Description from Amazon:
Now you see her.
Now you don’t…
A haunted mother. A
missing girl. A lethal game of deception…
A few years ago, Laura
lost her daughter in tragic circumstances. Now, she is running from her past,
but a chance encounter with a frightened teenager, Miriana, drags her back into
a web of secrets and danger.
As Miriana’s cryptic
story unravels, Laura realises the threat is closer than she ever imagined.
Someone is hunting Laura, determined to bury the truth about what really
happened to her daughter.
A predator is
watching. Waiting. Ready to strike again.
Trapped between fear
and fury, Laura must confront her darkest suspicions and uncover the terrifying
truth before the hunter closes in. Because this time, it’s not just her past on
the line—it’s her life.
Laura is ready to face life again and goes
on a singles campervan trip. When leaving, she discovers a young girl stowed
away in her van and must make the decision of believing her story and helping
her or tossing her out since she doesn’t need this in her life. Straight away
this grabbed me as I wanted to know how this would play out. And then it became
a hit and miss for the rest of the book.
There was a lot to unpack in this – Laura’s
new relationship, her relationship with her mother and how her mother didn’t
understand why Laura would not get back together with her ex, the relationship
Laura had with her flatmate/neighbour, the relationship Laura had with her
feelings about her daughter’s disappearance and her disagreement with her ex
that he should keep looking, and her relationship with Mariana and the stories
she was weaving. Couple this with a dual timeline and it became a bit much at
times.
It felt less like a psychological thriller
to me than a general thriller as even though psyches are being manipulated,
there really isn’t anything that made me grab the edge of my chair and sit
there wide-eyed as though I could never have seen it coming. In fact, the
ending had me rolling my eyes a little even though the reasons were given. It’s
like characters have watched too much Dexter and think they can stage crime
scenes now.
There are some hard hitting areas in here
like grooming, sexual exploitation, immigration issues, grief and depression,
and drugs, so it’s a lot to take in. I feel I should have enjoyed this more,
but in the end, I just felt it wasn’t a standout to me as I don’t remember a
whole lot about the book now a few days later.
