Where I Left Her: The pulse-racing thriller about every parent's worst nightmare . . .

by Amber Garza

A MISSING DAUGHTER. EVERY MOTHER'S WORST NIGHTMARE.
SHE'S NOT WHERE I LEFT HER

When Whitney drops her teenage daughter, Amelia, off at a sleepover at a friend's house, she has no idea that her entire life is about to irrevocably change.

Because the next morning, when Whitney returns to pick up Amelia, an elderly woman answers the door. She's never seen or heard of Amelia and she lives in this house alone with her husband. It's every mother's worst nightmare, but this time there's no waking up from it.

Distraught and terrified, as Whitney tries to get to the bottom of her daughter's disappearance, she is forced to confront the secrets she thought she had outrun years before. With time running out to find Amelia, Whitney is forced to journey to the darkest parts of her history and piece together a puzzle that will be the difference between Amelia's life and her death.

• ISBN10: 0751578967
• ISBN13: 9780751578966
• Publish Date: 24 August 2021
• Publish Status: Cancelled
• Out of Print: 17 June 2021
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
• Imprint: Sphere
• Format: Paperback (UK Trade)
• Pages: 304
• Language: English

Reviews

[Nadz@Totally Addicted to Reading]

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.Where I Left Her by Amber Garza was one of those books which kept me on my toes from start to finish. This not being my first time reading the author's work I looked forward to her latest release. I soon found myself slipping into this twisted and engaging story.

Amber Garza’s latest release introduces Whitney, an overprotective mom. At least that’s what the reader was led to believe. Then she went and did the craziest thing. She dropped her daughter, Amelia, at a friend’s house with knowing anything about the friend. To make the situation worse, she paid scant attention to where she let her off.

Seriously, can she be anymore careless? It took her daughter not returning home for her to realize her lack of vigilance. This is where things got dicey. Whitney, recognizing she should have been more aware, conducts her own search. In conducting her investigation, she uncovers lies and discovers troubling things about her daughter. It is said ‘ the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree’, so Whitney should not be surprised by the things she discovered.

The interesting thing about the story are the main characters. Unreliable and unlikeable. Amelia’s actions bordered on obnoxious, and Whitney had no backbone in dealing with her daughter’s behavior.

The reader didn’t know what to believe, with so many versions of the truth being played out, all of which came from Whitney’s perspective. It became clear she had secrets from her past. Secrets she wouldn’t want to see the light of day. The question in the reader’s mind was what role did these secrets play in Amelia’s disappearance? The deeper into the story the reader went, the more the dislike for the characters grew, especially in relation to Whitney.

Despite the reader’s dislike of the characters, which one suspect was the author’s intent, the story proved difficult to set aside. The drama, twists and red herrings made Where I Left her a riveting read. The story moved between Whitney’s past, the time before the drop off and the present. This helped the reader to get a better understanding of the characters’ state of mind.
The story ended on a shocking note. However, it would have been nice to have answers to questions which arose as a result.

Conclusion/Recommendation

Where I Left Her is a riveting tale which shows that there are usually several sides to a story.  In addition, figuring out which side is the right one can prove a challenge. Fans of psychological thrillers should add this to their reading list.This review was originally posted on Totally Addicted to Reading

[Quirky Cat]

Where I Left Her is the latest novel to come from the mind of Amber Garza, though I'll confess that this is the first novel I've read by her. Still, the description alone was more than enough to capture my attention right away.

Whitney is about to face a parent's worst nightmare, and she doesn't even know it yet. All she knows is that she's second-guessing this sleepover her daughter is heading to. She's never met Lauren's parents and knows she should probably do so now.

Not that Amelia would tolerate such a thing. The reason behind her resistance is made clear the following day. Her daughter didn't sleepover in the house she was dropped off at. Worse, she's been lying about everything and is now missing.

Where I Left Her is a spine-tingling psychological thriller that blends elements from typical family dynamics to increase the impact and fear. It easily takes advantage of the reader's emotions to carry this story along, and it does so flawlessly.

Whitney is a stereotypical overprotective mother, while Amelia is clearly the rebellious teenage daughter. Their tropes are extended to the nth degree here, as those dynamics twist into a missing person's case full of deception and concern.

What I like the most about this is that Amber Garza took advantage of Whitney's unreliable position to obfuscate the truth. It's hard to trust anything we're seeing – or getting told. It made the story all the more complex and intriguing.

Thanks to MIRA and #NetGalley for making this book available for review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Check out more reviews at Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks