When You Looked Away

Brought to you by Penguin.

THE NEW DI STRATTON THRILLER FROM THE HIGHLY ACCLAIMED AUTHOR OF BELIEVE

It’s every mother’s worst nightmare.
Your son is gone.
And everyone’s a suspect…
Laura’s a good mother.

Between her messy divorce with her ex-husband, and moving in with her new fiancé, her son Benjy has been her constant.

But now that they’re settled, Laura is excited to throw herself back into work.

Being a mother is fulfilling, but Laura has always felt that writing is her true calling. Her ultimate escape.

Until that fateful day. The afternoon starts like any other. Laura picks Benjy up from school, then heads upstairs to write.

It’s not until the sun is setting that she realises the house is quiet. Too quiet.

It’s not until she sees the footprints in the garden that she knows something is terribly wrong.

One set is undeniably Benjy’s. It’s the other set that strikes fear in her heart – those of an adult.

Someone who took her son, right from under her nose…
‘The very definition of a page turner’ Janice Hallett
‘A properly good, tense thriller which had me guessing until the end’ Jennie Godfrey
© S.M. Govett 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026