Review ~ Distress Signals by Catherine Ryan Howard

Corvus
2017

**Out now in paperback **

Did she leave or was she taken?

A bit of blurb...

The day Adam Dunne's girlfriend, Sarah, fails to return from a Barcelona business trip, his perfect life begins to fall apart. Days later, the arrival of her passport and a note that reads 'I'm sorry - S' sets off real alarm bells. He vows to do whatever it takes to find her. 

Adam is puzzled when he connects Sarah to a cruise ship called the Celebrate - and to a woman, Estelle, who disappeared from the same ship in eerily similar circumstances almost exactly a year before. 

To get the answers, Adam must confront some difficult truths about his relationship with Sarah. He must do things of which he never thought himself capable. And he must try to outwit a predator who seems to have found the perfect hunting ground.

My thoughts about the book...

Distress Signals grabs your attention from the very start of the story and before you know it you have read several pages without ever being distracted by outside life. The disappearance of Adam Dunne's girlfriend Sarah is handled with such realism that you can't help but be drawn emotionally into his search for the girl he loves, and even though you suspect that it isn't going to be an easy journey for Adam, you can't help but invest so strongly in the story that you want everything to work well out for him. Whether it does, or not, remains to be discovered amongst the clever pages of this psychological thriller which grabs you from the first and doesn't let up on the action until the book is completed.

There is much to be discovered in this multilayered story, not just that of Adam's anguished search for his missing girlfriend but also of the interaction between the other lead characters who add depth and meaning to the overall psychological effect. I particularly enjoyed the parallel story which runs alongside that of Adam's search for Sarah, and at first I wondered where this story would lead but I enjoyed the clever twist when all was revealed. 

If you like well thought out psychological thrillers then Distress Signals is most certainly one that ticks all the right boxes. I would say that it's perfect holiday reading but maybe not if you plan to cruise the Mediterranean any time soon. 

Best Read With...One of those fancy cruise ship cocktails and a bowl of salted almonds...

About the Author

Visit the author's website by clicking here

Follow on Twitter @cathryanhoward

Thanks to Corvus Books for my review copy of Distress Signals

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