Thank you HarperAudio for the ALC and Harper Perennial, #partner, for the advanced copy of The Day I Lost You in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: Harper Perennial / Harper Audio
Published: December 2, 2025
Summary:
The internationally bestselling author of The Woman on the Ledge returns with a twisty thriller about a missing child and three adults whose shared secrets and hidden history could prove deadly.
“I need to report a crime. My baby has been stolen.”
All Lauren wants is a new life in Spain. She’s suffered an unimaginable loss, but at last she has found a home in the pretty seaside town of Mantilla de Mar. Everyone deserves a new start, and Lauren needs to put her past firmly behind her.
Hope has an interesting career as a therapist, an attractive husband, a dream home in the countryside – and, finally, the baby she always longed for. Sam. Her beautiful boy.
But Sam has gone missing.
So when the police tell her that a woman has been found in Spain with a child matching Sam’s description, Hope thinks that her nightmare might be coming to an end.
But Lauren is insisting Sam is her baby. She even has his passport and birth certificate to prove it.
So what really happened to Baby Sam? And who still has secrets to hide?
One child. Two mothers. And a past that won’t let them go.
My thoughts:
Last year, I read and absolutely loved Ruth Mancini’s US debut, The Woman on the Ledge, and I was thrilled to see another of her books being released here in the states…and it is another winner!
This author knows how to grab your attention right out of the gate and keep you fully invested throughout…at least she did for me!
I loved how intricately plotted this story was, with threads woven together to really keep you guessing all the way through. The idea that there might be one or even two unreliable narrators pulled me in even more as we desperately try to figure out just what is going on. With characters that are fully flushed out, and a plot that is as unsettling as it is emotional, this really got under my skin. And I loved that the story is told in reverse order!
If you like twisty, clever, layered stories, this one is for you!
Audio thoughts:
This is narrated by a full-cast — Rebecca Mancini, George Blagdon, Olivia Poulet, Louise Brealey, and Roy McMillan — and it was done so well. The multiple narrators help keep the many characters separate.
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