Finding Sophie was gripping and unique all the way through. 17 year old Sophie has gone missing. After a few weeks and with the police not coming up with any viable leads, Sophie’s parents have taken the search into their own hands. This novel alternates between Sohpie’s parents' points of view as they live through the weeks and months after she has gone missing. Also, peppered throughout is a point of view a year after Sophie went missing during a trial. What is this trial about and whose point of view is this? This point of view really kept me reading for more.

This book excelled at the pacing, allowing surprises and twists throughout the novel, including some big ones at the end. There would be build up and surprises at various points throughout the book, and the ending was not rushed. This book was an intelligent and clever thriller that was far from predictable.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Bantam, Imran Mahmood, and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is a new author to me and I enjoyed the experience. This book is 3 POV’s with dual time periods - each parent, Harry and Zoe, and the current time period at trial. It’s a slow burn as you see each parent deal with grief and not knowing where or what happened to their daughter, Sophie. As it goes back and forth between the parents, there is really a focus on one suspect. Little pieces of Sophie’s life come out slowly. I was a little disappointed (yet happy!) with the ending and how it was revealed. Personally, I think I may have liked it more if there was a POV from their daughter. The legal basis that it is much more important to let 9 guilty people walk free than to convict an innocent person is really an important idea of the legal trial portion. That was an interesting part of the book since there were scenes I’d never known about in the law. I’d recommend if you like slow burn legal mysteries. Thank you Net Galley for the early copy of this book!

Finding Sophie by Imran Mahmood #seventeenthbookof2024 #arc

CW: missing child, murder, death, drug discussion, discussion of statutory rape

This was an emotionally rough one. It follows Harry and Zara, whose daughter is missing. Sophie has been missing for months, and they believe a neighbor knows more than he’s saying. The chapters alternative perspective between the two parents, plus some chapters from the POV of an unknown person undergoing a trial. You don’t know who or why to start, but once the book reaches about 70%, things start to fall into place and time jumps. I won’t give anything away, it’s best to go in blind. But feeling the emotions of Harry and Zara is weighty and disturbing, and the ending was a surprise to me. It was interesting seeing how the British court system works compared to the US system. The book is worth reading but won’t be for everyone. It’s quite dark so bear that in mind.

Thank you to @netgalley and Bantam/Ballantine @randomhouse for the advance copy. (Pub date 3/5/24)

#findingsophie

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the free e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Imagine that your only child, a beautiful and talented daughter leaves home one day at the age of 17, never to return. This is what Harry and Zara King's lives are like. After 6 weeks, the police still have no answers and the Kings have talked to anyone and everyone that they can think of. However, the home at 210, across the street, never will respond to their requests to talk. What do these people know? What are they guilty of?

This story 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. The ending is unexpected and very surprising. I did not see it coming!!! This is very well written and I loved the characters. Highly recommend.

What an utterly absorbing story! Lyrically written and told in perspectives by the parents of a missing daughter who desperately want her home. Interspersed is the trial where we don't really know who is on trial for a murder until it is revealed by the author. What follows is a rollercoaster of a ride to get to the final stunning conclusion!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House for this ARC!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy. This was an interesting read. I was expecting more of a thriller, but it was actually a devastating portrayal of parental grief when a child goes missing and the lengths those parents would go to for answers. You could definitely tell the author was in the legal field with all of the courtroom detail and how the parents got away with what they did. I also feel like I should have seen the ending coming, but I didn’t! I would definitely read other books from this author.

Heart-wrenching combined with thrills-a-minute. Harry and Zara’s daughter Sophie has disappeared and they have no idea what to make of it, much less what to do about it. They are frantic, devastated, obsessed. And they’ve grown so far apart they can’t even share their grief. They are relentless in their questions and their searching – and maybe just a little afraid of finding a truth they never imagined.

The story is told alternately by Harry and Zara, which emphasizes through their differing perspectives just how disconnected and dysfunctional this family has become. The dual timeline between the weeks after Sophie’s disappearance and a year later in the middle of a murder trial provides hindsight, what-if’s and if-only’s. Thought-provoking and exciting.

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group for providing an advance copy of Finding Sophie via NetGalley. I voluntarily leave this review; all opinions are my own.

It took me some time to get into this story and I even contemplated not finishing it. But I’m sure glad I did! Harry and Zara’s daughter, Sophie, is missing. The police aren’t too worried so the parents begin investigating on their own. I liked that we heard the story from both of their perspectives. As a mother, I felt their pain and anguish as they searched and felt so helpless. A very good read.

Finding Sophie by Imran Mahmood combines a domestic drama as parents desperately search for their missing daughter with a courtroom drama because someone is charged with murder. It is highly recommended.

Harry and Zara King’s seventeen-year-old daughter, Sophie, has been missing for six weeks and they feel the police have stopped investigating. The deeply grieving parents especially want them to question the man living in number 210 on their street. They went door to door, talking to everyone in the area to see if they saw or know something about Sophie. Every one talked to them or answered a questionnaire they left except the man in 210. Now Harry is obsessed with the man in 210 and why he refuses to talk to them or answer the questionnaire. The standoff is about to escalate. From the opening we know one of the parents will be charged with murder.

The narrative unfolds between the alternating perspectives of Harry and Zara. It also covering events in a dual timeline, the weeks after Sophie's disappearance and a year in the future during a murder trial. The slow start kept my interest low, but once Harry's obsession took hold the pace becomes steady, with some small jumps in action along the way. There are pieces of information and clues provided during this section that don't pay off until much later. The slow start is redeemed by the ending when the pace and action pick up.

Where Mahmood excels is in his depiction of desperate, grieving parents, Harry and Zara. Both are handling their frustration and grief very differently, but their actions reflect their personalities. Their grief also begins to put a strain on their relationship.

The action in the court case also increases the tension. Keep in mind this novel is set in the U.K., so the court action is different from that in U.S. courtrooms. The dual timelines also begin to merge here to explain more of what happened. The ending is worth the journey. Thanks to Random House for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

The review will be published on Edelweiss, X, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.

Sophie disappears seemingly off the face of the earth, devastating her mom and dad who relate the aftermath in alternating chapters. Part of the problem I had with this structure was that there was little variation in what was supposed to be a difference in the voices of the two POVs, and to me there wasn't enough coloration between them. Further, it seemed to ramble without a great deal of forward movement at times. Furthermore, the interposed sections titled "Now" representing a murder trial I found more annoying rather than intriguing.

What a terrific introduction to a new to me author, Imran Mahmood.
In Finding Sophie, a family is torn apart by the disappearance of their teenage daughter. Parents, Harry and Zara, find themselves both dissolving into grief differently while the investigation of their daughter's disappearance sputters out. Zara turns inward while Harry focuses his anger outwardly, conducting searches and interviews himself.
As their efforts to discover what has happened to Sophie increase, so do discoveries that their daughter was living a life of secrets.
What I really enjoyed was how we as readers learn about Sophie the same time as her parents do. Their idealized thoughts of who Sophie is/was are shockingly revealed a bit at a time. Then there is the question, will the police work the investigation as diligently, if they were to find out the missing teen isn't the perfect daughter once thought.
Loads of red herrings and a bit of the paranormal round out a satisfactory mystery. Though I wished for a bit of a different ending, I will look forward to reading the next book from Imran Mahmood.
4.25 stars
Thank you to Bantam for the early e-copy via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Harry and Zara’s daughter Sophie is missing. Harry is steadfast in searching for her while Zara seems to disappear into the grief of it all. With clever twists and an end you don’t see coming this story kept me engaged from start to finish.

I don't want to give anything away, so I will just say that this was a riveting book that I couldn't put down. The twists and turns kept me guessing. Reading how Zara and Harry deal with the disappearance of their daughter and what they go through in the search for her is heart wrenching. Highly recommend reading this one if your a fan of suspense.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for advanced copy, and I give my review freely

I had a hard time with this one. We open in a courtroom but don't know who the person on trial is, then we go back and forth from what led up to whoever got arrested and the trial.
Sophie has disappeared and her parents are completely understandably beside themselves, and falling apart. working to figure out what happened. They become obsessed with the thought that a neighbor had something to do with the disappearance, the man refuses to answer any questions, and in fact, refuses to even come to the door for the police. So he's definitely acting suspicious.
The police seem negligent and lazy, the parents are becoming completely unhinged, and her best friend has been hiding information about what Sophie is up to.
This book felt long, it's only about 350 but felt more like 500, and I felt like I was slogging through it. By the end, I didn't care about what happened to Sophie or what happened to her parents. And the more we learn about their family dynamic which I think to say is unhealthy would be an understatement, I wasn't surprised at all about what ended up happening to her.


2.5 rounded to 3

FINDING SOPHIE
BY: IMRAN MAHMOOD

About 4.5 Stars!

This author is brand new to me and I'm grateful for the recommendation that led to my discovery of Imran Mahmood. In this slow burn thriller this author has written a compelling mystery & dark thriller. It did start out slow, but my best advice is to stay invested because the more that I read the more involved I became and thus led to an unputdownable, suspense driven narrative. The reason for the initial slow pacing could possibly be to the impeccable character development of both Harry and Zara who are Sophie's grief stricken parents. Their only child, a seventeen year old daughter, Sophie is suddenly missing. The chapters alternate between Sophie's parents, Harry and Zara.

There is something unique about this novel that sets it apart from most missing child thrillers which is because there are a lot more complexities added to the plot. The parents of Sophie begin to pull apart at first straining their marriage in how they separately pursue their own avenues not just in how they individually use their own methods in their searches, but the grief that they both feel is transported to the reader. All of the neighbors in the area have cooperated by being questioned except for a man named Henry in 210 across the street who made both me and Sophie's parents suspicious.

The man who lives alone in 210 doesn't display any motivations towards helping Harry and Zara by simply answering their questions about Sophie. He stood out by his refusal to answer his door and I thought he acted really odd in his unwillingness to answer simple questions so unlike the rest of the surrounding neighbors. He seemed hostile and unsympathetic in his refusal to want to help Harry and Zara with every parents worse nightmare. The detective assigned to the case named Holly seemed to be dismissive of Harry and Zara's suspicions, as well.

Harry goes to see a clairvoyant several times alone and refers to his daughter in the text as (S). He admits that he doesn't believe in her ability to help shed any light on Sophie's whereabouts, yet he continues to seek her out by returning and paying her for her time. He doesn't include his wife Zara in these appointments. The clairvoyant calls Sophie the name of Sophia, which is clearly not Harry's daughter's name. Her assistance will be utilized further in ways that were unexpected, yet vital.

Zara has a celebration for Sophie with a special cake in a mosque inviting many of Sophie's friends and classmates who clearly feel uncomfortable with this gesture. My heart broke for these two parents that were so grief stricken it starts to add cracks in their marriage. Zara and Harry turn away from one another instead of turning towards each other to help them cope as the days turn into weeks with no clue of any sightings of Sophie. Zara questions everyone of Sophie's friends often coming on too strong but understandable by a grief stricken mother.

As Harry and Zara both separately spend time in Sophie's room with each of them trying to feel comfort among her things, Zara makes a disturbing discovery leading both parents to learn some darker facets regarding Sophie. How well do they really know their daughter? This wasn't something that any parent would want to learn about their child, but it does shed some light on a new avenue to pursue.

I was surprised by how taut this mystery/thriller was to be totally unpredictable and I welcomed being unable to guess the outcome. I thought that the courtroom trial was the best one that I can remember reading about in a book. That added to my appreciation of how talented this author is whose future work I will definitely be wanting to explore. There is an explosive and powerful ending that I never saw coming that turned out to be highly satisfying and elevated this novel beyond my expectations. I highly, highly recommend this thriller to all fans of the genre. The title is perfect and may signify that I have read this same story before, but I promise you that this is original in its depth.

Publication Date: March 5th, 2024

Thank you to Net Galley, Imran Mahmood and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine. Bantam for generously providing me with my eARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

#FindingSophie #ImranMahmood #RandomHousePublishingGroupBallantineBantam #NetGalley

I uploaded my review to Goodreads. I will upload my review to Amazon on the publication day.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Imran Mahmood for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for Finding Sophie coming out March 5, 2024. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I received this book directly from NetGalley. This is a first time author for me. I found it really interesting that he’s a criminal barrister who write crime novels. I think his background provides a lot of knowledge for the story. I thought the book was really fascinating and made you think about what you would do in that situation. I definitely felt for the parents who had a missing daughter. It’s a story that’s told a lot. It’s definitely heartbreaking to be in that situation. Overall, I really enjoyed the suspense of this book and thought it was well written. I’m not as familiar with the English court system, so I thought it was explained well. I loved the ending, but some of the conflict wasn’t my favorite. I’d definitely check out other books by this author.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys crime thrillers!

Sophie has disappeared and her parents are worried because they can't find her anywhere. The police aren't helping them at all. They can't seem to be able to find any clues. So Henry and Zara start to search for her themselves.

Their neighbor in number 210, who lives across the street from them is very suspicious. He won't answer his door and he won't answer any questions. He remains silent. Sophie's parents are desperate to find
their missing daughter. How far will they go to find their daughter?

Someone knows what happened to Sophie. Sophie was hiding some dark secrets before she disappeared.
Her parents are accused of murder


I really enjoyed this book. It did have a slow burn to it in the beginning but then the suspense slowly builds and it becomes a thrilling wild ride. This is every parents nightmare. I loved the second half more than the first half.

This is a legal thriller then turns into a thriller with lots of action. It had everything that I love in a thriller. This one is very dark and disturbing.
I thought all the characters were very well done. The parents went through so much. My heart ached for them. It just broke my heart.

OMG! That ending was so good. It went one way, then took a different direction that I wasn't expecting.

I want to thank Bantam Books and Netgalley for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was hoping to love this book but the more the read, the more confused I got. I hate to give up on a book but this just was not for me although I am sure others will enjoy it. It was a DNF for me.

Raw emotion - who could imagine their child disappearing. This book follows the life of two teachers whose daughter Sophie goes missing. They experience emotional despair,, their marriage begins to fade, but they continue to share their overwhelming need to find out where she is, and if she is alive. The suspense builds up slowly, and just when you think the book told you all the answers, comes a twist at the end.

This is heartbreaking!!! Told from the Parents POV, it becomes a tense and an emotional hunt to find their daughter. At 17 years old, Sophie walked out angry, never to return home. When Harry and Zara have tried every avenue to find their daughter by asking neighbors for their help, one neighbor, who lives at #210 across the street, refuses to speak to anyone. A compelling examination of their own lives and the grief they are encountering becomes an obsession to find their culprit. While they search for their daughter, they find bits and pieces of her changes and who she really was and why she left. It begins to tear their marriage apart. As they grow apart, John Henry, their silenced neighbor, becomes a target of their grief and hunt. Their rationality is, his silence signifies his guilt. Their obsession becomes him......

A tense, emotional ride led by the author, that was once a lawyer, writes out the perfect courtroom drama with a thought provoking ending. It becomes a murder trial, but not the one you may think. An absolutely stunning and shocking ending, you will be thinking about long after the story ends. Impressive!!

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Bantam for this incredible ARC in exchange for my honest review.