"**Get ready for the next ‘must-have’ on your reading list. GONE GIRL meets THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN in this stunning, unsettling psychological thriller.**
A baby goes missing. But does her mother want her back?
A baby goes missing. But does her mother want her back?
When Estelle’s baby daughter is taken from her cot, she doesn’t report her missing. Days later, Estelle is found in a wrecked car, with a wound to her head and no memory.
Estelle knows she holds the key to what happened that night – but what she doesn’t know is whether she was responsible…"
Publishers are starting to bat around the comparisons to Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train like there is no tomorrow, and it is a dangerous game to play. However, on this occasion, it works as this book is absolutely up there with the best.
I devoured Little Girl Gone as quickly as I could. I started to read it on my commute to work, and suddenly going to work became really inconvenient as I couldn't pick the book up again until I commuted home again!
Little Girl Gone is addictive from the very start and that addictiveness is maintained for the most part throughout, in a way that other books of this genre do not necessarily manage. For example, I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh (which I loved and highly recommend) was gripping at the start but then lets the reader take a step back for some time before the first twist hits you in the face. However, Little Girl Gone never lets up on the grip that it has on you; I had absolutely no idea who I could trust or where this story was going to end up and must have changed my mind a hundred times as to what I thought was going to happen.
There was a part towards the middle of the book where the addictiveness loosened its grasp on me as frustration started to creep in. Frustration that I was so much further forward in the book but seemed to have made no progress whatsoever as to what happened on the night that Mia went missing. Just when you think you can't take the tension and suspense anymore, things start to unravel but are those things true or are they figments of Estelle's imagination?
Little Girl Gone reminded me in a way of The Spider in the Corner of the Room by Nikki Owen, as it left me without an inkling as to whether what I was hearing from Estelle was the scary truth or pure fiction.
An incredibly well written book from Alexandra Burt and a debut - how does she do it! The characters are perfect; a sleep-deprived mother left to cope by herself whilst a distant father tries to make enough money to keep the family afloat. The judgmental strangers around her as her newborn baby cries in a way that babies do; without reason and without any known cure. Is the mother as sane as any new mother can be or is she as crazy as everyone thinks?
You'll have to read the book to find out for yourself - #didshedoit?
Thank you to Avon Books for the copy of Little Girl Gone in exchange for an honest review. Also, thank you Alexandra Burt for the response and clarifying your thinking on the last two pages of the book.
Little Girl Gone is out on 24 September and you can pre-order your copy here now:
I too was confused by the last two pages. I felt that it suggested that Mia was not happy as a slightly older child as Estelle was still finding it hard to be a mother. But I hope that is not the case! I enjoyed the book all in all and it was definitely one that was hard to put down. The "timescale" of the final ending of the story made sure that it was not rushed or clichéd. But the last two pages remain a mystery to me!
ReplyDeleteMy great apologies for too much info in the previous comment - I do hope as editor of the blog you can delete it. I thought that the comment would be private till you agreed the posting yourself. I was just excited to see comment on the last two pages, after a prolonged internet search to see what others thought..
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