My Little Girl
by Shalini Boland
Your daughter is missing. Did someone close to you take her?
Seven-year-old Beatrice has gone missing. Her mother Claire’s whole world has been turned upside down in just one moment and she can’t stop shaking. She’s desperate to find her precious daughter, but nothing about the day she disappeared makes sense…
The mother-in-law: Jill was meant to be looking after Beatrice. She says she didn’t take her eyes off the little girl but her version of events doesn’t add up… Claire has never got on with her, so why should she trust her now?
The husband: He should have been with their only child. Instead, he changed the plans without telling Claire. She didn’t think there were any secrets between them, but maybe she was wrong?
The first wife: Laurel has always been jealous of Claire’s family. Has her husband’s ex-wife taken her daughter?
Which one of them is lying? And who really knows where Beatrice is?
From the million-copy bestselling author, this totally addictive psychological thriller will keep you guessing all the way to the final shocking twist. Perfect for fans of The Girl on the Train, Gone Girl, and The Wife Between Us.
My Rating:
Favorite Quotes:
I feel my cheeks grow warm under her gaze. It’s as if I’m back at school in assembly where we’re all being scrutinised by the headteacher for some misdemeanour and you still feel guilty even though you’ve done nothing wrong.
I feel as though I’m speaking from a long way away. Like I’m not even here. All these words and acronyms sound so official, like something out of a TV crime drama. Why are they now part of my real life?
Laurel’s voice is on a register that could cut through double glazing.
The room deflates. You can hear it, the sudden shrinking of sound, the shrivelling of hope.
My Review:
This was my first experience in reading this author and I found her writing easy to follow with the suspense intriguing and held taut, although the family drama was center stage with bold choices made with her characters. The main cast of players wasn’t generally likable most of the time while being true-to-life damaged, realistically and deeply flawed, and prone to poor decisions. While they were bordering on obnoxious and greatly annoying me, they were also human and struggling with an extremely stressful and agonizing situation.
I reacted the strongest to the least likable personality of Claire, as she was arrogant, angry, and petulantly lashing out and systematically accusing everyone. Claire had me cringing and wanted to tell her to shut her pie hole and take a handful of Xanax to chill out enough to be civil. The grandmother was rather ditzy and unfocused and prone to tunnel vision and moronic choices, yet she was well-meaning and kind-hearted, although I doubt the merchants in her area would agree. The husband was the biggest disappointment, what a milksop, he needed some foot to derriere therapy, and my toes were tapping and itching to volunteer. The author was certainly doing something right to have me so deeply invested while antagonized yet also terminally curious with her maddeningly paced tale. She fooled me but good as I didn’t puzzle this one out until right before the identity of the abductor was revealed. Shalini Boland is as sly as she is insightful.
Right, who has the child????? Great review, book sounds fab.
I am so curious right now, I want to know all of the details. Great review.
Oh my, you have me wanting to read this book; but at the same time it might be tough reading it considering I just put down a book where many of the characters were totally unlikeable….though the book itself was worth reading..