Missing
an 'utterly gripping, intelligent and haunting' detective crime thriller (Will Dean)
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4.2 • 6 Ratings
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- £7.49
Publisher Description
'Utterly gripping . . . a triumph.' Will Dean, award-winning author of Adrift
'Sharp, assured . . . steeped in authenticity.' Sean Watkin, author of McDermid Award-shortlisted Black Water Rising
Your baby is perfect. She sleeps through the night, even in this heat. You'll keep her cool. Open the window. Anything she needs. Anything.
But when you wake up in the morning, Bella is gone.
Recently-promoted DI Martha Allen is furious. Her career hinges on this missing baby case, and her boss and the circling media both want a quick solve - but her key witness is lying.
Allen needs the truth. She's not going to stop until she gets it. No matter how long it takes.
That detective is watching you.
What have youdone? What happened to your baby?
'Missing grips from start to finish, with a shocking finale you'll never see coming.' Margot Douaihy, author of Scorched Grace
'Had me hooked immediately.' Georgina Clarke, author of The Corpse Played Dead
READERS LOVE MISSING:
'Up there with the likes of Freida McFadden and John Marrs.' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'I really really loved this book! The way the story evolved, the mystery surrounding that missing baby, the truth behind it, and then that closure, it was so well done.' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'What a great read this is! The tension builds right from the start, pulling you into a story full of secrets buried for thirty years.' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'A stunning crime thriller with twists and turns right up to its last pages.' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Jackson's perceptive debut introduces Martha Allen, a Scotland Yard detective who's plunged back into a case that's stayed with her for three decades. On an August night in 1990, five-month-old Bella Carpenter was reported missing from her London hotel room. Allen, then a newly minted detective inspector on the Metropolitan Police Force, was assigned to the case, and no leads emerged until her sharp-eyed subordinate, detective constable Manley Desbury, noticed that Bella's father was only pretending to cry during a press conference. Spurred by Allen's suspicion that Bella was dead before she disappeared, the detectives investigated the couple but failed to turn up anything conclusive. Eventually a teenager named Nell Beatty returned Bella to the police, and senior officers played it up as a triumphant resolution—even though Nell disappeared through a station window before she could be questioned. In the present, Nell's body is found on a bench in Bristol, prompting Allen and Desbury to revisit Bella's case off the books. Jackson gets the pace and details of a high-pressure investigation just right, mixing plodding procedural work and bolts of inspiration for a bracingly realistic depiction of crime-solving. Fans of moody British mysteries will cheer Jackson's auspicious entry into the field.
