My first by Nicci French

Great build up. Brilliant narrator.
Looking forward to the next one.
Very easy listening.

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Compelling story: overwrought heroine

I've had mixed experiences with the books by this Nicci French husband and wife duo of writers. The present book is mercifully free of the excessive descriptions of sickening violence that I disliked in others by these authors. The story starts as Nina Landry prepares to go on holiday with her two children and her new man-friend, but soon anxiety creeps in as her 15 year old daughter, Charlie, fails to return from a sleep-over at a friend's house. The minutes clock by; Nina's fears quicken and she calls the police whom she thinks are not taking her fears seriously enough and in traditional thriller fashion she takes matters in her own hands and starts investigating where her daughter might be and what could have happened to her. A number of possible scenarios emerge: has she been abducted; has her real father taken her away or has she just run away. The listener doesn't know until near the end of the book. The story-line is compelling and made me want to find out what had happened, but I found Nina, an unsympathetic heroine as she is so rude and unreasonable with people trying to help her. I can see that the writers were trying to get over how frightened she is supposed to be but the depiction is over-the-top. Similarly, some of the professionals in the police and medical services are presented as caricatures which diminishes the power of the narrative. The narrator of the book is good.

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2 people found this helpful

Good and pretty tense towards the end.

On the whole a good book. However the police were portrayed pretty badly as very incompetent, verging on stupid. The main character also pretty quickly believed her ex husband and father of her children capable of horrendous crimes. It was an enjoyable listen though and a tense ending which was plausible.

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1 person found this helpful

Another French Success

Gripping from start to finish. Nicci French partnership at its best.

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2 people found this helpful

Fast paced and full of anxiety

The main character put my teeth on edge in the first chapter, but I persevered for the story. Shouldn’t have bothered. Her behaviour was appalling and hardly justified and at the conclusion I realised it wasn’t worth the hours of listening

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Tense, exciting thriller

This is a very clever idea, to write a whole book over a 12 hour period. You really feel what they are going through, and how the time drags when a loved one is missing. A very strong piece of writing, brilliantly narrated.

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Good narration

story okay a bit drawn out,Repetitive in places and not very convincing in others ..But it holds your interest till the conclusion.

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