Author: Cara Hunter
Publisher: Penguin Books
Pages: 320
My GoodReads Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
An 8-year-old
girl, Daisy Mason, disappears from her home while her parents, Barry and
Sharon, are hosting a barbecue party. DI Adam Fawley believes that it is
someone close, a family member or someone in the community who is responsible.
Adam and his team,
Gareth Quinn, Chris Gislingham, Verity Everett and Andrew Baxter, among others,
question the neighbours and guests. The fate of Daisy takes a dangerous turn
when her leggings are found all bloodied in a bin. That’s when the police
discover something even stranger. The kid that everyone thought of as Daisy at
the party wasn’t Daisy at all. So where is Daisy?
There are other
questions that bother Fawley. Why is Barry so defensive under questioning? Why
does Sharon appear so cold and calculating? And surely there is something wrong
with Daisy’s older brother, 10-year-old Leo, who appears secretive and strange?
As the police
struggle for answers, public opinion heats up, and the pressure to solve the
case mounts up. But will the police find Daisy or will it be too late?
Along the way, we
are taken on flashbacks of the day of the disappearance, dating back to the day
before the disappearance, and then 2 weeks, 42 days, 55 days, 68 days, 69 days,
71 days, 79 days, 94 days, and even 106 days before her disappearance. The
earliest flashback goes back all the way to the year 1991 when Sharon is a
child of 14, who has just lost her little sister.
With each
flashback, secrets and lies come tumbling out and more elements fall into
place. But we are unable to piece them together and we wait for the police, who
do not have the benefit of these flashbacks, to do that for us.
As the flashbacks
go further and further back in time, I wondered why they didn’t start at the
earliest period and then go forward in time, so we could see how things turned
out. At first, I could not understand the reason for why these flashbacks
weren’t converging on the day of the disappearance, but by the end of the book,
I understood why it was so.
The story is
written in the first person present tense point of view of Adam, as also the 3rd
person present tense viewpoints of Everett, Quinn, Gislingham and the other
characters, including the members of the Mason family and the teachers. The
format is rendered even more interesting by the addition of tweets, FaceBook
posts, transcripts of key witnesses being questioned, emails and news reports.
These elements add layers of authenticity to the narrative.
Pop culture
references to fairy tales such as Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, films like
Brave, and the names of football clubs (The quip on Aston Villa was funny) and
TV police procedurals also helped root the story in reality.
While these
elements were interesting, the Twitter conversations quickly became tedious and
excessive, especially when they stretch over pages. Thankfully, they
disappeared during the investigation, then began to show up once again, as the
case appeared to be wrapped up by the police.
I found this book disturbing on account of a number of factors, including the dysfunctional family unit, the danger posed by a paedophile gang that abuses young children, and the sheer horror of a young child vanishing so completely from the comfort of her home.
The omniscient
narrator takes us into the lives of the protagonists. The characters are all
well-fleshed out. Especially the parents, Sharon and Barry Mason. Their
behaviour is odd; it seems as if they are guilty and hiding something. As we
come to terms with their behaviour, we see the influence on the kids, and
understand the influence of the family unit on the individual.
Leo was the one
Mason that my heart went out to. He is so secretive, and withdrawn. Knowing
that he was bullied at school, and unloved at home, was bad enough. When I
learned that Leo suffered from Fetal Alcoholism Syndrome, I wanted to reach
into the pages of the book, and give him a warm, reassuring hug. It was yet
another reminder that so much of our physical and mental makeup is inherited,
and how we live our lives with the odds stacked against us, thanks to decisions
made by others.
Daisy herself,
though only an innocent child, sometimes comes across as mean and manipulative
in the flashbacks. Despite her flaws, I liked Daisy for her concern for Leo,
for the fact that she tells her father that he made it to the school football
team, when Barry pays no attention to his son at all. Even though, for the most
part, she doesn’t seem likeable, we, as readers, don’t lose sight of the fact
that she is still a child who needs to be rescued and brought home quickly.
Adam has his own
family history, which is not fully explored, but which we see in bits and
pieces. He and his wife, Alex, lost their young son, Jake, to suicide. His loss
causes him to take the case more personally, and I appreciated the fact that he
understood Leo’s desire to self-harm: Doing this hurts less than all the rest
of the hurt, doesn’t it? It makes it feel a bit better. Even if only for a
little while.
The police team
was able and efficient. Led by DI Adam Fawley, and ably supported by Gareth Quinn,
Chris Gislingham and Verity Everett, I liked the dedication with which they
worked first to find Daisy safely, and then to seek justice for her. I’d like
to see this team in action in another book.
Neither the police
nor I had the slightest clue about what could have happened to Daisy and where
she might be. Even so, I was impressed with the turn of the investigation, and
the manner in which the police built their case.
As the
investigation proceeds, we find the accusing finger pointing at different people
in turn. And because of Fawley’s contention that it’s the closest people that
are to blame, we can’t help but look askance at Barry, Sharon and even Leo.
The book was
tightly plotted and I was impressed with the resolution of the case, and with
the fact that random details about the father’s profession and mother’s
behaviour were carefully tracked. It was only when the twist showed up in the
Epilogue that I felt cheated.
No matter how
twisted the twist, there must be an explanation for why a character did what
they did, and how. None of those answers were forthcoming.
It was misleading
that the Prologue and the Epilogue took us in different directions; that the
Prologue did not, in fact, reveal its promise at all through the course of the
book.
Had the twist been
better explained, I would have given this book 5 stars. As it is, I’m going
with 4.
(I received an ARC from First to Read).
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