Touted as another ‘Girl On The Train’ thriller, don’t let the comparisons sway you. Yes, this is a thriller and there are crimes involved, but this is not simply another attempt to jump on a plot-twist bandwagon.
In this novel, Miranda focuses on telling us the story of two girls who disappear – a decade apart – but once we’ve been introduced to the key players, we have a daring structural device to contend with. At the point in time that the second girl disappears, the story is then told backwards…it sounds odd, and does make for a little confusion initially, but it was a fascinating idea to take us back through the investigation from the present to the point in time at which it started.
I can imagine that for crime/thriller aficionados this structural technique could be a turn-off. Initially, the story is a little slow. The characters aren’t particularly likeable and their relationships are not clearly delineated. There is a very real sense of people hiding things, but it becomes clear why they are doing this as we read on.
The action takes place in and around Cooley Ridge, a fairly claustrophobic setting complete with mysterious woods. Nic, one of our main protagonists, returns home to help her ailing father and to try and tie up loose ends. She has not been back for a while and her return brings back memories of the time of the original disappearance, that of her best friend Corinne. Those who were under suspicion at the time – Nic’s brother, Daniel, her boyfriend, Tyler, and Corinne’s boyfriend, Jackson – are all still living in the town. With the disappearance of Annaleise Carter, the groups’ original alibi, it becomes clear that they all have something to hide.
Nic is determined to find out what happened to Annaleise and her investigation ensures that we slowly unravel some hidden secrets and desires. Not all the details are relevant to the modern investigation, but trying to piece together the details of the original disappearance was a great puzzle. Who actually committed the crimes does not, actually, seem to be at the fore of the writer’s concerns. She seems more interested in unpicking the level of culpability that a number of characters have, and exploring how they come to terms with their involvement.
Thank you to NetGalley for the advance copy of this novel. There’s a definite buzz about this and I can completely see why.