Alexa Martini is a widowed single mother, raising a very difficult 3-year old. Although she is plagued with dealing with huge temper tantrums in public, Alexa takes her daughter, Lottie, to a friend’s beach wedding. After the ceremony, Lottie disappears. A huge search ensues, but Lottie is nowhere to be found. The police are called in and an investigation is started. As Lottie is a very verbose child, it is soon established that she would not go with a stranger quietly, so she must have known the person who took her. Everyone at the wedding is questioned, and suspicions arise with conflicting information gathered. Alexa goes through much turmoil, as she starts to accuse friends and family members of taking Lottie. At one point, she thinks she may be going crazy, as she thinks she sees Lottie on a train with a woman she doesn’t know, but having a tattoo she recognises. Another time, she sees a child she believes to be Lottie and snatches her, hiding her away for several days. A year goes past, then two. Eventually the press seems to tire of the story that made huge headlines, but Alex doesn’t give up looking for her daughter. After 2 years and several months, Alex solves the mystery and gets Lottie back home.

This book is great for those who love reading stories with lots of plot twists.

I like that there were very real reasons to suspect those who were suspected of being involved in the kidnapping. People lied, or evaded telling the truth for their own reasons, making Alex point her finger at them. And with each incident, she found that precious time was wasted on the wrong people.

The only criticism I have of the book is that I found it longer than it needed to be. Parts of the investigations were dragged out.

When I finished reading this book, I definitely wanted to read another by Tess Stimson. She paid so much attention to detail. The story was very convincing as to how the investigation was performed and what information was found out, even about the involvement of the press.

The book made me feel sorry for Alex. Even though she was shown to be a neglectful mother (she was having sex on the beach with a stranger when Lottie was taken), she genuinely went through many emotions in the long time that it took to get her daughter back. She thought Lottie was being trafficked by paedophiles, locked up in a dingy basement somewhere, or dead.

The author had me riveted for most of the book.

I recommend this book, as it is a very intriguing story, told from different people’s perspectives, including the kidnapper’s. I love the plot twists that lead the investigation into different directions. Right before the end of the book, I suspected who the culprit was. I’m not sure if the author gave it away somehow, but I was almost cheering when the person was revealed.

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Created Dec 10, 2024 at 1:01pm • Submit your own review...