Well that was quite amazing wasn't it? I'm all buoyed up with having had such a fantastic run of reading. It almost makes me want to buy some more books - like I need an excuse :).
I honestly could not put this down - I am not being glib when I say that, I mean it. I read it until I fell asleep last night and then thought about it when I woke at 6.30 this morning. It was sublime.
I've written before about how horrifying it must be to literally lose your child, and this novel just brings that gut-wrenching feeling to life. I could feel the anguish of Lisa, and her whole family, from the moment Lisa realised that Ella was missing and not just playing, right through the entire book.
It's happened to me once, and only for 30 seconds at most, but my eldest managed to escape my attention in Disneyland Paris when he was about 3 or 4. It was quite honestly the longest 30 seconds of my life. I screamed at the top of my voice whilst feeling that someone had reached into my chest and ripped my heart from my body; I honestly don't know if I could live through that horror for any length of time. He was, mercifully, handed back to me by some rather bewildered French tourists, who obviously later would go back home and laugh about the mad English mother who over-reacted whilst waiting for the studio-bus tour (which the boy then hated!). But this horror is conveyed throughout every page of this book - no wonder it was an ebook bestseller before it was printed in paperback.
Each character is carefully crafted and the division of the novel between the three main characters is extremely effective in drawing you in and keeping you reading, building tension and a sense of the world unravelling page by page.
It's interesting too to see that Harry Potter references are now becoming a literary technique, with dementors giving an effective analogy for the darkness and all-consuming terror. I would ordinarily like to give you the actual quote, but as per usual, I can't find it now! Anyway just thought I'd mention it as it struck me whilst I was reading.
There's so much I could witter on about, but I'm trying not to spoil it, as usual, if you haven't actually had the pleasure yet. We know very early on what's happened to Ella and who took her. I can honestly say the person who did it is a little bit terrifying at times with their mental instability. I understood why it happened though and whilst I cannot condone it in any way at all, I did feel sympathy towards the character. I think it would be hard not to really, but I'm happy to be told otherwise. It was very easy to get inside their psyche and find the explanation for the actions though, and I'm glad that they weren't just a one-dimensional bad person.
I utterly, utterly adored this book, thank you Linda Green! If you only go out and buy one book this weekend, make it this one.
