Now You See Her: The bestselling Richard & Judy favourite

I was pleasantly surprised by this book, it really does keep you guessing - you will probably figure out roughly whats going on but there are a few twisty bits and red herrings thrown in there. Admittedly I probably enjoyed this more because of my brain whirring to figure the sequence of events out than I did the actual book but it did get the old grey matter functioning (something that happens less and less with this genre as time goes on). The story has two narrators: Charlotte - Separated mum of three, still in touch with her ex and you get the impression that it's not just for the sake of the children. She's quite content with her life, has a fairly wide circle of friends but is happy to stay home of an evening and just relax once the children are in bed but she is making an effort to get out more, if only to show Tom that she still has a social life (particularly if it means he has to come over and look after the children). Seems to be a reliable narrator and you can really feel her anguish when Alice goes missing at the school fete under her care. Harriet - Married to Brian and the ultimate helicopter parent of Alice. Something just feels off about her from the start but this could be put down to how protective she is of her daughter. As things unfold you realise that she isn't the most reliable narrator and could well inhabit a fantasy world, but you are never sure who is telling the truth - her or Brian. If Brian is right then she is mentally ill and if she is right then Brian is the one with the problem; the author does make it cloudy and hard to unpick until quite a way in to the book. The book shifts timelines quite frequently and moves from the aftermath of Alice's disappearance to the events leading up to it and back again. With snatches told from the interrogation room where Charlotte is being interviewed again a couple of weeks after the disappearance and after some undisclosed event has taken place. Moving back through the day of the fete and even before Alice is born. The timeshifts are dealt with smoothly and really do help keep the tension ratcheted up. It deals with the procedural elements well and the FLO plays a large role in the book, usually they are glossed over but Angela is quite a strong presence in the story. It also details with the social media judgments passed on Charlotte and how this affects her daily life and her relationships with her friends and other school mums, it also shows the fallout on her children because of it. A really strong proponent of the genre and one I thoroughly enjoyed.

Not a bad read but I think was quite dragged out after actually finding out who kidnapped the daughter... Was ok though 👍

In the end, I keep thinking about the ending, what any other options would be better for Harriet or Charlotte. The situation is complicated and seems so impossible to gain a win win solution. This is surely a page turner and you'll get gripped from the beginning to the end. But I cant help being on teamCharlotte