A brilliant read that literally had me "Dying to Know" how this was going to end!

Imagine receiving a phone from your sister who is locked in the boot of a moving car! Then you never hear from her again! That's what happened to Geneva Leighton with her sister Amber.

Twelve years later, Sargent Jesse Johns turns up with shocking new evidence but when police leads hit a dead end, Geneva can't leave it alone. She has to find out the truth what happened to her sister.

But as she gets closer to the truth, danger is in the face of everyone she loves.

Trust no one. Your life depends on it!

An absolute page turner, action packed with a lead character that had sass and guts! Geneva Leighton does not give up! Dangerous bikie gangs, blackmail, you name it, Geneva will take it on to find out the truth!

What a spectacular physcological thriller that left me flipping through the pages and ultimately guessing what would happen next. The characters are superbly crafted and I couldn't get enough of this book. I also loved Rae Cairns first thriller and can't wait to see what she comes up with next.

Thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this book for an honest review.

Wow...what a mind bender. I think I suspected everyone at some point. Thought the ending was really well written and tied it all up nicely. Highly recommend.

Another page turning novel from Rae Cairns. I was fortunate enough to read her first novel The Good Mother when she self-published it and I was so excited for her that she was picked up by a traditional publisher who gave her a 2 book deal, it was so well deserved. This new book is just as good as her first and tells the story of Geneva who takes a desperate phone call from her sister who is locked in the boot of a car and going who knows where. After her sister disappears Geneva takes on the mothering of her niece and nephew after their father becomes very unstable. When new evidence appears Geneva is determined to find out what happened to her sister and get the case re-opened.

What follows is a fast paced story of blackmail, corruption, motor cycle gangs and that never give up attitude which raced to a very satisfying ending. Rae Cairns is an excellent writer and a new face on the Australian crime fiction scene, and I highly recommend both her books to crime fans - you wont be disappointed!

Thanks go to Net Galley and Harper Collins/Harlequin for the complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Its so refreshing to see a book with a different plot added to the story. I read thrillers, true crime and crime books and havent come across this plot for a long time. I love a missing person and cold case trope so ticked all the boxes for me. This was a perfect mix of both character and action driven storyline. We get to know the family through Genevas eyes. The cocky arrogant Hugh (BIL) who i strongly disliked for the way he treated Geneva and his kids. Then Lily who is Amber and Hughs daughter, Charlie who is their son and of course Charlie. I connected with Geneva as she kept going to solve her sisters disappearance and raised her kids. The second half of the book is dedicated to the action. It was riveting and I could not stop reading. The timeline is then ( 12 years ago) when the disappearance happened and now ( present) when there is new information to the investigation. 2 other aspects of the book I liked were the forbidden romance, and the mention of Hoxton Park High School. Highly recommend.

Oh my gosh what a book! Rae Cairns knows how to write a story that will hook you straight away and keep you on the edge of your seat the whole way through.

After the disappearance of her sister Amber, Gen stepped up as a mother figure to her neice and nephew and has never given up hope that her sister will return. When her remains are found Gen is desperate to find out who is responsible and get justice for her sister. What she doesn't know is that she'll be putting herself and the children at risk trying to uncover the truth. She has trouble knowing who she can trust and finds herself constantly pushed in varying directions.

The story is action packed and full of drama and mystery. It was enjoyable trying to put the puzzle pieces together while I was reading.
Another fantastic book by Rae Cairns.

Dying To Know, Rae Cairns sophomore suspense novel, opens with a dramatic prologue. In a shocking phone call, wife and mother of two young children, Amber, reveals she is trapped in the boot of a car after being abducted while running a late night errand. Her younger sister, Geneva, can only listen helplessly as Amber makes a desperate attempt to free herself and then suddenly goes silent.

Shifting to twelve years later, Gen’s slim hope that Amber will one day return is dashed when the police reveal her sister’s remains have been found. The news is emotionally devastating not only for Gen but also her now sixteen year old niece, Lily, and twelve year old nephew, Charlie, whom she has helped their oft-absent father, Hugh, to raise. Though the police insist the discovery is a dead end, Gen is determined to find answers.

Moving at a good pace, Dying To Know is a taut mystery thriller that sees Gen, plagued by misplaced guilt, take plenty of risks in order to solve her sister’s murder. She’s quite fearless in her investigation at times, but I thought her actions were largely believable. While early information Gen uncovers suggests that Amber was not a random target, it takes her some time to piece together the motive that identifies those responsible. Savvy genre readers will probably be a step or two ahead, but this doesn’t detract from the tension as Gen gets closer to the deadly truth.

Gen’s greatest vulnerability is Lily and Charlie, and I thought the relationship between the three of them was well portrayed. Her tenuous relationship with the children’s father and his wealthy, image-conscious family, provokes additional emotion and drama. I liked the support Gen’s best friend, Toni, a broadcast journalist, and the original case officer, Sergeant Jesse Johns, offer her, as well as the touch of romance in the plot.

A satisfying, well paced Australian crime fiction novel, Dying To Know is gripping read.

Rae Cairns certainly knows how to put her FMC through a whirlwind of trauma - firstly in The Good Mother and now in her new book, Dying to Know. I love the concept of the FMC looking to find the truth in their circumstances, and not resting until the truth is discovered. The pacing in this book was relentless, with bits of information being drip fed with precision. The main thing that I struggled with while reading this book was how the FMC didn't take on Hugh much earlier - how did she manage 12 years of the abuse that was sent her way? But other than this, this was a thoroughly enjoyable read!

Dying to know

Amber asks her sister Gen to head out late one night to buy some nappies. Gen says she'll go later, Amber gets pissy and goes herself. Over an hour later she still hasn't returned home. A phone call reveals she was kidnapped and the rest of the book is a slow, somewhat strange thriller.

First things first. Why was Gen at Amber's house, a woman with a toddler and a baby late at night and refusing to help? You visit a mum... you do some fucking chores. There were A LOT of these kind of questions for me.

Back to the book...I hated the prologue. Rushed, chaotic and some of it didn't make sense. If I wasn't reading this to review I think I would have stopped then and there.

The FMC annoyed the shit out of me. She's constantly annoyed at how her mother, sister's husband, nephew and a cop/love interest are acting but I was always on the other person's side. I felt like she was unreasonable and made some odd choices. It made it hard to connect.

However, parts of this book is brilliant and it's packed with intelligent and witty analogies.

The author paints some really vivid scenes, 'show don't tell' is taken to an extreme and I could visualise it so well. However we don't get any internal monologue or descriptions about what Gen is physically feeling, smelling etc  which would have been a nice change from all the boring parenting chitchat.

It sort of felt more like a movie than a book with how visual it was. Not sure if that makes sense but it was as though someone was describing a scene rather than being immersive.

“Dying to Know” is an excellent thriller which generates a lot of emotional involvement. Some elements are perhaps obvious earlier than Cairns intended, but there’s a lot of tension regardless, and some believable misdirection.

Geneva Leighton is explaining to the police that her older sister Amber hasn’t come home. Amber had nipped out for a quick errand, leaving Geneva with her two small children, but hours later she’s still not home. As Geneva talks to the police she receives a frantic phone call. Amber is trapped in the boot of a moving car, seized by a stranger, and with no idea where she’s being taken.

Twelve years later, Amber still hasn’t been found. Geneva knows it’s not likely she’s still alive, but can’t quite give up hope. At the very least, she needs to know what happened that night. She’s all but given up her life to raise Amber’s kids – not easy with her volatile brother in law to deal with.

Some unexpected events kick start Geneva’s need to dig further and do all she can to try to find out what happened to Amber. But it soon becomes clear that the danger that caught Amber is still lurking…

The opening pages of this novel are utterly compelling and that particular section is almost impossible to put down. Although the rest of the novel takes it down a notch, it’s still the sort that you won’t want to put down for long at a time.

I did feel that some of the major beats of the plot were a bit predictable, but that didn’t make this any less readable. It still kept me reading, partly to find out if I was right, and partly because by then I was thoroughly engaged with Geneva.

Geneva is a little naïve about some things, but in a believable way: no-one is capable at absolutely everything. Her actions were generally believable – certainly her emotions were – and she generates a lot of empathy from the reader.

I think Cairn’s ability to write compellingly is what really makes this novel stand out. The plotting is good, and the characters are strong, but what really worked for me was the way Cairns captures your attention and then doesn’t let go. It’s hard to put my finger on exactly what it is; it’s that indefinable something in a writing style that makes a novel memorable.

Both thriller and crime readers should find a lot to enjoy here. Strongly recommended, but don’t start reading it if you have somewhere else to be in an hour. You might miss your appointment.

I absolutely loved Rae's previous novel, The Good Mother, so I was very excited to receive this arc via Netgalley.

Dying To Know has another kick-arse female lead taking charge and doing anything she can to protect her family. Based in Australia, we follow Gen as she tries to piece together why her sister was taken from her, and her own children's, lives years earlier.

A page-turner to the very end, Rae Cairns is fast becoming a must read author for me.