Have you seen her? by Dea Poirier

 Blair, now a social worker, and her sister Evianna, an influencer, have never got on. Evianna was the “perfect” daughter and Blair the one pushed to the side, especially by their mother. So why Blair decided to hop on a plane to see her sister is beyond her. But Evianna sounded desperate.

 

And now Blair is heading back to Evianna’s in a bizarre series of events. After Evianna telling Blair she has cancer, Blair heads back home, but as she touches down, Evianna’s husband Simon calls to tell her Evianna is missing and she needs to come quickly. Blair immediately gets on the next plane and the craziness begins.

 

When Blair arrives, she realises all is not well. Simon has not even reported Evianna as missing and is actually keeping up her social account himself. She decides that it’s up to her to look into the disappearance, but the more she digs, the more Simon’s behaviour turns evil and the more questions come to light.

 

Now Blair fears for her own life and everywhere she turns, the puzzle pivots. Those who try to help land up in danger and those who threaten her might just destroy everything she has. What do you do when you are in over your head?

 

Why Blair went to the lengths she went, I’ll never know. First, the relationship with her sister was so strained and she had been treated so badly, it was an odd choice to see her in the first place. Then putting up with the way Simon treated her was not on. I get that deep down she loved her sister and would do this for her, but the idea of doing this on her own and not going to the police was crazy. She knew something was off and still went ahead with her amateur sleuthing. Even when it became clear her life was in danger. The physical damage she sustained I question. She seemed to recover from that very very quickly even though it occurred more than once.

 

Simon was a deplorable character. That means that the author has written him really well to make me hate him that much! His attitude, mannerisms, and actions just spoke of duplicity and selfishness.

 

The girls’ mother was another character that was just downright awful. The way she treated Blair was appalling and I’ll never understand why people like that have children.

 

The book is written well in that the proofing was good with few mistakes to distract you. But at one stage, one of the characters that works in IT goes from Melvin to Calvin, which was a little odd. I will say that you can figure out the ending before it happens and when it does, you are actually sad because it’s such a waste!

 

I really enjoyed this book because even though you feel such strong negative emotions towards people and actions, it goes to show how much the author has made you believe. The toxic relationship, the secrets, the “real life” behind an influencer – all thrilling elements that brought the book together well. I would have liked to have seen some more of the plot lines finished off as there were a few points left open. But the ones that needed to be explained were. Not all that glitters is gold, indeed!

 

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture.