Reviews

1971, Schoolboy Conrad Price goes missing. 1989 Conrad’s sister Rebecca (who was five at the time of his disappearance) gets a job at Conrad’s former school. 2006, Rebecca is now head of one of the country's most influential schools, where remains are found potentially matching Conrad’s.

Rebecca must unpiece what happened to her older brother all those years ago. From memories as a child, tales from her time on the rise, and finally answers, now she’s made it to the top.

When at its best this book was great. However, its best was littered throughout and never sustained itself for long enough. Very intriguing and different, this book did have me gripped, but I would fade in and out of caring because things took too long to get going.

I liked the story as a whole. There were some little bits I wasn’t keen on but that can be ignored. I will say I did manage to pick up who did what but the reason behind their actions eluded me and kept me reading.

I can’t say I was unsatisfied with the payoff, but because it took so long to get there, the 20/30 page finale did feel anti-climactic.

Written in a weird letter/story way, we would jump between three times and two characters for the majority of the book. This worked for the most part, but at times did make things a little hard to follow. Especially when we’d be told it was 2006, and then be shot back to 1989 with no warning.

Labelled as a dark and physiological thriller the cast of characters all fit the bill. None of them are too endearing and for the most part, they are mostly miserable. I would have liked to feel more connected to the characters.

Overall a decent read with bits of brilliants sporadically throughout. At times this book was a plain sailing and enjoyable story. At others, it was too slow and needed to be sped up.

lukamin's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

daniellefenton's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

lameycollins's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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