IT IS BETTER TO LET NINE GUILTY PEOPLE GO FREE-THAN CONVICT ONE INNOCENT PERSON OF A CRIME THAT HE OR SHE DID NOT COMMIT ? That is the standard of the criminal justice system in the UK.

Guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in the U.S.

I knew from the opening pages that this would be a story to savor….

One day, seventeen year old Sophie left home angry-and never returned home.

Six weeks later, her parents, Harry and Zara have grown frustrated with the lack of progress made by the Detectives and each has taken matters into their own hands, in an attempt to find her.

They have interviewed everyone in the neighborhood except the tenant at #210-a man who refuses to speak with them or answer the questionnaire that they have left at his door. Convinced that he is hiding something-they become obsessed with getting him to open up.

Harry cannot even bear to utter his daughter’s name and despite not believing, he turns to a tarot card reader that Sophie would often visit. Zara has turned to prayer although she hasn’t visited a mosque in years.

And, as the two parents try to save themselves and each other, they end up pushing the other away in their grief.

This is NOT your typical “best selling” crime mystery. It is part character study and part legal thriller, the writing often POETIC and INTROSPECTIVE.

It unfolds in the alternating first person perspectives of Harry and Zara, and in a dual timeline between the weeks after Sophie’s disappearance and a year later in the middle of a murder trial, until we reach its UNEXPECTED and surprising conclusion.

If I hadn’t been invited by the Publisher to read this-I probably would’ve missed out, but I will be watching for the author’s books now.

If you have read books by Kia Abdullah, you will probably enjoy this author as well.

He has worked on the Criminal bar in London for over 20 years and regularly appears in the jury trials of complex criminal cases, bringing an authenticity to the story, which I appreciated.

Expected Publication Date: March 5, 2024

Thank you to Bantam for the gifted copy, provided through NetGalley. It was my pleasure to offer a candid review.

If you love a domestic thriller, Finding Sophie might be the book for you to start your 2024 with. The book centers on alternating perspectives and timelines of a couple, Harry and Zara, who are trying to both find out and grieve what has happened to their daughter. I loved the complexity of the two storylines and the ways that they played off each other.

My bad! I begin with a trigger warning: I am not a fan of this genre, and had I known Finding Sophie to be a mystery/thriller I never would have requested an ARC copy to read and review.

The novel was interminable, with one unreal and unbelievable action on the parts of Sophie's parents, .Harry and Zara, in attempts to find/rescue their missing daughter. Come on now, sending a phony Amazon package to a neighbor to get a look at him, ordering a high-tech drone to infiltrate said neighbor's house, befriending an illegal alien tarot card reader t pick her psychic brain, breaking in and attacking said neighbor, and that's only a small part of it.

I kept an eye-rolling slog to the end, and I must admit it was a surprise. But worth it? NO! Not for me. If this, and courtroom dramas are your kind of thing, please feel free to totally ignore my prejudiced opinion. And thanks anyway to Random House and NetGalley for this pre-publication book.









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harry and Zara

boo

Thank you @netgalley for the ARC of Finding Sophie by Imran Mahmood. As a parent, this book tugged at my emotions because not knowing where my child is , is one of my worst nightmares. The story is a slow burn, but it builds as the mystery unfolds. There are two parts told in multitude point of views. One is the parents, Zara and Henry looking for their teen daughter, Sophie, who has been missing for months. The second is their murder trial because they are both accused of murdering a neighbor they think took their daughter.

This book is well written and tense. Your heart arches for the parents and don’t know what to think as their trial unfolds. How far would you go for your child?

I was super excited for this book, but sadly it turned out to be not my cup of tea. I loved the premise of the story and the overall plot, but it moved a little too slow for me to stay entranced in the story. The story itself is a nightmare, with some deadly obsession and secrets- I just wish it was a little faster paced.

What would parents do when their daughter goes missing. Harry starts his own investigation and Zara goes down a spiral of grief. They both start wondering about the man who lives at house number 210 and what he knows. Fraught with tension and deep insights into each parents agony. The ending was satisfying but wish it had a more central part, it feels like it came out of left field. Wish there had been a third perspective from Sophie.
Thanks Netgalley for the advanced reading copy in return
for my opinion.

Harry and Zara have a missing daughter. Sophie has disappeared. Harry has searched house by house. Only one house refuses to speak with him. It becomes an obsession. It turns deadly. But who is to blame? Harry and Zara both give their story past and present. I enjoyed the different views. The defendant reveal was confusing at first. I was unhappy with the person who knew what happened to Sophie. They weren't really on the suspect list. They weren't much involved in the story. The British court was interesting too. Standing all that time!
Thank you, Imran Mahmood, NetGalley, and the publishers for this ARC.

This is a depressing story about parents grieving over their daughter who has disappeared. Heartbreaking at times and very slow moving. Then the second half of the book, Harry and Zak start doing crazy things and the book jumps all over. Overall not bad, but not what I expected.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

In Imran Mahmood’s novel, Finding Sophie, Harry and Zara are living the nightmare of one day their daughter, Sophie, going for a walk and not returning. Their new normal is trying to live life as before. Celebrating birthdays, cooking waffles on Sunday morning, but it’s all a ruse. Detectives have investigated, but found nothing that has led them to where Sophie went. The only gap is the house, 210, where the resident doesn’t answer the knocks to be asked questions. Does he have a role in what happened to Sophie? Then there is Sophie’s best friend, Emily, who seems on the brink of revealing something to Zara, but clams up when she feels she might say too much. Both Harry and Zara find out different things about Sophie and the secrets she was keeping that could’ve contributed to her disappearance (death?), but what they each choose to do with the information takes them on a collision course of the grief and unknown would lead any parent to contemplate.

This was a different suspense novel than I’ve read in the past. There were not a whole host of character to separate and keep track of in who might’ve done whatever crime might’ve happened. The story centers on the parents and the emotions you might feel if the circumstances were in your life: missing daughter, not knowing her fate, finding out secrets she had and friends who were unwilling to be upfront about them, uncooperative neighbors who possibly saw something that could help find Sophie. As for the main character, I felt Harry tried to do too much. Not only did he have a plan A, B, and C, but he also had various paths for each plan in case something he deed what he had carefully planned out in his mind. Zara appears weak due to how she struggles with Sophie’s disappearance, but within her, she has a bit of steel although it is bent based on my visual of her as hunched from the burden on her shoulders. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the advanced copy. Opinions expressed are my own. This book is set for publication on March 4, 2024.

#netgalley #arc #bookstagram #ImranMahmood #FindingSophie #RandomHouseBallantine

Sophie is 17 years old and wanting to have more independence than her parents are ready to give her. One day she doesn’t come home and this turns into a year of being missing. Her parents don’t feel the police are working hard enough on finding Sophie and immediately begin their own investigation. They canvas their neighborhood and Sophie’s friends. They are convinced that their next door neighbor has kidnapped her as he refuses to talk to them. Sophie’s parents are overwhelmed with grief and take drastic measures trying to make neighbor confess. There is no limit to what they will do.
This is a twisty suspenseful nightmare of a story.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Ballantine

This thriller was fantastic! Two parents fighting to find their missing daughter will do ANYTHING for her... and they do. The ending was WOW!!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review!

Review of Uncorrected Proof

It’s every parent’s worst nightmare . . . seventeen-year-old Sophie has disappeared. Vanished without a trace. Gone.

Harry and Zara King, struggling with the lack of progress in the police investigation, remain haunted by Sophie’s absence. Harry has visited every house on the street, seeking any shred of evidence; only the occupant of #210 refuses to answer his desperate knocks at the door. As the days pass, Harry and Zara struggle with the lack of answers. They’re desperate.

What happened to Sophie?

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Told alternately from the viewpoints of Sophie’s mother and father, the unfolding narrative reveals their struggles and shows how Sophie’s disappearance has affected their relationship as much as it focuses on finding the answers they so desperately need. The characters are well-defined and believable; the situation, both agonizing and emotional.

The story is both captivating and heartbreaking, suspenseful and intriguing, desperate and frustrating. Short chapters help keep the suspense building; the plot twists and turns, offering readers unexpected surprises as the unfolding narrative slowly reveals its secrets.

This is difficult reading, especially for parents who have lived through this nightmare or for those who have lost a child. Grief is all-consuming and unrelenting. Many will find that, despite the intensity of the tale, the emotion engendered in the telling of the tale forces them to step away for a time before continuing to read.

Readers who enjoy family drama, thrillers, and mysteries will find much to appreciate here. The unfolding story lays bare the struggles parents face as the story races toward a completely unexpected denouement.

Highly recommended.

I received a free copy of this book from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Bantam and NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
#FindingSophie #NetGalley

This is a very emotionally charged story. Harry and Zara King are parents who are desperate to find out what has happened to their missing daughter. The story is told alternately from their points of view. It is very detailed as it looks at how they each process the situation they find themselves in. Readers will be surprised by the ending as the couple fights for their survival.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the copy of Finding Sophie by Imran Mahmood. I’m running out to buy Mahrood’s other books because Finding Sophie had me glued to the pages. The beginning was a little slow, but once the courtroom scenes got started I was intrigued by the characters as the story unfolded in an unexpected way. Then that ending! WOW, I'll be thinking about it for a long, long time. If you love legal thrillers, put this one at the top of your list. 4.5 stars rounded up to 5 stars.

Excellent, taut family drama! Twisted plots kept me questing til the end and turning pages to find out what really happened. #findingsophie by Imran Mahmood is one to read and recommend. I thank #netgalley and #bantambooks for this ebook arc to read and review. All opinions are my own.

I was given this book by NetGalley for an honest review-
A parents worst nightmare -a missing daughter. It’s been days and still no answers to where their daughter is. Where could she be.? Is she alive? Did someone take her?
The parents want answers and visit each home on the block except for 210 who won’t open the door. Now they are determined to find answers anyway they can.
The heartache you will feel for each parent as they search for answers - and the shock of what it can lead to.
Will they find Sophia?

Local teachers, Harry and Zara, are devastated when their daughter, Sophie, disappears. Disappointed in the police progress in finding her, they investigate on their own. Harry has visited all the houses in their neighborhood, except one where the homeowner will not let him in. As they become obsessed with the search, to what extremes will they go?

I really liked this fast, engrossing read. Well plotted, it kept me guessing as the truth was gradually revealed. This is a mystery as well as psychological and legal thriller. Told from the perspectives of both Harry and Zara, it is a solid study of parental loss, grief, and familial relationships.

I like the idea of a family thriller and discovering what makes the characters tick. Mahmood did a good job with the storyline and action. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I found this book to be not worth the read, I finished it, but boy was it slow! I think a few more suspects would have been good, and little faster pace would have made this book so much better!

When Sophie (their daughter) disappears, her parents try frantically to figure out what happened to her. The mother refuses to believe she is dead, even though that is the common assumption. The parents believe on their neighbors is involved since he will not answer the door to talk to them as they look for clues. The police dismiss their clues of the neighbor’s part in Sophie’s disappearance, so they take the matter into their own hands. Do they find Sophie? Read and find out.