by Barbara Copperthwaite
Publisher: Bookouture
Pages: 360
Format: eARC
Buy the Book: Amazon
Goodreads: MISSING – Have you seen this girl? Nineteen-year-old Leila Hawkins was last seen on 24 June, 1994, when she left her parents’ anniversary party early and ran into the stormy night wearing her twin sister Stella’s long red coat. She was never seen again.
Stella holds the missing poster flat against the tree trunk and presses to make sure it’s secure. She tries not to look at the photograph on it. At the features so similar to hers. This time every year she decorates the small seaside town they grew up in with pictures of her beautiful missing twin. But after almost twenty-five years, is it even worth hoping someone will come forward?
The last thing Stella ever expects is a direct response from the person who took Leila. Wracked with guilt about the secret she’s been keeping since the night of the party, and completely alone in the world without the other half of her, Stella agrees to his strange request: private, intimate details of her life in return for answers.
But as the true events of the night of the party play out before her, Stella feels closer to Leila than she ever dreamed she’d be again – too close. Will it be too late before she realises she’s walked right into a deadly trap? Will she suffer the same fate as her sister?
Kritters Thoughts: Stella has spent years looking for her lost twin who went missing one night and although many people have a reason to be involved, only one did it and they have gone without prosecution for years. As the anniversary approaches, a documentary producer is into making a documentary that could put more eyes on this mystery and maybe bring some more clues to light.
For me pacing matters when it comes to mystery thrillers and this one slowed way down in the back half and I was ready for it to come to a conclusion a bit before it did. I could tell that I was waning in my reading as I was getting easily distracted 3/4 of the way in, but once the conclusion was in sight, the last bit was good.
I did enjoy the unveiling of the killer and although I may have guessed it early, the way the reader finds out about it was creative and unique. I also liked that once it was revealed there is a bit more to the book to find out the details from how and why Leila went missing.
I would try another by this author, but would definitely want the synopsis to be something that I would be into.
Rating: enjoyable, but didn't leave me wanting more
Ebook 2021 Challenge: 14 out of 100
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one copy of this book free of charge from Bookouture. I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.