WOMAN LAST SEEN
Leigh Fletcher: happily married stepmom to two gorgeous boys
goes missing on Monday. Her husband, Mark, says he knows nothing of her
whereabouts. She went to work and just never came home. Their family is
shattered.
Kai Janssen: married to wealthy Dutch businessman Daan and vanishes the
same week. Kai left their luxurious penthouse and glamorous world without a
backward glance. She seemingly evaporated into thin air. Daan is distraught.
Detective Clements knows that people disappear all the time—far too
frequently. Most run away from things, some run toward and others are taken but
find their way back. A sad few never return. These two women are from very
different worlds. Their disappearances are unlikely to be connected. And yet,
at a gut level, the detective believes they might be.
How could these women walk away from their families, husbands and homes
willingly? Clements is determined to unearth the truth, no matter how shocking
and devastating it may be.
***
I do like it when a mystery surprises me, and WOMAN LAST SEEN by Adele Parks did that, although not in a manner I would have expected.
This is the story of missing women Leigh Fletcher and Kai Janssen. Their disappearance is a shock to their spouses and families, with no obvious clues where they might be hiding, assuming they are alive.
The narrative is told in multiple points of view. It also moves back and forth in time so we get a better understanding of characters’ reasoning. I did find the pacing a tad sluggish, and the ‘who’ wasn’t a huge surprise but this didn’t detract from my overall enjoyment, because there was something I enjoyed much more.
I have to be a little vague now to avoid giving spoilers . . . It’s the fallout from information discovered during the police investigation that I found most interesting. I felt Parks did a terrific job with the family dynamics in this book. What behaviours do people take on to play their designated role (wife, husband, parent, child) in their family? Who is keeping secrets? Who is keeping confidences? How does this impact individuals and the family unit when a member of the family disappears? And how do you adjust to the knowledge that you might not know those closest to you as much as you thought? Parks’ astute observations certainly provided food for thought.
This was my first Adele Parks books. I enjoyed reading it and will look out for more of her titles.
Review copy courtesy of Netgalley and MIRA books.
Adele Parks was born in Teesside, North East England. Her first novel, Playing Away, was published in 2000. She has published twenty one bestselling novels that have been translated into thirty languages. She's been an ambassador for The Reading Agency and a judge for the Costa Book Awards, and is a keen supporter of The National Literary Trust. She's lived in Italy, Botswana and London and is now settled in Guildford, Surrey, with her husband, son and cat.
https://www.adeleparks.com/
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