My Little Girl by Shalini Boland
Genre: Domestic thriller, Psychological thriller
Read: 13th April 2021
Published: 22nd April 2021
★★★★ 4 stars
DESCRIPTION:
Your daughter is missing. Did someone close to you take her?
Seven-year-old Beatrice has gone missing. Her mother Claire’s whole world has been turned upside down in just one moment and she can’t stop shaking. She’s desperate to find her precious daughter, but nothing about the day she disappeared makes sense…
The mother-in-law: Jill was meant to be looking after Beatrice. She says she didn’t take her eyes off the little girl but her version of events doesn’t add up… Claire has never got on with her, so why should she trust her now?
The husband: He should have been with their only child. Instead, he changed the plans without telling Claire. She didn’t think there were any secrets between them, but maybe she was wrong?
The first wife: Laurel has always been jealous of Claire’s family. Has her husband’s ex-wife taken her daughter?
Which one of them is lying? And who really knows where Beatrice is?
From the million-copy bestselling author, this totally addictive psychological thriller will keep you guessing all the way to the final shocking twist. Perfect for fans of The Girl on the Train, Gone Girl and The Wife Between Us.
MY REVIEW:
I am excited to be taking part in the #BooksOnTour #BlogTour for Shalini Boland's exciting new thriller MY LITTLE GIRL.
There's no such thing as a bad Shalini book. Even one as different as this. MY LITTLE GIRL is not like her usual domestic thrillers but the tension is just as great. The queen of the killer twist may not have her usual twist in this one but there is still a twist or two to keep you guessing throughout.
Seven year old Beatrice Nolan disappears in the Hall of Mirrors at the visiting fair where her grandmother Jill has taken her and her young friend Millie. Having taken her eyes off the girls for a split second to take a phone call from her ex-daughter in law, Laurel, when she looks up...Beatrice has gone. Although the colours in the Hall of Mirrors is distracting with its distorted reflections, Jill isn't sure when she last saw her granddaughter and Millie, who is busy reflecting on her own reflection, is as surprised as Jill to find Beatrice no longer beside her.
Claire was supposed to have a relaxing night out with her best friend Freya and friends but upon receiving a startling phone call to say that her daughter has gone missing from the fair, she feels guilty for wanting a night of freedom away from being a parent for a few hours. She was supposed to be with Bea and Millie tonight but she made other plans so her husband Oliver was taking them instead. So why on earth did her scatty mother-in-law take the girls instead? Where was Ollie? After several small mishaps under Jill's care, both Claire and Ollie decided it was best that his mother not be left alone with Bea...let alone her friend as well. This is just the thing she was afraid of happening on Jill's watch...and now it has. Claire is furious but she has no time for that now because they must find Bea.
And then there is Oliver. All of a sudden, in the wake of their daughter's disappearance when he and Claire should be supporting each other he is instead mooching off on the pretext of filling out tax forms for submission for his business. But when Claire seeks him out at his shop she finds it in darkness with no sign of him having been there for a couple of days. When Ollie finally does return home, he is blotto having spent the day at the pub instead. He gives Claire some lame excuse that didn't even wash with me so I knew Claire wouldn't believe him for a second. Every day since Bea's disappearance, Ollie has been acting strange. Why? And why is he lying to her?
And Laurel, Ollie's first wife. Why did she call Jill at that exact moment in time? The moment that Bea disappears? Was the phone call just a distraction to nab Bea? After all, Laurel has made no secret that Ollie was the love of her life and although they divorced, she never really got over losing him. He thought she'd been having an affair but she denied it which, of course, knew she would and didn't believe her. So is her friendship with Jill just a ploy to get closer to Ollie? The two women have maintained a close friendship despite the divorce and the fact that Oliver is now married to Claire. So just how close is Jill to Laurel?
Despite the police investigation into Bea's disappearance, Claire finds that she cannot sit back and wait for something to happen. She must get out there and help look for her daughter. Someone somewhere must have seen something...surely? She expects the support of Ollie throughout this but he's nowhere to be seen, disappearing himself in the early morning and not returning until the evening. What the hell is he up to? And where the hell is all day if he not with his mother or not at the shop?
The fallout from little Bea's disappearance on the Nolan family is near imploding with each of them dealing with the trauma in their own way. Jill is organising search parties and newspaper interviews, Claire is setting up Facebook pages, papering the town with flyers of her missing girls and trespassing properties to follow leads while Oliver remains suspiciously MIA throughout the day only to turn up drunk most evenings. Then the kidnapper begins to taunt the family with anonymous messages that none of them share with each other so the family begins to implode. Is Claire going to lose both her daughter and her husband? Or will she get her little girl back before it's too late?
While many have expressed a boredom with "missing child" tropes, I on the other hand love them! Sure, there are a lot of them out there but each of them are different and unique in their own ways. It takes a special talent to take a not-so-unique concept and make it your own and Shalini has done just that. Throughout the story she has put her own stamp on it in the way that Shalini does. Instead of the investigation being the focus, Shalini shines a light on uncovering the lies, the secrets, the deception and the truths on the characters during this most traumatic time of their lives. The way she tells the story brings it to life in your mind that you feel you are living the trauma with them.
Whilst MY LITTLE GIRL is not as compelling as some of her previous thrillers, it is still addictive and had me turning the pages until 3am. That, and the fact I just love Shalini's style. You just know, that even if you do figure out who's behind it, there will be a killer twist at the end to throw us off. After all, Shalini is not the queen of the killer twist for nothing. And she delivered with a satisfying conclusion.
Unfolding through the eyes of three perspectives - all of them in the first person - we have Jill and Claire's narratives intertwining with the anonymous incerpts by the kidnapper. The whole thing felt like a cat and mouse game in which Claire and Jill were chasing their tails while the kidnapper orchestrated the entire thing. It was highly entertaining with a few red herrings thrown in along the way. Although I did feel some of those were a little obvious making the guesswork as to who was behind it all a little easier perhaps. Well...maybe I'm just used to looking where others don't. Either way, I had my suspicions early on and narrowed it down till only one remained. It didn't ruin the suspense or the mystery for me. Part of the fun is trying to work it out and then seeing if I'm right or not. Shalini can usually hoodwink me...but not this time! haha
MY LITTLE GIRL is not your usual missing child story. It is more than that, exploring the secrets, the lies, the love, the jealousies and begging the question how well do you know the people around you?
As usual, Shalini delivered another addictive and fast read with her flair for dramatic storytelling and the ultimate killer twist. I always enjoy her books, as there is never a bad one. Each of them are unique in their own way and MY LITTLE GIRL is no different.
Definitely recommend it for fans of Shalini and domestic thrillers.
I would like to thank #ShaliniBoland, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #MyLittleGirl in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Her debut psychological thriller "The Girl from the Sea" published in June 2016 reached Number 1 in the US Audible charts. Her second thriller "The Best Friend" published in October 2016 reached a high of number 10 in Amazon's UK Kindle charts. It also achieved number 1 in all its categories and was a Kindle All Star title for several months in a row.
She is also not a morning person.
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10 Things My Readers Might Not Know About Me
My dreams (nightmares) nearly always involve the characters and settings that I’m currently writing about. For example, last night I dreamt that I’d abducted a baby and tried to hide him in my husband’s car, but I couldn’t get the doors to lock. It was awful! Maybe I’d have a better night’s sleep if I wrote rom coms.
I love all fruit except bananas. The smell, texture, taste – ugh. No. Just no. Keep that evil fruit away from me.
I write for a living, and so does my husband, but neither of our children are particularly avid readers. My eldest is dyslexic and has never enjoyed reading or writing. My youngest quite enjoys it, but has to be pretty much forced into trying a new book. How did this happen? I have no idea. We always read to them when they were younger. We have a houseful of all kinds of books. Ah, well, I’ll keep trying.
When I was nineteen, I hitchhiked at night in Israel and ended up in the middle of nowhere convinced I was going to die. Turns out I only needed to walk another two minutes to find myself back at the kibbutz where I was staying. I’ve never hitchhiked since.
My writing companion is a little Poodle/Lhasa Apso/Terrier cross called Jess who sits at my feet while I type. Sometimes she sneaks up onto the sofa and rests her chin on my keyboard. I’m not sure I could write without her nearby.
When we were in our twenties, my husband and I set up VW car shows. Our events were all jinxed. Over the course of six shows we had four instances of major theft, a forest fire, the worst storm on record, someone set up illegal rave, an outbreak of foot and mouth disease, and an actual bomb scare with police cordoning off the area and evacuating everyone. Plus, we only made a profit during our first show, the other times we just about broke even. Not a huge success.
Nearly all my novels are set in and around the area of Dorset where I live. I moved here when I was eighteen, but I feel like this is my true home. I love it – the towns, beaches and countryside are beautiful.
Good coffee and chocolate are my weaknesses.
I used to be a singer songwriter and once sang on stage at The Brixton Academy in front of four thousand people. I don’t know how I did it. I’m such an introvert these days.
I feel very lucky to write for a living. Every day, I’m truly thankful and appreciate that I’ve finally discovered what it is I love to do – it only took me forty years to work it out! It isn’t always easy and some days I need a kick up the backside to stop procrastinating and get working. Other days are overwhelming and I do get anxious about what my readers will think of each book. But I wouldn’t change it for the world. I only hope people will continue to enjoy my books and allow me to keep doing what I love.
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