The One Who Was Taken (Whitecliff Bay mysteries #2) by Kerry Wilkinson
Genre: Cosy mystery
Read: 11th April 2023
Audio Links
Published: 17th April 2023
★★★★ 4 stars
DESCRIPTION:
In the darkness, the girl slumps against the rough tree bark. Her eyes are closed, her wrists tied. As consciousness fades, her last thought is of her best friend, and how much she regrets what she did…
Seventeen-year-old best friends Nicola and Millie were supposed to have a summer night of fun and freedom in the local park. But when dawn comes Millie realises Nicola is missing. Distraught, she searches for her alone: and finds Nicola tied to a tree, her purple Converse shoes missing, her long hair cut and scattered on the ground. With no memory of what happened, terrified Nicola begs Millie never to speak of this again…
Fifteen years later. With countless secrets and hurt between them, Millie and Nicola have not spoken in over a decade. But now Nicola has found her old purple Converse strung up in her garden. Is her attacker sending a message? Why now, after all this time?
In the small town of Whitecliff, people have long memories – but Millie is the only one who can help get answers. And, as she asks questions of their school friends, she realises one of them knows more than they should about her own family secrets…
Not knowing who to trust, and knowing Nicola’s kidnapper is still out there, Millie must ask: how far will they go to keep the truth buried forever?
Fans of Faith Martin, Ann Cleeves and LJ Ross won’t be able to put down this addictive mystery read set in the small seaside town of Whitecliff, where nothing is as it seems.
MY THOUGHTS:
The second in Kerry Wilkinson's new cosy Whitecliff Bay mystery series,
THE ONE WHO WAS TAKEN follows on some six months or so after the first one
"The One Who Fell". You can read the book as a standalone but I do recommend reading them as a series as you get to see the character growth and their relationships develop...or dwindle.
In this second book, a mystery which took place some two decades ago comes back to haunt Millie. A mystery which only two people knew about. Now she receives a phone call from an unknown number but upon answering she hears the familiar "Mills..." and knows at once who is on the other end of the line. Millie hasn't heard from Nicola in fifteen years - not since their falling out - but now she is pleading with Millie to come quickly.
As 17 year olds, Millie and Nicola were inseparable. But in the final year of school and on the cusp of adulthood, the world outside beckoned as plans were made for university, travelling or the like. Things were changing for their group of friends and in one night, everything changed for these two. After walking home together, Nicola decided to head back to the park in the hope of catching boyfriend Charlie while Millie went home. The following morning, Millie received a vague text message from Nicola which lead her to the woods and thus finding her best friend handcuffed to a tree in a field. Her coveted purple converse and Nokia phone with the pink case were missing. Her hair had been cut off in chunks and was strewn about her. Nicola had no recollection of what happened to her...only waking up tied to the tree. She was unmolested but swears Millie to silence and the two friends hatch a plan to cover the sudden haircut, then go about their lives until other events six years later tears them apart.
Now fifteen years after cutting Nicola from her life, her old friend has reached out to her again. She is so distraught she is barely able to talk. So instead she shows Millie. Outside on the clothesline...hangs Nicola's distinct purple converse. The very same shoes that disappeared the same night Nicola had. And now they have reappeared again two decades later. Why? Who wants to taunt Nicola after all these years? Millie has no idea how she can help her friend. But she knows someone who may be able to. And so she calls on Guy and confides everything in him. Who knows? Maybe Guy can sift through his archives and find something that will help piece this puzzle together. And then Nicola can finally put the past to bed forever.
And then the old Nokia phone with the pink case is pushed through Nicola's mailslot one morning...
Meanwhile, the continuing backstory with her ex-husband (the snake), his new girlfriend-now-fiance, her relationship with her son Eric...all continues to be a big jumbled mess as only broken marriages with kids involved can be. Alex and Rachel are both snakes and their behaviour leaves a lot to be desired. I cannot believe some of the things that came out of their mouths at Eric's birthday party! I just wish Millie would reveal Alex's secret to the way-too-smug Rachel and wipe that smug smile off her face! Even an anonymous note would do. Anything. Alex cannot be made out to be the good guy here with sole custody because of her affair! How can he not feel guilty? And how can she not tell him what she knows? And how can he threaten her relationship with her son if she dare to make waves? Honestly, Alex and Rachel make my blood boil. And I can't wait to see them fall from their high horses...preferably on black ice.
As an aside to the main story and the continuing theme of her broken marriage, is the sit-in/live-in protest of a squat in which someone from Millie's old group of friends is involved. In part, I agree with their stance - that being that this is their town and rich folk come swanning in with their millions, buying up properties, knocking down the old and building their new McMansions with a view and thus sending up prices throughout town that locals can barely afford. These people who are only their seasonally. Whitecliff is home to many locals who can't afford the rents these rich folk incur. So I do agree with what they are saying...but the whole protest thing is not my thing. I didn't like Will one bit. He dangled a bit of information he'd garnered from another old friend in front of Millie with the threat of exposure. But what does he really know? If anything?
The book hints a little more about Millie's parent's suicide but not much more, leaving us wondering if there is something more to uncovered about it. From what we know about Millie thus far, it doesn't seem as if she would have had anything to do with it. But then the most unlikely answers are often the correct ones in the world of mystery fiction. But as yet, we are still none the wiser as to what really happened with her parents beyond their suicides. We don't even know why...yet.
And yet Millie herself is a woman of mystery. She is a bit of an enigma. So what do we know about Millie? One, she had an affair that ended her marriage and cost her the custody of her son. Two, the reason why she had the affair is known only to her and the reader. Why? Three, she moved home with her parents who did nothing to hide their disappointment in her and yet she remained in her childhood home. Four, her parents then die in a suicide pact afterwhich rumours are rife and continue to be so a year later that she killed them. Five, she has very few friends - Jack (and his partner Rishi) and now Guy (and his dog Barry). Six, her relationship with her ex is acrimonious at best and her relationship with her son is based on alternate weekend access. Seven, she reveals nothing on the subject of her parents' deaths leading readers to speculate wildly as to why. What really happened to her parents? And why?
THE ONE WHO WAS TAKEN holds something of a different mystery which thus presents with an interesting and unusual solution. I did guess it by my own process of elimination as it was the only one to make sense...even though in the end it didn't. On the whole, the story was an interesting stroll down memory lane...and thus building a broader picture of Millie. I also love the relationship and camaraderie between Millie and Guy.
I enjoyed this book and thought it was marginally better than the first due to the previous one's slow start. And after the cliffhanger this one provides, I'm keen to dive into the third one "The Ones who are Buried". The question is...do I start now or wait till morning? lol
I would like to thank #KerryWilkinson, #Netgalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheOneWhoWasTaken in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Kerry Wilkinson has had No.1 crime bestsellers in the UK, Australia, Canada, South Africa and Singapore. He has also written two top-20 thrillers in the United States. His book, Ten Birthdays, won the RNA award for Young Adult Novel of the Year in 2018 and Close To You won the International Thriller Award for best ebook in 2020.
As well as his million-selling Jessica Daniel series, Kerry has written the Silver Blackthorn trilogy - a fantasy-adventure serial for young adults - a second crime series featuring private investigator Andrew Hunter, plus numerous standalone novels. He has been published around the world in more than a dozen languages.
Originally from the county of Somerset, Kerry spent way too long living in the north of England, picking up words like 'barm' and 'ginnel'.
When he's short of ideas, he rides his bike, hikes up something, or bakes cakes. When he's not, he writes it all down.
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