Losing You

by Nicci French

This was a new author for me, chosen by the book club that I am in.  After a little bit of research, I discovered that Nicci French is really two people – married couple Nicci Gerrard and Sean French.  They specialise in psychological suspense novels and have sold over 16 million copies worldwide. I enjoy a good psychological thriller so I was keen to read this book and thankfully I was not disappointed!

The story revolves around Nina Landry who has relocated with her husband to the remote Sandling Island, only for him to decide the isolated community life is not for him.  She has struggled to settle and make friends, not helped by the fact that she has had an affair with one of the other islanders. The whole plot is based on one day, the day of Nina’s birthday. Nina, her daughter and young son are meant to be joining Nina’s new boyfriend at the airport and flying to Florida for the holiday of a lifetime but Charlie has organised a surprise birthday party for the morning of their departure and it seems that everyone and anyone has been invited.

The day does not start well as Nina has problems with her car and has to find someone to fix it. Then she returns home to find party guests arriving but no sign of daughter Charlie who has been on a sleepover. As more and more Islanders arrive, Nina becomes increasingly worried. Nobody has seen Charlie, there is no message from her and she hasn’t packed for the holiday that they were all looking forward to.

As the morning progresses Nina’s worry, turns to unease and then to panic. Where is Charlie? She reports her missing to the local policeman, only to be told that she has probably run away or is visiting friends and will return when she is ready. No one will take Nina seriously and Nina is uncertain whether Charlie (who has been bullied at school) has indeed run away or something more sinister has happened.

The story goes through the days events as Nina sets out to discover what has happened to her daughter, revealing lots of half buried secrets, sinister events and a number of shocks along the way.

The book is written with no chapters which helps to build the pace and urgency of the plot line but does make it difficult to find an appropriate place to stop! It is atmospheric, though descriptions can be a bit long, and I did find the pace a little slow to begin with, but as the plot develops, the pace picks up and I found I was unwilling to put the book down as I wanted to know what happened next.

As a Mum, I could empathise with Nina’s panic and the urgency in knowing where her daughter was and what had happened to her.  It also reveals how secretive teenagers can be and that parts of their lives are totally unknown to us which is quite common and very scary!

There are numerous twists and turns along the way and various Islanders come under suspicion. I genuinely didn’t work out what had happened and by the end was racing to read each page as I desperately wanted to know. I won’t give anything away, but I was shocked! I could picture what was happening as I read and felt that it could make a very good TV adaptation.

Reviews are mixed as fans of the writers felt it wasn’t up to their usual standard, but as this was my first read of theirs, I was quite happy.  I also think I might try some of their other novels too when I have some free time!!

Probably best read on a sunny afternoon rather than a dark cold night, particularly if you have teenagers of your own – otherwise you might just have nightmares!!

This book made me think that we are surrounded by people we think we know, but it is possible they might turn out to be someone or something, entirely different – a scary thought.