When the body of a sixteen year old girl is found buried in woods the news that it is Emma Thorley, a girl who went missing eleven years previously is leaked to the media and a number of people around the country are glued to the coverage for reasons known, in the most part only to themselves.
Right from the start there are delays, Emma was adopted and her father, now in his early seventies isn’t clear on the events that surrounded his daughter’s disappearance which had followed the death of her mother and her subsequent escape with drugs. With no blood relatives to ask for a blood sample, DNA identification is out of the question and the police need to use other methods to positively identify the body.
For DI Michael Gardner the discovery brings back unwanted memories of an unhappy time as well as a measure of guilt that he simply didn’t try hard enough to locate Emma, believing she was just another runaway teenage girl. When the violent, misogynistic yet charming Lucas Yates becomes aware that DS Nicola Freedman is leading the investigation into the murder, he decides to conduct his own counter measures, not least because he was a former boyfriend and knows that it won’t take long for his name to surface in the investigation. Louise Taylor follows the news but seems to want to keep her interest in events hidden from those around her while the police are facing a wall of silence to every question they ask of those who knew Emma. What is everyone hiding?
This is an exceptionally well told tale with the action alternating between the past, 1999 and the present 2010, in short yet engaging chapters so that the full story emerges of the past while the present is full of plenty of action, a format that kept me turning the pages to learn just another snippet to add the picture emerging.
This appears to be a realistic reflection of an actual investigation with the police being frustrated at every turn as the evidence needs to be forced to fit the prime suspect. DS Freedman is tenacious and takes no nonsense, in her personal life which is not in the perilous state of many fictional lead detectives but still has enough interest to make her feel authentic. DI Gardner had his problems in Blyth and moved away yet manfully faces up to what happened all those years before. A good pair of detectives who share a common goal and act like real people, no instant sharing of issues for these two.
All of the civilian characters have flaws with the main one seemingly being shared; a determination that life should turn out as they wanted it to. From the drug counsellor Ben to the scared girl with a secret to the awful Lucas they all want events to go their way and they appear to be willing to lie freely, to themselves as well as others, to preserve their image of what happened in 1999. Despite their flaws the characters keep the right side of parody, even Lucas falls short of becoming a pantomime villain, just but then I do enjoy having a character to loathe.
This had everything I look for in my crime fiction, a good range of characters tied to a story that allows the reader to think for themselves revealing pieces of information like the breadcrumbs for Hansel and Gretel right up to an ending that neither veered off course nor fizzled out.
I received my copy of this book from the publishers, Mulholland Books via Bookbridgr and it is one that I will be widely recommending. Gone was published on 15 January 2015.
Previous books by Rebecca Muddiman
When Abby Henshaw is brutally attacked by two strangers in the countryside, her first thought is for the safety of her baby daughter, Beth. But what follows is a mother’s worst nightmare: Beth is gone and Abby’s world collapses around her. As DI Michael Gardner begins to investigate Abby and her family, he discovers lives built on secrets and betrayals. Under pressure from his bosses to find the missing child and to unearth the truth, Gardner finds himself struggling to stay emotionally removed from the case, and from Abby herself. After the authorities finally shelve their investigation, Abby receives a message telling her where she can find her daughter. But how can she convince those around her that the girl really is Beth when they are the very people she knows least? A gripping and haunting debut, Stolen is a richly imagined psychological thriller from an exciting new talent in crime writing. Amazon
This sounds like a well constructed crime novel. I really need to get my hands on it. Thanks Cleo.
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You’re welcome, it is a great read!
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This book sounds awesome! And you have been tagged. 🙂 http://bookbinges.blogspot.it/2015/01/tbr-tag.html
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Thank you very much for the tag – those are some revealing questions!
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Cleo – This does sound like a good ‘un. I have to admit to a real soft spot for stories like this that tie past and present together.
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I liked the way the story was told with the information needed to work out what had happened being drip-fed, it gave me time to think and come up with my own theories.
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I was very taken with Rebecca Muddiman’s first book, so it’s lovely to read such a positive report about this one
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I enjoyed Stolen but this one seemed to have more depth to it making it a truly enjoyable read.
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Sounds like a good one. I’m glad the detectives seem ‘normal’ – I think I’m noticing a bit of a trend to pull away from the stereotyped drunken maverick recently, which has to be good thing (from my perspective). And, looking at your review of the first one, it seems this second one has maybe a bit more depth? Always good to see a series heading in the right direction…
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You’re quite right this is more a straight police procedural, much more developed and I liked the construct of the story. I’m glad to get away from the maverick detectives too 🙂
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Oh, another one to add to the list! Stolen sounds good, too. I love a good crime novel. I’m reading one now by Louise Penny that kept me up late last night.
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I’ve just read your review of the Penny and you’ve convinced me that this needs to be added to my list – you are fatal to the TBR! This felt more in depth than Stolen and I loved the way the author constructed the story.
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I’ve just started this one :))))
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I do hope you enjoy it as much as I did 🙂
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Another one for the Wish List! Sounds great; I’m a fan of the split-time narrative too. It can be so effective.
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Looks like my kind of read! Great review 🙂
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Sounds totally up my alley! I hadn’t heard of it, so thank you.
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