📖Book Review ~ Local Gone Missing by Fiona Barton

Bantam Press
9 June 2022

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book

Everyone watches their neighbours.

Elise King moves into the sleepy seaside town of Ebbing. Illness has thrown her career as a successful detective into doubt, but no matter how hard she tries to relax and recuperate, she knows that something isn't right.

Everyone lies about their friends.

Tensions are running high beneath the surface of this idyllic community: the weekenders in their fancy clothes, renovating old bungalows into luxury homes, and the locals resentful of the changes. A town divided, with the threat of violence only a heartbeat away.

Everyone knows a secret.

This peaceful world is shattered when two teenagers end up in hospital and a local man vanishes without trace. Elise starts digging for answers, but the community closes ranks, and the truth begins to slip through her fingers. Because in a small town like this, the locals are good at keeping secrets...

Everyone's a suspect when a local goes missing.

📖 My Review

Elise King is recuperating at home after surgery but once a police detective always a detective as Elise soon discovers when she is inadvertently drawn into a complex mystery surrounding the disappearance of Charlie Perry, an elderly man from the pretty seaside village of Ebbing. Ebbing, once a close community, is now fractured by the arrival of weekenders who threaten the equilibrium of the place and yet, Dee Eastwood, a local cleaner, who straddles both worlds, gets to hear all sorts of things and is privy to secrets which are better not disclosed.

Local Gone Missing has all the trademarks of this author's fine writing skills with a cast of wonderful characters who really bring this complex plot to life. Moving forwards and backwards in time we get to know more about Charlie who seems to have been quite a character in his past, and as the reasons why he may have gone missing start to evolve so the plot gets tighter and tighter, with lots of spiraling twists, unexpected turns and more than enough red herrings to keep you guessing.

Fiona Barton is one of those authors who never fails to entertain with intricate plot twists which keep you guessing and Local Gone Missing is no exception. A really great read and wonderful escapism for a summer afternoon in the garden 😊

🍷Best read with...a quiet gin and tonic, quite heavy on the gin

About the Author

Fiona Barton's debut, The Widow, was a Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller, and has been published in thirty-seven countries and optioned for television. Her second novel, The Child, and her third, The Suspect, were both bestsellers. Born in Cambridge, Fiona currently lives on the south coast in West Sussex. Previously, she was a senior writer at the Daily Mail, news editor at the Daily Telegraph, and chief reporter at the Mail on Sunday, where she won Reporter of the Year at the British Press Awards. While working as a journalist, Fiona reported on many high-profile criminal cases and developed a fascination with watching those involved, their body language and verbal tics. She interviewed people at the heart of these crimes, from the guilty to their families, as well as those on the periphery, and found it was those just outside the spotlight who interested her most...

Twitter @figbarton #LocalGoneMissing

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