Great book, thrilling plot and kept me guessing right to the end. Really well written and wish I had read it sooner.

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

In 2007, three-year-old Phoebe Piper went missing on a family holiday. Despite massive publicity and a long investigation, no trace of her was ever found.
Seven years later, Molly Armitage, aged ten and recently uprooted to a Norfolk village, finds her great uncle Dan dead in his bed. Molly remembers nothing of her early years, but she's been sure for ages that she is Phoebe. Everything in her life points to it and now, finally, she has proof.
Dan's death brings his long-lost sister Janice back to Norfolk where she's re-united with Molly's mother Suzie, the daughter she gave up for adoption decades earlier. Janice discovers that a former lover, Joe Vincent, lives nearby. Joe was a rock star who, at the height of his fame, turned his back on celebrity and became a recluse.
As she is drawn back into the past, Janice begins to wonder if Dan's death and Joe's reputation as a damaged acid casualty are quite what they appear...
And then Molly disappears.

I really did want to like this book more than I did. It had a number of really cool elements going for it: two completely different characters in Molly and Janice; a cool exploration of the 60s and a few social issues from the time, namely adoption and unwanted pregnancies. And that was really interesting.

The problem for me, though, was that old age: "All talk and no action." The first 3/4 of the book is so flat, plot-wise, that there were a number of times I wanted to quit. Lots of dialogue that became a hindrance in moving the story along. It felt stationary for page after page...

The last maybe 100 pages were very good - all the previous problems seemed to disappear and the plot was allowed to explode from the page and for that reason alone, it got to be a 3-star review. Could have been far worse!

Would I recommend this book? I think so - there are lots of good points that others will get more out of. Will I read this author again? Of course, no career should be judged by one piece of work.


Paul
ARH

A quick and easy mystery novel with plenty of new twists, turns and all the complexities of society and family.