By: Sam Vickery
Many thanks to Bookouture for the ARC of this book and the stop on the book tour!
About the Book
Watching my beautiful rosy-cheeked baby Ava play in the sand, I can’t believe how much joy she’s brought me. I look at the gentle waves of the ocean sparkling in the sun. But when I turn back, Ava is gone…
Everyone rushes to the beach to help search for Ava, but there’s no trace of her anywhere nearby. My ex-husband Jimmy is just as terrified as I am. But I get an odd feeling from his new girlfriend, Leah. As she cradles my other two children, she doesn’t seem as panicked as Jimmy and me. How can she be so calm?
Then they show me footage of Ava on a bus, held tightly by an elderly woman who looks just like Leah’s mother. Leah couldn’t have anything to do with Ava’s disappearance, could she?
I’ve seen the way Leah clings tightly to Jimmy, how she has moulded herself into the perfect housewife, never letting him lift a finger and cooking my children’s favourite meals every day.
Then the police officer in charge fixes me with a cold stare as he asks me why I wasn’t paying attention to my daughter. Suggesting it’s my fault she’s gone… That my older two would be safer in Leah’s care.
Should I share my suspicions? What if the police are looking in the wrong place? Time is running out to find Ava, and I’ll do whatever it takes to get her back, but are my accusations about to tear my whole family apart?
My Review
This is my first read by this author and I really enjoyed this book! The storyline and the writing was very engaging and captures your attention easily. Aside from the missing child, Vickery really focuses a lot on the dynamics between the two women, the soon to be ex wife and the soon to be wife. While wanting to find Ava, they also wanted to make sure they had Jimmy’s attention, even though he is a less than stellar guy. You begin to wonder, how much of this dynamic is the cause of what happened?
I didn’t LOVE the police in this book, but they were written that way on purpose (or at least that’s what I think). I don’t think that they did their job well at all, and I think the male police office was blinded by misogyny.
I had my suspicions about who could have been behind Ava’s kidnapping early on, and it turned out I was right. However, I didn’t know that I was right until it was revealed, so guessing correctly didn’t ruin the book for me at all! I may have guessed the who, but I had ZERO idea about the why. That was a nice twist. There was another reveal in there as well that I didn’t see coming AT ALL!!! But I guess….nah, I won’t say it because I always write spoiler free reviews. I especially loved the ending… it was the cherry on top.
This is out now, so make sure to get your hands on it!
Publish Date: May 23, 2025
Find the book here.
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About the Author
Sam Vickery is an English author who loves gritty, emotional stories that can make you sob. As a child, she was forever getting in trouble for being caught with her nose in a book, and these days are no different. She lives on the south coast of England with her husband, two children and a cat that thinks it’s a dog.
https://www.facebook.com/SamVickeryWrites/
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