Such an amazingly thrilling and hand-gripping book which does not surprise me at all, Lisa Stone “also knows as Cathy Glass” is such an amazing writer.

Leila is an 8-year-old neglected by her mother, she stays way past the limit in the play area in the estate they love in.
One day, without a warning, she’s disappearing without a trace.
Her mother is a prostitute, a heavy alcohol and drug abuser.
Will she be found?
Will this be a wakeup call for her mother?

When I started reading, I felt it was odd that the kidnapper was revealed so soon, but as I continued reading, it was clear why Lisa Stone did that.
The revelation of one of the accomplices of Colin was very shocking and unexpected. But the second accomplice was the bullet for me!
Although, as I reached 45% of the book, I started to have my doubts about the loyalty of the second accomplice and I was right.

Needless to say; any book written by Lisa Stone or Cathy Glass is a must-read!

Leila tiene 8 años y es hija de una mujer que se dedica a la prostitución y tiene problemas de drogadicción.
Tan es así, que, los otros hijos de esta mujer, le han sido arrebatados para el propio bienestar de los mismos.

Sin embargo, ella quiere a Leila a su manera, y con sus limitantes.

La niña suele pasar el tiempo en el parque y un día desaparece. Su madre cree que el trabajador social de su caso se la ha llevado, y eso provoca que la policía no haga mucho caso al principio.

Sin embargo, lo que sucedió fue completamente diferente. Y posiblemente más siniestro.
¿Dónde y con quién está realmente Leila?

***

Un libro basado en las realidades de los barrios bajos de Estados Unidos, y la manera en la que los servicios infantiles se manejan en dicho país. Una historia de una maternidad problemática, una infancia en soledad, una comunidad en pobreza y un departamento de policía ineficiente.

Nos hace reflexionar sobre los riesgos que viven las infancias en dichos sistemas.

El libro es lento a ratos y no me parece que entre en la categoría de thriller, pues no es precisamente emocionante. Sin embargo, es interesante y me mantuvo queriendo saber qué sucedió con Leila, hasta el último momento.

Por esto lo promedié en 3 estrellas.

I liked this book more than The Doctor. Leila is quite a little firecracker. I will probably read more by this author, quick and easy reads that don’t require a lot of thinking...

Looking for Leila…

Little Leila Smith has had to learn to look out for herself. Her mother, Kelsey, is often out of it on drugs or drink, which she pays for out of the money she makes from prostitution. So when Leila disappears from the playground one evening, it’s several hours before Kelsey realises she’s missing…

The reader knows, though, and we also know straight away who took her – a man who lives in the same block of flats as Leila and her mum. Happily, we also discover quite quickly that, although there are dark aspects to this story, it isn’t about child sexual abuse and the man is not a paedophile. That leaves us with the central mystery of the book – why has he taken Leila? And what does he intend to do with her? Will she ever get back home?

Meantime, Kelsey has been shocked into sobriety. She knew that there was already a good chance that the Social Services would take Leila away from her, and now she’s sure that even if Leila is found, there’s no chance of her being allowed to come back to live with a mother who didn’t even notice she was missing. Her struggle to stay clean forms another strand of the book. Here Stone doesn’t cut any corners in letting us see the sordid and dangerous life Kelsey is leading and at first it’s hard to sympathise with someone who has neglected her child so badly, but as we see her guilt and regret, and her terror at what might have happened to Leila, she becomes more likeable and I soon found I was rooting for her to finally get off the drugs and get her life together.

The main story regarding Leila’s disappearance requires a major suspension of disbelief at several points. She’s supposed to be eight but speaks and acts like a much older child. Partly this could be down to her having had to fend for herself more than a child of that age should, but it still doesn’t ring entirely true. The idea that she wouldn’t already have been in care is hard to swallow too but is necessary for the story, so let’s call it fictional license. Even though she didn’t wholly convince me, I admit that she gradually won my heart and I found myself hoping that somehow there would be a good outcome for both her and her mum.

Even the baddie got a bit of sympathy from me once his reasons became clear. I had a pretty good idea of where the story was likely to be going from about halfway through, but was still interested in seeing how it all worked out for the various characters, and found the ending satisfying and more credible than some of the stuff that happened in the earlier parts of the book.

It’s well written in a plain style that suits the story – third person, past tense, so we see various perspectives, Kelsey’s, Leila’s, the baddie’s, and Beth’s, the police officer who’s in charge of the investigation. It has twists enough to keep it interesting, but not the ridiculous kind that turn the whole story on its head twenty pages before the end. Well-paced and not overly long, I found it a fast read and, once I got into it and put my disbelief in cold storage, a page-turner. And much less bleak than that blurb had led me to fear, largely due to the sympathetic characterisation. An enjoyable read!

NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, HarperCollins.

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Another gripping thriller by Lisa Stone, this had me gripped from the beginning, I enjoyed it throughly.

3.5 stars

This was a good read - I didn't find it amazing but it was still good. The story follows a single parent family; Leila, who is 8 and her mother Kelsey who is a prostitute and drug user and live on a run-down estate. One day, Leila doesn't come home. What comes next is the story of what's happened to her, but more importantly, the why.

The plot is decent, and although I felt the pace was a bit slow, it unravels nicely. I didn't really feel too invested in the characters, but I think it's because the story didn't grip me as much as I thought it would, rather than that characters aren't written well. Having said that, as an 8 year old it was obvious that Leila had had to grow up far too quickly, and that Kelsey was in a lose/lose situation from the get go. The story examines a little about what it's like to live that kind of life, but ultimately it doesn't execute the concept as well as it could have.

Nevertheless, it was a good read.

Thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.