by Imran Mahmood
SYNOPSIS
Sophie King is missing.
Her parents, Harry and Zara, are distraught; for the last seventeen years, they've done everything for their beloved only daughter and now she's gone.
The police have no leads, and Harry and Zara are growing increasingly frantic, although they are both dealing with it in very different ways. Increasingly obsessed with their highly suspicious neighbour who won't open the door or answer any questions, they are both coming to the same conclusion. If they want answers, they're going to have to take the matter into their own hands.
But just how far are they both prepared to go for the love of their daughter?
REVIEW
When their teenage daughter goes missing, her parents Harry and Zara begin conducting their own investigations around the neighbourhood. Dissatisfied with the way the police are handling the case, Harry decides to canvass every house within a certain radius of their own home and ask the residents for any information they might have. This doesn't bring them any closer to finding Sophie, but they both become fixated on one particular property. The only house in fact, where the owner refuses to even acknowledge their presence and open the door. They come to the conclusion that he must know something about their daughter and will stop at nothing to get him to confess.
This is my first time reading a book by Imran Mahmood and I was blown away by it to be honest. It's what I would describe as a 'classic crime thriller' with a story so tense that it almost takes your breath away.
The thing that really made Finding Sophie stand out to me was the characterisation. It's been a while since I was a teenager but I thought that the depiction of a 17-year-old girl was spot on - a brutally realistic picture of a girl who is struggling to find her own place in the world and escape the suffocation of her parents. On top of this, his portrayal of grieving parents was just heartbreaking. I could feel the desperation and dread exploding off the page as I read and as the pair struggled to deal with their situation in very different ways, you could see them beginning to drift apart and lose faith in each other at the same time as they lose faith in the possibility of Sophie being found alive.
The dual timeframe structure of the story was really successful. I love stories like this where you know that certain events have taken place right from the beginning, and then flashbacks help you to build up the picture of what happened to lead the characters to this point. The trial scenes themselves felt incredibly realistic and I loved the fact that they were just short, snappy chapters giving just enough away to grab your attention before being pulled back into the 'past' narrative.
I genuinely can't fault this book. It was emotional, punchy and harrowing to read. A beautifully written, intelligent crime thriller and an easy 5 stars from me!
Thanks to Tracy Fenton - @tr4cyf3nt0n, Imran Mahmood @ImranMahmood777 and Bloomsbury Raven - @BloomsburyRaven for the opportunity to read and review.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Raven Genre: Psychological Thriller / Crime Thriller
ISBN: 978-1526647597
Pages: 352pp