I purchased this book for my own collection. I borrowed the audiobook from the library.
Publisher: Titan Books / Blackstone Publishing
Published: November 10, 2020
Summary:
A compulsive debut thriller about motherhood, obsession and how far we’d go to protect the ones we love.
Five-year-old Ava Boone has been missing for six months. There have been no leads, no arrests, no witnesses. The only suspect was quiet, middle-aged Leland Ernest.
And Grace Wright has just bought the house next door. Recently divorced, Grace uprooted her two small children to start again and hopes the move will reset her crippling insomnia. But now she understands bargain-price for her beautiful new house.
With whispered neighbourhood gossip and increasingly sleepless nights, Grace develops a fierce obsession with Leland and the safety of her children. Could she really be living next door to a child-kidnapper? A murderer?
With reality and dream blurring more each day, Grace desperately pursues the truth – following Ava’s family, demanding answers from the police – and then a body is discovered…
My thoughts:
This debut thriller is why I love psychological thrillers – they can be so unpredictable at the best of times and so totally bingeable. If this is what Sharon Doering has in store for us with all her books, I am excited!
I loved the choice of first-person narration, being able to be in Grace’s head and hear her inner-most thoughts. She is not really in the best place, having just moved into a new neighborhood with her two young children after a divorce and is still trying to find her footing again. After moving in, she realizes she has just landed next door to the prime suspect in the disappearance of a little girl and this totally upends her new routines and everything else.
This book took me by surprise by how cleverly crafted and twisted it turned out to be. But also, how emotionally deep it ended up being. I did not predict where it would end up going…and yet I loved every second of it. It addresses issues I wasn’t expecting and handled it all with care. It’s plotted just right to be thrilling and entertaining all at once.
Audio thoughts:
This is the type of book I love listening to – it completely sucked me in and kept me fully engaged. Lisa Flanagan does an amazing job bringing the story to life.
