When fifteen-year-old Ellie goes missing her family’s lives crumble around their ears. How can they possibly go on without their golden girl?
Ten years on, Ellies mother Laurel has never given up hope of finding her daughter one day, but when some new evidence comes to light she’s finally able to move on. As luck, would have it, moving on comes in the form of charming and charismatic Floyd. Before too long Laurel is spending the night at his house and meeting his precocious 9-year-old daughter, Poppy, and she is the spitting image of Ellie.
Meeting Poppy sends Laurel on a journey for answers, answers to questions she has asked herself for the last ten years. What happened to Ellie? Where did she go? Who is hiding the secrets she needs?
By 15% I had pretty much summed up this story, not all the intricacies and conclusion but the general gist. This didn’t necessarily spoil the book but it did take away any possible suspense there could have been. However, it was interesting enough to keep me intrigued until the end. I’m not sure I found any of the characters particularly likeable or warming, I even found it difficult to sympathise with Laurel, at some points I wanted to scream at her, but for a story in which you don’t know who you can trust this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
I must admit I hadn’t been wholly impressed with Jewell’s newer work up until now but this latest novel may be changing my mind. My one complaint would be that I think Jewell is talented and capable enough of going much darker than she has so far, adding a new level of grittiness to her writing. Whether the lack of this is due to affecting her fan crossover, I'm not sure.
** Thanks to Random House UK, via NetGalley, for this ARC **