Great thriller, one of the best I've read recently that was slightly let down by the ending imho.

The voice is really fresh, I loved both sister's parts and the dual timeline worked really well. Also coming from the North East the setting was a fun one for me (although I wasn't a huge fan of some of the dialect choices "Tek" etc).

What let it down was the ending, I don't think the author needed to pile on the second incident / set of baddies - their behaviour was in no way rational and it descended into hyperbole at that point. It also felt like the author kind of ran out of steam at the end ("I'm not going to dwell on the psychological reasoning why a baddie was a baddie") and more tying up could have been done.

Also what did Gemma do with the money from her mother's house sale?! It didn't make sense to me that she was totally broke when she'd inherited 50% of a London house (albeit a small council house on the outskirts) 5 years earlier and there was no explanation of where the money had gone.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy.

This book was full of many unexpected twists and turns. It helped keep me engaged to the very last page. I couldn’t wait to find out what happened. I really enjoyed the way the story unraveled.

The book is told from the viewpoints of sisters Sarah and Gemma. Gemma’s viewpoint from the past intertwined with Sarah’s viewpoint from the present.

The main story focuses on the disappearance of Gemma and her sister Sarah’s desperate search to find her. Gemma is not the only person to go missing in this small town and the town’s people have a lot to hide. There are so many different characters and side plots, that it really keeps you guessing til the last page.

I look forward to reading more from M.J. Ford in the future.

First off, this book was awesome, and definitely veered off into some unexpected craziness towards the end! Sarah and her sister, Gemma, haven't seen each other since their mother's funeral years ago when they had a terrible argument that left them estranged. But now shortly before her wedding, Sarah's contacted by the local police because Gemma is missing. Her boyfriend's body is found in a burnt up car near where they had been away on a hiking trip. That fact alone is suspicious to Sarah, as Gemma is the last person to spend her free time hiking, especially in a small town so far from her home. She soon realizes she can't ignore this situation, imminent wedding or not, and she leaves London to go search for her sister.

The local townspeople are anything but friendly and instead of answers, all Sarah hears are tales of abandoned estates and strange creatures roaming in the wilderness. It's because another girl named Alice went missing years ago, also apparently vanishing from the face of the earth when she was out for a walk. And she lived in that now-abandoned estate. Alice has never been found and Sarah fears that Gemma will meet the same fate. The local police seem more suspicious of Gemma than worried that she's in trouble and Sarah can't find anyone to take her claims seriously. But the deeper she digs into the local lore the more she's putting herself at risk. Will she find Gemma or will she become the next one to disappear?

The story is told from the point of view of both Sarah and Gemma, which helps the reader compare what they see in one narrative with the other. Plenty of discrepancies to found, that's for sure. The townspeople are all kinds of crazy and no one is who they seem to be. There's one surprise after another as the story reaches the conclusion and even though some details sound unbelievable, I find it plausible that in a town like this, with the history that it has, nothing is impossible.

I loved this book, it was well written with a gripping plotline and well developed characters and a remote setting that added atmosphere and tension to the plotline. It was twisty, creepy and unpredictable, I really enjoyed reading it. I will definitely be recommending this and looking out for more from the author,