The Girls Who Disappeared: ‘I loved this twisty novel’ Richard Osman

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Jess and Heather were once best friends – until the night Heather’s sister Flora vanished. The night that lies tore their friendship apart. A fabulous book. Brilliantly plotted, heart-wrenchingly emotional, and with a central premise to die for. This delivered by the armful. I loved it!' GYTHA LODGE From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Do Not Disturb, an electrifying tale of psychological suspense in which an unsuspecting young woman finds herself trapped in an increasingly sinister web of mystery and lies.

Because Kirsty knows that once you invite trouble into your home, getting rid of it can be murder. Then She Vanishes (2019)

Now : Journalist Jenna Halliday visits the close-knit community of Stafferbury to persuade Olivia to talk and solve the mystery of the girls' disappearance. But Olivia won't speak. Devotees of domestic noir will love the multiple perspectives and shifts in time that Claire Douglas uses to complicate her nervy narrative' Sunday Times Crime Club I thoroughly enjoyed seeing how all the pieces of the puzzle came together and thought that the local myth and legend, which had grown up around the small town, added this intriguing, extra dimension to the story. What starts out as a decidedly creepy and chilling cold case mystery becomes a cruel and disturbing domestic thriller, written by an author who only goes from strength to strength. The Girls Who Disappeared might well be Claire Douglas’ most complex and assured novel to date, and I thought it was exceptional. Don’t miss out on The Girls Who Disappeared. While I warmed to her for the most part, Jenna does have some moments of utter stupidity, such as when she takes off on her own through the woods near where someone’s been found dead, for example. I found myself repeatedly telling her that no-one knew where she was and wouldn’t be able to help, if she ran into trouble. But moments like those also helped to make her more relatable as a character. After all, she’s a journalist under pressure to deliver by a deadline and desperate to get to the bottom of a 20-year-old mystery. And besides, sometimes it’s all too tempting to take off and do things on impulse. The Girls Who Disappeared is a story crafted by the Queen of the unfathomable twist. It’s like an itch you can’t quite reach, a brilliant character study with razor sharp writing.

As Rose’s fragmented memories resurface, and the police dig ever deeper, Saffy fears she and the cottage are being watched . . . While Jenna interviews the townspeople and tries to find a way to approach her, we also hear things from Olivia’s perspective. This builds a more complete picture of how far and in what ways the ripples of impact travel, as we not only discover how the accident has impacted the town and its inhabitants but also, the young woman directly involved. I really felt for Olivia, the survivor of the accident, and the girl who is left behind by it, in so many ways. Especially since she stays within that same community, with all the suspicion, stigma, and survivor’s guilt which that entails. It makes the revelations, which come later in the book, all the more impactful and devastating for having met her early on and heard her story this way. As the walls close in around her, Una fears she’ll end up just like the other girls . . . The Couple at No. 9 (2021) Kathryn, her cold and bitter daughter, resents Una’s presence. More disturbing is the evidence suggesting two girls lived here before.

Forensics indicate the bodies have been buried at least thirty years, which leads the police to question the cottage’s former owner – Saffy’s grandmother, Rose. A journalist's life is threatened when she investigates the truth about a mysterious car crash that happened twenty years earlier in this gripping thriller from the internationally bestselling author of The Couple at Number 9 and Just Like the Other Girls. What happened to the girls who disappeared? On the twentieth anniversary of the tragedy, journalist Jenna Halliday has arrived in Wiltshire to cover the case. The locals aren't happy with this outsider determined to dig into the past. Least of all Olivia. Twenty years ago, Olivia Rutherfood crashed her car while driving home with three friends.When she regained consciousness, she was alone - her friends had vanished.

Twenty years ago : One rainy night, Olivia Rutherford is driving three friends home when a figure in the road causes her to swerve and crash. Regaining consciousness, she finds herself alone in the car - her friends have vanished. In a rural Wilshire town lies the Devil's Corridor--a haunted road which has witnessed eerie happenings, from unexplained deaths to the sounds of a child crying in the night. Genres: Fiction, Thrillers, Crime, Suspense, Psychological, Family Life, General, Mystery & Detective Emilia Ward lives quietly in suburban London with her husband and two children. Just an ordinary wife and mother. But also a bestselling crime writer. When she starts writing her tenth Detective Miranda Moody novel, however, life takes a frightening turn: an incident straight out of one of her novels occurs in real life. Just an unsettling coincidence, she thinks. Until it happens again. Then someone she knows dies exactly like a victim in the book she’s still writing . . .Kathryn, her cold and bitter daughter, resents Una's presence. More disturbing is evidence suggesting two girls lived here before her. A gripping story which kept me awake last night as I had to finish reading it!' 5***** READER REVIEW