Missing by K.L. Slater
Genre: Psychological thriller, Suspense
Read: 11th May 2022
Published: 19th May 2022
★★★★★ 5 stars
DESCRIPTION:
I've known him all my life. I know he has taken my daughter. His mother says she can help me. But she's the last person I can trust...
Samuel lived next door when we were children. We were inseparable. But he didn’t like sharing me with my adored little brother. And one terrible night, he got rid of my brother forever…
Now, years later, he’s free. And my daughter is missing.
I turn on my baby girl’s unicorn nightlight and bury my face in her pillow, my heart breaking. I know Samuel has her – he blames me for ruining his life, and even after all this time, he still doesn’t like to share.
As darkness falls, there’s a knock at my door and I open it to see Samuel’s mother. She says she can help me.
I know I can’t trust her, but I don’t have a choice. With each step I take, my fear grows stronger. Can she help me find my daughter? Or does she know something about what really happened all those years ago? Something that could stop me from saving my baby girl…
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MY THOUGHTS:
I am excited to be taking part in the #BooksOnTour #BlogTour for K.L. Slater's addictive and compelling thriller MISSING.
“It was 9.6 miles. A fifty-minute bus trip. A twenty-minute cab ride. I always knew exactly how far I was from my past, and it was never far enough.”
I have loved Kim Slater's books since I discovered her with "Blink" many moons ago and have devoured every one of them since (this is my 12th!!)...so I still have a few that I have not yet read but I have to remedy that as soon as I possibly can. Because there is always room for another Kim Slater thriller. So imagine my excitement at the prospect of a new thriller in the midst that I devoured MISSING in a few short hours despite propping my eyes open with matchsticks in the wee hours. Because I knew I would not be disappointed. And I wasn't.
14th April 1993 is a date that Josie Bennett will never forget. It was the day her entire world changed...the day her beloved 8 year old brother Jimmy went missing and later found dead. Her neighbour, 19 year old Samuel Barlow, was sentenced to 30 years for his murder. And Josie's world fell apart. Her mother never wanted her when Jimmy was alive, she wanted her even less after his death.
And so Josie vowed that when she grew up she would move as far away as she possibly could from where she grew up; where Samuel's mother Maggie Barlow still lived; and where the memories of a past she has tried to escape remain. But life is what happens when we're busy making other plans, in the words of John Lennon, and Josie met and fell in love with Terry and had little Ivy just a year after their wedding. And they settled in a village not far enough away from Josie's past...and there she stayed. Even after her marriage fell apart and she had to make a life for her and Ivy, starting from scratch.
Now twenty-six years after Jimmy's death, Josie hears a disturbing rumour which is later confirmed when the police call to inform her that Samuel Barlow has been granted early parole and will be released in a few short days time. Once again Josie's world spirals. This can't be happening. He was meant to serve thirty years, not twenty five. Now she must do everything within her power to protect her daughter Ivy from the man who destroyed her family's life.
Then one afternoon, Ivy disappears from their friend's backyard. And Josie knows without a doubt who is responsible. For Ivy is exactly the same age as Jimmy was when he died...and Samuel was jealous of anyone gaining Josie's attention that wasn't him. He was obsessed with her. What would he do to her little girl?
The police are called and while they are skeptical of Barlow's involvement, they do admit that it is a little too coincidental that Ivy disappears without a trace from a secure backyard just days after Barlow's release from prison. Josie is distraught as she demands to know what they are doing to find her daughter. Have they brought in Barlow? Have they questioned him? What could he have done to her little girl?
That evening, a tentative knock on her window reveals a face from the past Josie never thought she would see again. Maggie Barlow. And although she wanted to tell her to go away, Maggie offered her a chance to help her find Ivy. One one condition - she could tell no one...not even the police.
But nothing...NOTHING...could prepare Josie for the secrets she is about to learn.
Missing children stories are so popular in psychological and domestic thrillers today and I admit to them being one of my favourite tropes. But Kim Slater puts her own unique twist to it that makes for such a compelling read that will keep you turning pages long into the night. I found myself promising "just one more chapter"...when some 70% of the book already read I finally turned out the light to savour the outcome the next day.
While it seems clear to Josie who has taken Ivy, I found Samuel to be a little too obvious...especially for a Slater thriller. I knew there had to be a twist around there somewhere remaining undetected whilst all the attention was on Barlow. So I did some detecting of my own. With so little to go on, I began to look for...well...indiscrepancies...nuances...a teeny tiny clue that may reveal what is really going on and what happened to Ivy. Because it is obvious that there has to be something else at play.
And then come the twists. While I had begun to figure out a couple, there is one that blew me away that I never saw coming in a million years. Well, two actually. The first reveal...that threw me for a six. Then the last one...just WOW! Despite being able to unravel the intricate twists laid out for us, Kim still has the ability to shock. Even me.
Told from four main perspectives - Josie, Samuel, Maggie and the Nottinghamshire Police - MISSING unfolds in the present and the past beginning from 1985 through to 1993 when Jimmy Bennett was found dead in a meat freezer in an abandoned industrial estate. Little by little, piece by piece, we are drip-fed enough to reveal exactly just the right amount of information in an intricate and timely manner. And it's given to us in such a way that we cannot drag ourselves away from this addictive read...not until we have turned that final page.
MISSING is an exceptionally thrilling tale from start to finish, no matter how unlikeable some of the characters may be. You just have to know how it all turns out...and find out why? I myself didn't warm to Josie. Not sure why but although I would want to do anything to find my child, I would also trust the police to know what they are doing. Why, then, does she feel that she can knows better? I actually felt sorry for Maggie Barlow. She was in an impossible position with defending her son or to set him on the straight and narrow. Mothers always think they know better when in some cases they really don't. And then to be blamed for what her son was convicted of as if that had some reflection on her, as his mother. But Samuel was most definitely a case of - nature or nurture? Pauline was a horrible excuse for a mother. I cannot say any more than that without revealing major spoilers but her behaviour was appalling. She did not deserve to be a mother. And DI Price...it seems she's appeared in a previous Slater thriller (and yes, her name is familiar) but for the life of me I can't remember from which one...Either way, I enjoyed her's and Brewster's input.
As for Josie...will she be forever known as the murdered boy's sister? Or the mother of the missing girl? Or both? It seems that no matter how far Josie runs (which in this case wasn't too far at all) she could not escape her past...until facing up the truth of what happened before moving on with the future.
Overall, MISSING is a compelling, addictive and engrossing read that will have you turning the pages for "just one more chapter" until the very end. It's Slater at her best and I loved every minute of it! A thoroughly enjoyable read that had me on the edge of my seat throughout. Definitely recommended!
I would like to thank #KLSlater, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #Missing in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Kim's first adult psychological thriller for Bookouture, ‘Safe with Me’, actually started life as a dissertation on her English & Creative Writing degree in 2010. She says" he creepy voice of Anna came to me strong and insistent . . . she wanted to be written, she wouldn’t go away. I’m so glad I listened!"
Kim first became published writing Young Adult fiction for Macmillan Children’s Books under the name Kim Slater. Her award-winning YA debut, SMART, started life as a short story for her MA in Creative Writing in 2012.
Kim is now a full-time writer. She has a daughter and two stepsons and live with her husband Mac in Nottingham and Yorkshire.
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