Thanks to NetGalley and publisher ARC for the opportunity to read this book.

When Fran meets a young girl alone on the park while on her morning jog it starts an interest in the new family to the village. She’s struck by 7-year-old Esther’s old-fashioned clothing, how young her mother Mary is, and the sense that something is not quite right between Mary and her husband Elijah Whitaker. Recognising that the loss of her own baby to SIDS years before may be impacting her judgement, Fran nonetheless gets drawn in as she tries to understand the Whitakers.

The first half of this story is well-written and while there are few actual events - aside from Esther going missing again and being found unconscious in the woods - it still drew me in. Then half-way through the story take a sudden swerve as the Whitakers leave the village as suddenly as they arrived setting Fran on a transatlantic journey to find out if they are alright. The plotting in the second half stretches the bounds of the reader’s credulity. Objectively speaking there are a number of twists and turns which if I was to spoil the book and just list here would probably have you shaking your head in disbelief that I gave this a four star rating. However, it’s a tribute to the writing and to the character development in the first half that I was able to suspend my disbelief about why Fran was doing the things she does, and get caught up in her journey to understand who the Whitakers are.

A good read for people who like character driven stories with a healthy dose of intrigue and suspense.