The Missing Hours by Emma Kavanagh
| The Missing Hours by Emma Kavanagh | |
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| Category: Thrillers | |
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Reviewer: Zoe Morris
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| Summary: A cryptic story from start to finish, this is more than a simple missing person and murder mystery. Excellent and compelling, and highly recommended. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 400 | Date: April 2016 |
| Publisher: Century | |
| ISBN: 978-1780894676 | |
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Selena Cole has an unusual job, working in the field of Kidnap and Ransom, but this time she's the one in trouble. While playing in the park with her children she vanishes, and returns 24 hours later with no recollection of where she's been. Oh and in the meantime, a man has been murdered. It's probably completely unconnected, but this is a reasonably small town and for the local police it's unusual to have two such infrequent events in quick succession.
Leah and Finn are colleagues in the local police force, and also brother and sister. It's a fun twist, not adding much to the story per se but giving it a different angle. With one working on the murder and the other the disappearance, their paths do eventually converge. Through in some local criminals and their hard working solicitors and you have a melting pot of mystery. Everyone will surely have a role, but it takes some stirring to get them all into the places that make sense.
I don't know a whole lot about kidnapping other than the things you pick up living as an expat in Latin America. The book goes to places I have worked, and what they say rings true, especially with regards to Mexico and Colombia (two places I lived for several years without ever being kidnapped – quite an accomplishment if the Cole Group experience is anything to go by). But the actual behind the scenes stuff was all new to me, and it's super interesting. The story is interspersed with excerpts from case files from the Cole Group's work, and these were fascinating, detailing different kidnap situations, how the group worked with them, and the ultimate outcomes.
I really enjoyed this book, and I mean really enjoyed it. I like my mysteries to be mysterious, my thrillers to be thrilling, and this was both of those things. The best stories are hard to guess but, once you know, make sense and that describes this one perfectly. While I didn't see it coming, a sense of understanding dawned on me when all became clear, so while it was unpredictable it was an ending that fitted perfectly with the story with hindsight. The writing is fluent and eloquent, and although I had a harder-to-tote hardback, I still stuck this one in my handbag as a chapter before bedtime was not going to be enough.
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending us this fab read. I would love a sequel, if only to follow up that snippet at the ending, one final thread that is left loose, and I could easily have kept reading for a further 400 pages with this gang.
Looking for another mysterious mystery? The Silent Sister by Diane Chamberlain is superb.
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You can read more book reviews or buy The Missing Hours by Emma Kavanagh at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy The Missing Hours by Emma Kavanagh at Amazon.com.
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