 |
| Random House UK Transworld 2014 Your friend's child is missing. It's your fault |
Every parent’s nightmare is being
responsible for someone else’s child when something happens to that child. For
Lisa Kallisto, a harassed mother of three, her worst nightmare comes true when she
forgets that her friend’s daughter, Lucinda, should have been spending the
night at a sleepover at her house. When Lucinda goes missing, Lisa is overwhelmed
not just by her failure as a responsible adult but also with the devastation of
witnessing the deep grief of Lucinda’s parents as they struggle to cope with the
stressful situation of the disappearance of their beloved daughter.
The real strength of the book
lies in the beautiful depiction of life going about its daily business. Lisa
Kallisto is typical of so many mothers, juggling a demanding full time job and
struggling with the daily pressures of child care and limited income. Lucinda’s
parents, Kate and Guy, are more affluent but with no less pressure of keeping
up appearances. Juxtaposed between these two suffering families, is the added interest
of DC Joanne Aspinall, she’s the detective charged with looking into Lucinda’s disappearance
and interestingly, she comes across as a blunt straight talking Northerner, a
sensible detective with no airs or graces and yet who doesn’t suffer fools. She
possesses that still small voice of calm in an otherwise crazy situation.
This chilling and utterly compelling
story is one of those books which grabs your attention from the very beginning and
after the first few pages I got a feeling that I was reading something rather special.
That old cliché of a book being ‘unputdownable’ really does apply to this
story. I became engrossed in lives that
were so realistic that these really could be people you meet on the street
going about their daily lives. The small Cumbrian town of Windermere and
surrounding area is as much a character in the novel as the people and the
sense of foreboding amongst the nooks and crannies of a small community is
expertly controlled.
I am in awe of Paula Daly’s
ability to control a narrative to such an extent that it feels less like
reading a novel and more like having a chat over a coffee with your best
friend. The writing just flows like smooth cream, never faltering, no unnecessary
banter, just really good dialogue, great light and shade and perfect characterisation.
Even now, after finishing this book, I still really care about the people and
hope they are doing alright.
There is no doubt that this is a stunning
debut novel and I know that I have just read one of my books of
the year.
***
Paula Daly was born in Lancashire. Before beginning her first novel JUST WHAT KIND OF MOTHER ARE YOU? she was a self-employed physiotherapist. She lives in the Lake District with her husband, three children and whippet Skippy.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for taking the time to comment - Jaffareadstoo appreciates your interest.