he is abducted from school by his father. The day was like any other but when Megan went to collect Daniel from school at the end of the day, she is horrified to discover that her abusive ex-husband Greg has taken Daniel. She calls Greg - his phone is switched off. She calls his landline - but receives the message that the number is no longer connected. Megan informs the police and she is questioned. But Daniel is never found. But Megan never gives up hope that one day he will be.

Six years later and Megan has married again and has a 6 month old baby daughter, Evie. She receives a phone call from her husband Michael, a detective, to say "They found him." Megan struggles to connect his meaning. Found who? "They've found Daniel."

After six years in hiding, Daniel walks into the police station at Heddon Greta claiming who he was, that there had been a fire and his dad was dead. With nothing but the clothes on his back and an old mobile phone in his hand. Megan and Michael jumped in their car and drove the couple of hours north of Sydney immediately. Megan could not contain her excitement or her disbelief. Daniel was coming home! But was he?

Now 12 years old, Daniel is very different from the son Megan lost. Gone is her beautiful little boy who giggled and laughed along with her. In his place, a silent, sullen and angry young adolescent. The years have hardened Daniel and made him bitter and resentful towards his mother, spurred on by the lies his father fed him. He clings to his old mobile phone as his last link to his dad and refuses to let it go, even though it has no SIM card - which was lost between the police station and the burning shack he'd shared with his father. But Megan knows her little boy is still in there somewhere and is determined to find him beneath the layers of hurt of his hardened exterior.

Megan has difficulty coping with her feelings - wanting to smother him with cuddles and love on the one hand but knowing she needs to give him space to deal with his grief and a whole new way of life as well. All she can do is smile and be gentle with him, hoping that bit by bit he will gradually come to trust them. The one thing she finds positive is his interaction with Evie. He plays with her and talks to her when he thinks she isn't looking, and Megan smiles to herself flooded with relief and hope that he can find a way to reconnect to her through his little sister. It's only when he interacts with his mother does the ghost of Greg emerge from his lips and Megan finds herself shaken that he could still have that effect on her all these years later.

Throughout the re-connection of mother and son and the days after, Megan's husband Michael - who was the original lead detective on the case into Daniel's abduction - is understanding and compassionate where most men probably would have run. He is her voice of reason and keeps her grounded when she thinks she will never get through to her son. Daniel appears indifferent to Michael one day and tolerant of him the next, an obvious conflict of his own emotions. Yet he hurls his own childish logic at Megan about being a family with his dad "if only she didn't stop loving him".
The pain and confusion that Daniel feels is understandable, given the circumstances he grew up in...even if we feel like tearing our hair out in frustration alongside Megan. How any parent can alienate a child from their other parent with such hate is beyond me. This is something of which I am familiar, with my husband's own children taken by his ex-wife and then drilled into them by her and her mother how much of a this or that their father was. After 6 years (also) of this type of conditioning, the trouble we had with those children after their mother died was inexplicable. But the circumstances was a lot different than the case here in that the children were almost feral (sadly), and we were in a fight with the children's grandmother for custody - a fight we couldn't win, because she had always been in the children's lives and we had not...through no fault of their father's. They hated their father, thanks to their mother, and even today almost 20 years later, the wounds have never truly healed and the children are still strangers.

As Megan struggles to reconnect with the son she no longer recognises as her own, Daniel slowly reaches out only to snatch his hand back again. And Megan feels as if she is going one step forward and two steps back. There are times she gets a glimpse of the little boy she knew but mostly he is a stranger. And if it weren't for the DNA she would doubt he was he child, he is so different. But Megan also remembers all too well what the years of conditioning at Greg's hand could do.

It isn't long that Megan begins to suspect that Daniel has a secret. One that could destroy their family and put them in terrible danger. Who started that fire that claimed Greg's life? And why did Daniel have so little marks on him, having run 10km from the burnt out shack? What terrible secret is he hiding?

Told over two timelines, THE BOY IN THE PHOTO begins in the present day with snapshots of Megan's grief and Daniel's time with his father in back to back chapters. Cleverly outlined in the gradual build-up from abduction to Daniel's return, we are privy to Megan's pain as each year goes by with no sign of her son as well as life from Daniel's perspective from the excitement at going on holiday with daddy at 6 to that excitement having worn off and now growing impatient with having to remain in hiding in later years. We see Megan's pain, the friendships she makes online with two particular parents whose children were also taken by their exes and the being able to share her feelings with those in a similar situation, knowing that they truly understand what she is going through. We see, too, Daniel's excitement when his father picks him up from school change to bewilderment and confusion regarding his mum when he learns she didn't want him anymore. On every year we get a glimpse of both Megan and Daniel's journey over those six years, entwined with the present day as Megan struggles to reconnect with Daniel.

Although I didn't foresee how it would play out at the end, I did correctly guess probably the biggest reveal leading to that ending. Still, it didn't spoil it for me. I simply suspected it and figuratively punched the air exclaiming "I knew it!" when it was revealed. Honestly? I don't think it was obvious...I just picked it up and thought "that could work"...but wouldn't be disappointed if I was wrong. I thought it was also a very clever addition.

THE BOY IN THE PHOTO is an excellent read with some really clever twists. It is an emotional journey but beautifully written. I simply couldn't put it down. I highly recommend it!!

As my first read by Nicole Trope and set in the city in which I live, it was refreshing to discover her style is of a similar calibre to some of my favourite British thriller writers - K.L. Slater, Shalini Boland, Kerry Wilkinson - and I look forward to reading more from her in the future.

I would like to thank #NicoleTrope, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheBoyInThePhoto in exchange for an honest review.

One of the worst things that could happen to a mother is to have their child disappear.It's even worse to discover your ex husband is behind your son's disappearance.Megan spends year after year wondering what has happened to her Daniel and she wonders if she'll ever see him again.

Six years after his disappearance,Megan gets the call she's been waiting for.Daniel has turned up at a police station and is reunited with his mother. Megan and Daniel struggle to reconnect,Daniel isn't the sweet six - year old boy she remembers instead Daniel is a bitter pre-teen filled with anger and lies he was told by his father. As I read this could feel the agony Megan went through over Daniel's disappearance. As a mom to an only child the thought of my daughter going missing terrifies me,and once mother and son we're reunited,I hoped Megan would get the happy ending she deserved.Instead,it was the complete opposite of what I thought,and it was an ending I figured out before it happened,but it was shocking to read.


I would like to thank Net Galley,Bookoutre,and Kim Nash for having me on this tour.

I rate this

5🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟