Okay, so I requested the book because I loved the title and the blurb was interesting ―a woman is missing and the husband reaches out to her former lover, seeking help to find her.

I must admit that I am a very impatient reader. And this book has 82 chapters. Short chapters but yeah…This book was painfully slow and yet I couldn't abandon the book or just skim through it because it's so beautifully written. The imagery, the emotions, the thoughts...

However, after 42 chapters, I began to lose patience. And interest. After a point, I stopped caring about Vera, or where she was or why she suddenly disappeared and all that. Beautiful writing is cool of course, but mystery should not be that slow. However, if you are a patient reader, you might love this book. Read it for the sheer beauty of the prose.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC.

Philip Clofiari is a repented author, in this involved a lost woman (Vera), searched for her husband as the police assume she left voluntarily.

Desperate to find her, Vera's husband exist Jake (Vera's former lover). Interesting premise, but then a drug dealer unaccountably joins the search for Vera (who is not a drug user).

This story was too slow moving for me, with Vera remaining just a touch ahead of Jake's search, every time.

However , the writer weaves a magical spell with his captivating descriptive detail. Author has the "chops" for bestsellers, this book just needed content that moved a bit quicker so reader doesn't give up in frustration half-way through.

In our rapidly changing world, this writer captures meticulous, painstaking detail and he does so with artful flourishes, but with today's distractions, a bit of adjustment for our times will make for knockout bestsellers sure to retain one's interest.

This is a slow burn mystery but it was just a little bit too slow for me. While I enjoyed the writing style, the idea of Jake, the main character always being just one step behind finding Vera, the woman he is searching for, became tiresome and repetitive. While this was a good read, I'm not sure if I would seek out more books from Philip Cioffari.
Thank you, NetGalley, for the opportunity to read this ARC.