I’ve been reading so much recently and have been focusing mainly on review books as I want to catch up as much as I can before the end of the year. I haven’t felt much like writing reviews though so as a result I now have a backlog of 45 (yes forty-five! Eeek!) reviews to write up. So I’ve decided to do a series of mini reviews otherwise I might never get these reviews posted!

The Child Finder by Rene Denfeld

This is such an engrossing and atmospheric read. It follows Naomi, who is a child finder – she is called in when the police have got nowhere in their search and she takes up the reins. She’s trying to find a child called Madison and is sure she is alive, and as the search goes on Naomi feels an increasing connection to the missing girl. This book was on my TBR for way longer than it should have been but once I finally picked it up I couldn’t put it down. It’s such a brilliant novel and one I won’t forget!

Whistle in the Dark by Emma Healey

This is one of those books where I expected it to be one thing and it actually was different to what I thought I was going to get, but this was absolutely not a bad thing. I very much appreciated this book and I got so much more out of it than I was expecting. Jen’s teenage daughter went missing, and was found alive but she refuses to talk about where she’s been or what happened to her. This is so much more about how it feels to be clamouring around in the dark trying to understand what is going on in your teenager’s head. Lana has depression and she isn’t able to communicate how she feels with her mum. I suffered a lot when I was in my teens so could see things from Lana’s point of view, but it was really emotional for me to see it from Jen’s perspective and to have more of an insight into how frightening and heartbreaking it must be to see your child suffering in this way. This book was such a brilliant read and one that will stay with me.

I Did It For Us by Alison Bruce

I had an ARC of this book from NetGalley but I decided to buy the audio book to listen to. I really enjoyed this on audio and found it so hard to put down, I was listening every chance I had. It follows Emily whose life has fallen apart after she accused her husband’s best friend of rape. She moves away to start a new life but finds it hard to settle in her apartment. Then one day a family move in and she befriends the single mum, Joanne. She then begins to worry about Joanne’s new boyfriend and whether he is all he appears to be. Emily is an unreliable narrator and I could never completely trust what she was thinking, she seems quite paranoid at times. This kept me on my toes though and whilst I worked out some of the reveal before it happened, there were still shocks in store!

The Au Pair by Emma Rous

This was another engrossing read! Seraphine and her twin brother Danny were only a few hours old when their mother died by suicide. Now in the present day the twins’ father has died and when Seraphine is going through his things she finds a photo of her mother with one baby. This sends her on a quest to find out which of them was the baby in the photo and what happened back then. This novel is told in alternate narratives with the other perspective being the nanny Laura who worked for the Mayes’ family before the twins were born. I did find this a compelling read and was fascinated by the story and what could possibly have happened. The ending when it comes is shocking but more than that it’s incredibly moving. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to seeing what Emma Rous writes next!