The Girl Who Never Came Home by Nicole Trope
Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Contemporary fiction, Women's Fiction
Read: 2nd November 2020
Published: 4th November 2020
★★★★★ 4.5 stars (rounded up)
DESCRIPTION:
They find her just as the sun is beginning to rise in the early morning mist. They had begun at dawn, the group of searchers keen to get going. A missing child spurred everyone on. In the end, it was a flash of colour, a bright neon pink that caught her eye. They had been looking for pink.
Nothing tests your faith like being a mother. The first time your children walk to school alone, their first sleepover, when they finally fly the nest. As a parent, you have to believe that everything will be OK.
It’s why, when Lydia’s sixteen-year-old daughter Zoe goes on a school camping trip, she has no idea of the horrors that will unfold. It’s why, when Lydia gets a call saying that her daughter has disappeared, she refuses to give up.
As she searches the mountains, her voice hoarse from calling Zoe’s name, she imagines finding her. She envisions being flooded with relief as she throws her arms around her child, saying, ‘you gave us such a scare’. She pictures her precious girl safely tucked in bed that evening.
It’s why, when they find Zoe’s body, Lydia can barely believe it. It is unthinkable. Her little girl has gone.
Something terrible happened, she is sure of it. Something made Zoe get out of her sleeping bag in the middle of the night, walk out of the warmth and safety of the cabin, into the darkness of the mountains. Driven by the memory of her youngest child, Lydia needs to find out the truth. What kind of mother would she be if she didn’t?
A heartbreaking, redemptive and beautifully crafted novel which brings to life a mother’s worst nightmare, questioning how well we ever really know the people we love the most. Fans of Jodi Picoult, Kerry Fisher and Liane Moriarty will be blown away by this stirring, unforgettable tale.
MY REVIEW:
I am excited to be taking part in the #BooksOnTour #BlogTour for Nicole Trope's compelling emotional domestic drama THE GIRL WHO NEVER CAME HOME.
Nicole Trope is one of my go-to authors and I was looking forward to devouring this tale and solving its mystery. I was not disappointed. THE GIRL WHO NEVER CAME HOME is a book that works on different scopes forming a mystery of what happens to a young girl, in addition to those who remain and how they deal with their grief. And that grief takes on many forms for not only the family but also that of friends and those who were in some way connected to the girl and her initial disappearance. It also examines how one can be affected by such a sudden and tragic death and the shadows of the memories they leave behind.
What begins as an exciting prospect for some and a lot of hard work for others, ends up in being every parent's and every ever teacher's nightmare. A teenager going missing whilst on a school camp. And if that wasn't bad enough, then nothing would prepare them for what was to come. While being a mother is one of the most difficult yet most rewarding job, being a teenager in this terrifying age of social media and constant presence is probably even worse. I'm so glad my teenage years were long over before the birth of social media.
When 16 year old Zoe Bloom goes on a school camping trip to the Blue Mountains with her year 11 class, her mother Lydia never thought it would be the last time she would see her beloved daughter alive. Not only that, her final words to her daughter were those calling her a bitch. How can they be her final words to her youngest child, whom had always been the light of her life? And as Lydia swims through the tidal wave of her grief, she longs to know what really happened to her beloved Zoe and why her life was tragically cut short.
On the first night of the camping trip, Zoe settles into the cabin she shares with her best friends Shayna and Becca. But as it is a four bed cabin with one spare, the teachers place another student with the three girls. Leeanne is one of Zoe's favourite people to taunt. But this time something is different. One of them stands up to Zoe...and no one does that.
So after lights out on the Friday night, Zoe creeps out of their cabin and disappears into the bush. Someone hears her leave, someone sees her walk away...but no one stops her. The following morning Zoe is not in her bed. The alarm is raised, a search party is organised and her mother is contacted. It is a parent's worst nightmare...but one that comes true when at 6am on Sunday morning, Zoe's body is found.
The journey the reader is then taken on is through one of grief, fear, regrets, secrets and the guilt of all those who were there that night as well as those closest to her. Through the eyes of Lydia (her mother), Shayna (her best friend), Jessie (her sister) and Bernadette (her teacher) we are privy to their thoughts and the complex emotions of their private pain as secrets are slowly revealed surrounding the daughter, friend, sister and student known as Zoe. Through them, we see the Zoe as they knew her...and it slowly comes to light that it wasn't always pretty.
Zoe was a beautiful vivacious girl, but she was also a vicious bully. She took inane pleasure in belittling others less popular, less attractive, less anything in her eyes. Her cruelty was as palpable as it was uncalled for. But that never stopped Zoe. She was the star that simply had to shine the brightest while others could only bask in her shadow, and if that meant putting others down to ensure that position, even her best friends, then that's what it would take. No one could outshine Zoe.
But to Lydia, Zoe was her baby girl. She would always remember Zoe as the adorable child she had been as well as the difficult teenager she became. And sadly, she would never get the chance to become an adult, a wife, a mother or anything besides the teenage bully she died as. For her, Zoe would be forever sixteen.
To Jessie, Zoe would remain an enigma and yet she would always be her little sister. She loved her and wished she had been a better sister but Zoe didn't always make it easy. She was mean and cruel but she could also be loving and sweet. Their six year age gap meant the sisters were often strangers with Jessie busy studying medicine and Zoe wrapped up in being a teenage girl. Never again would they have the chance to be sisters. Never again would Zoe have the chance to be anything but sixteen.
There are a plethora of complex issues in this compelling tale of the mystery surrounding a young girl's death. And in this modern day and age, bullying has gone beyond the playground following their victims home via social media. No longer can one escape to the safety of their home for a much needed reprieve from the bullies. Now they can follow them everywhere, night and day in a constant stream of abuse, shaming and humiliation for all the world to see.
But that's the only danger on the internet. Complete strangers can become anyone and what one young girl believes to be a gorgeous boy could in actual fact be a dirty old man. Children are vulnerable, easy prey and despite warnings and the best efforts to educate them to be careful, they often still get caught up in the kindness amidst the cruelty and the promises of clever deception.
Then when, after her death, Zoe was found to have been talking with a boy online, to the point of even dumping her boyfriend, questions begin to arise as to the identity of who it was she'd really been talking to. Who is Xavier? How she did they know each other? Did she meet up with him on that Friday night? Is that why she left her cabin in the middle of the night after everyone was asleep? And where is this Xavier now?
Compelling and addictive, THE GIRL WHO NEVER CAME HOME is a dark story that is emotional and heartbreaking. A perfect mix of contemporary fiction and mystery, Nicole Trope encapsulates each character that as a reader you are able to feel what they feel alongside them. She also deals with the issues facing the youth of today involving social media perfectly, showing how easy it is for the internet to play such a devastating part in destroying lives.
As with all of Nicole Trope's books, THE GIRL WHO NEVER CAME HOME is unforgettable, thrilling, emotionally charged and unputdownable. But keep the tissues handy, especially regarding Walter. I didn't shed a tear for Zoe but I bawled bucketloads for Walter.
As always, thoroughly recommended for those who love a touch of mystery to their contemporary fiction...or vice versa!
I would like to thank #NicoleTrope, #NetGalley, #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheGirlWhoNeverCameHome in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Nicole Trope went to university to study Law but realised the error of her ways when she did very badly on her first law essay because-as her professor pointed out- ‘It’s not meant to be a story.’ She studied teaching instead and used her holidays to work on her writing career and complete a Masters’ degree in Children’s Literature. After the birth of her first child she stayed home full time to write and raise children, renovate houses and build a business with her husband.
The idea for her first published novel, The Boy under the Table, was so scary that it took a year for her to find the courage to write the emotional story.
She is now published by Bookouture and is an Amazon top 100 bestseller in the USA, UK, AUS and CAN.
She lives in Sydney with her husband and three children.
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