Author: Gilly Macmillan
Published: December 2015, William Morrow Paperbacks
Format: Paperback, 496 pages
Source: Publisher
In her enthralling debut, Gilly Macmillan explores a mother’s search for her missing son, weaving a taut psychological thriller as gripping and skillful as The Girl on the Train and The Guilty One.
In a heartbeat, everything changes…
Rachel Jenner is walking in a Bristol park with her eight-year-old son, Ben, when he asks if he can run ahead. It’s an ordinary request on an ordinary Sunday afternoon, and Rachel has no reason to worry—until Ben vanishes.
Police are called, search parties go out, and Rachel, already insecure after her recent divorce, feels herself coming undone. As hours and then days pass without a sign of Ben, everyone who knew him is called into question, from Rachel’s newly married ex-husband to her mother-of-the-year sister. Inevitably, media attention focuses on Rachel too, and the public’s attitude toward her begins to shift from sympathy to suspicion.
As she desperately pieces together the threadbare clues, Rachel realizes that nothing is quite as she imagined it to be, not even her own judgment. And the greatest dangers may lie not in the anonymous strangers of every parent’s nightmares, but behind the familiar smiles of those she trusts the most.
Where is Ben? The clock is ticking...
My thoughts: Its no surprise that I love a good psychological thriller and this one definitely hit the mark - in fact, its probably one of my favorites of the year. I had heard a lot of chatter about this one from across the pond, as it had been released there earlier in the year (under a different name - Burnt Paper Sky) and I was desperate to read it!
I loved how this was told - I really think the narration added a nice element to the story - alternating between Rachels point of view, DI Clemos point of view and the news pieces and blog entries. Hearing the mothers side of the story adds the emotional part, hearing the DIs part of the story gives the impartial part, and the newspaper clippings and blog stories are just such a part of todays world that it all ties together. Of course, through Rachel and DI Clemo, we do meet the other characters that make up the rest of the book - Rachels husband John, Rachels sister Nikki, her friend Laura, Bens teacher, Clemos partner and other co-workers.
This is an emotional read, yet at the same time, its such a thrilling, edge-of-your seat type of read. I was suspicious of many of the people that we meet along the way and I kept changing who I thought was responsible for taking Ben.
What I found most interesting was how quick the media was to vilify Rachel when they really knew next to nothing about her. They were so fast to point the finger at her and make snap decisions and so many people were just at quick to jump on that bandwagon. It really got me thinking how often we do that when we see a news story of similar caliber on tv...do we ever really know what is going on in someones life when something like this happens to them? Thats where Gilly Macmillan excels with this book - she provides us with just enough insight on each of the characters to help us know them so that we might not be so quick to make that snap judgement. This, I think, makes us feel sympathetic for the characters, particularly Rachel at times.
This was a phenomenal debut and I cannot wait to get my hands on Gillys next book. She is definitely going on my list of must-read authors list!
