Emma (SCR)
Written on Apr 2, 2018
The story follows DI Gina Harte and Deborah Jenkins as well as Deborah's family.
Let's start with Gina. Gina clearly has a tortured back story which I look forward to digging into a bit deeper. She has a strained relationship with her daughter, Hannah, who thinks that she can't put her first. Hannah doesn't understand why Gina needs her job so much. I am intrigued to go into more of Gina's character. She is going to be interesting to follow as the series progresses.
As well as following Gina trying to investigate Deborah's disappearance we also see flashes of Deborah's life. She's locked up somewhere, chained in a small room and is laying in her own filth. It's a day or so after she gave birth. I couldn't imagine what poor Deborah had been through. She's been missing for 4 years and no-one had seen any trace of her. What happened to her in those 4 years? What had she experiences. I just wanted her to get free.
The other part of this story is about Deborah's family. A lot of the time in these sorts of stories no one thinks about the family that's left behind if the person isn't found. Luke has been looking after their two children and has really given up all hope that she will ever be found. He's starting to move on but in his heart he still loves Deborah. I honestly felt so sorry for Luke. I cannot imagine what it must be like to not know what happened. To not know if the person you love is alive or not. Do you move on? Do you continue to hope?
Carla got the suspense and the intrigue just right. I was reading the pages building up to the end and I was getting stressed and I didn't know what to do. My boyfriend kept asking if I was okay. It. Was. Tense!
This was the first book I have read by this author but it won't be the last. I am really looking forward to more from Carla.