Her enthusiasm, and talent for procrastination, was infectious (and I never need to be encouraged to procrastinate), but her curiosity breathes new life into the cold case and brings new hope for Kim. I really did grow to like the character of Sophie, a cosy crime author who seems to be channeling one of her own Detectives in trying to find out what happened that night. And in a story where character motivation and behaviour is key, it really does make the narrative all that more suspenseful. Here is where Lisa Jewell has pulled a blinder, making sure that each one feels both genuine and unreliable at the same time, with the exception of a small handful who I would not trust as far as I could throw them. Wrong? I never quite settled with any of them, never trusted their narrative, their reticence in sharing the truth of what happened the night in question. Added to this you have a cast of characters who all feel … I don’t know. There is always big question mark hanging over the disappearance of the pair, and whilst Zach’s parents seem relatively indifferent about him going missing, Tallulah’s mum, Kim, knows that she would never leave voluntarily. The story is packed with mystery, more of a slow building tension and alerting of avid crime readers spidey-senses, than an overly obvious attempt to shock readers. Well, that and the strange note that Sophie finds pinned to her back fence and the strange discovery she makes when she follows it’s instructions.

So far, so disconnected, other than the school is in the town that Tallulah disappeared from, and the fact that the woods behind Sophie’s new home were once the focus of a mass search for the two missing teenagers. The story is effectively split between that fateful night and, eventually, the events leading up to it, and the present day, twelve months on from the pair’s disappearance when Sophie Beck moves into a cottage on the grounds of the exclusive school where her partner, Sean, is the new Head Teacher. Now that in itself is bad enough, especially as it is made clear what a devoted mother Tallulah is, but when you add in thr truly ominous prologue … Yep.

And happen it does, in the most unassuming and yet life changing way when young parents, Tallulah and Zach, head out for the evening but never come home. From the very beginning you can sense that something bad is about to happen. Well this is a story laden with mystery and intrigue.

The night she disappeared book review