This was a terrific thriller with so many unexpected twists. Characters were so real that all I wanted to do was to give Frances a big cuddle as I felt so sorry for her. The book almost seems to be centred around the fear of having dementia which is so real to so many people and in this case Frances had a reason to. Fear it just by thinking of her own mother’ s condition. It was so difficult to calculate who was telling the truth and I ad decided early on who I thought was behind everything but I was totally thrown by the ending.
A superb book that kept me captured from the very start.
Keep writing such gripping stories please..

Frances receives a call that her daughter has been in the accident and she needs to get to the hospital ASAP. While driving to the hospital, she sees a little girl in the back of a car signalling for help. She sees the little girl at a pit stop restroom. However, before she can help the girl, she receives a phone call and the little girl disappears.

Frances is confused and strange events keep occurring.. Her mother has dementia, and Frances thinks she may also be losing her mind. We are left wondering if it is Frances, or something else that is going on.

Based on the description, I thought this book would be about a missing girl. However, it was more about Frances dealing with "losing her mind" and her daughter Naomi. It was quick paced and interesting. I was not the most shocked by some of the twists (some were a bit predictable), but it was still really good.

Thank you HQ Digital and NetGalley for the advanced copy.

Absolutely loved this book. I could see the ending and the mental health / dementia issues made me cringe. i read it in record time. I liked how it flipped between people for different perspectives and flowed really well so it wasnt disjointed.

Francis Brookman loves her daughter, Naomi. One night she receives a call that Naomi has been in an accident. On her way to the hospital she sees what appears to be a little girl being kidnapped. She is torn between helping this girl and going to her daughter. She misses her chance to help the girl and this choice has been sticking with her. Could she have made a difference and helped the little girl?

We also get Naomi’s point of view, which leads the reader into doubt about Francis’s state of mind. Can we trust what Francis is saying and experiencing? You’ll have to read to find out.

What I liked: This was a quick and easy read that kept me entertained. I definitely wanted to finish to see what happened. I also like multiple POV.

What I didn’t like: The ending felt very abrupt. It was a lot of buildup to the ending which could have had a much bigger payoff. To me, however, it felt rushed. It almost felt like the last chapter was missing.

This is the first book I have read by R.M. Ward, and I do think I will read more of her books..

I would like to think R.M. Ward, HQ, and NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Francis thinks she is going crazy. She gets strange phone calls, things happen in her house that she can’t explain or can’t remember. There are several twists in the book that I didn’t see coming. This one will keep you on the edge of your seat. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.

At the beginning of the book I was grabbed by the story line and I settled in for a right good read. Sadly it turned out to be a so-so book for me which was let down by the blunt and, what felt like to me, amateurish writing. The plot soon turned silly, and I was happy to reach the end. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read it and I'm sorry I can’t give this a glowing review.

Thanks to Netgalley and HQ Digital for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Frances is separated from her husband and they have one adult daughter, Naomi. Frances gets a call that Naomi has been in a terrible accident and rushes toward the far away hospital. On the way, at a rest area, she encounters a girl who appears distressed and she believes the girl may be a kidnap victim but she must get to her daughter. The scene with the girl continues to haunt her.

We learn early on the dementia runs in the family and Frances is certainly exhibiting some concerning behavior despite not yet being 50 years old. She is a questionable narrator to say the least, which keeps you guessing throughout the book about what is real and what isn't. Overall it was a pretty short and entertaining read. I would read more from this author.

Thanks to Rachel and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book before the publication date.
As you would expect from Rachel, she has again written a book in which the reader is immediately drawn into the disturbing atmosphere and tension, feeling Frances’ terror that she is losing her mind.

The story is narrated alternately by Frances and her daughter, Naomi.
Frances is a woman who has experienced so much throughout her life, always there for everyone, putting their needs first.
Frances, her husband Rick and daughter Naomi had moved into Frances’ family home when her mother required 24 hour care. Rick was always busy with work commitments leaving Frances with responsibility for the house, her mother and Naomi.
On the worst night of her life as she sat by Naomi’s bedside after the accident, Rick announced what she had long suspected, that he was having an affair. Frances threw him out of the house and they are involved in an acrimonious divorce with Rick demanding share of the house.
Now things are happening in her own home, things which she cannot account for and struggles to know what is real and what is not as she fears that she has inherited the Huntingdon’s gene from her mother.

Naomi is now married to Tom and they are expecting their first child. Still in contact with Rick, she shares her concerns about Frances, telling him about her behaviour.

As Frances’ life spins out of control, the truth will be revealed in some unexpected ways.

This was fairly good. The premise is really interesting and innovative, and I was captivated in the first half of the book. Unfortunately, I felt the twist was pretty obvious and while I liked the plot, it felt a little rehearsed and I caught myself getting bored a lot in the last half. I liked Frances and her flaws, she was someone I rooted for and wanted to see her struggles through to the end. All in all, I felt it was an average airplane read.

This thriller had me hooked from the first page and I could not put this page turner down until I was done. This left me shaken. Absolutely marvelous job!
I just reviewed The Girl Who Vanished by R.M. Ward. #TheGirlWhoVanished #NetGalley
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This was quite the easy read, and when I say that, it's never negative.
I sat down for a few hours and flew through the book, and it entertained me.

This is my favorite kind of thriller. There were MULTIPLE twists and turns, I never knew who to trust and was so surprised by the ending. Im not usually someone who can predict a twist but I really enjoyed how this played out.

(4.5 stars)
"I saw so little and for such a short time but there's a visceral response going on in my body now that I can't explain, except that what I just witnessed was a child in distress." Finally a page-turner! After a number of so-so books in a row you can forget the pleasure of a book that makes you find excuses to go to bed early to read. I devoured The Girl Who Vanished in three sessions over two days.

The female protagonist, Frances Brookman, is set up as an unreliable narrator from the beginning. She outlines a history of trauma relating to her daughter Naomi being in a car accident, and then you find out that her mother is in a home with dementia: "Her disease has changed her personalit, loosened her inhibitions. It would be funny if it wasn't so tragic." As the book progresses, it's increasingly clear that everyone suspects Frances is on a short path to a similar fate. However she's witnessed what she thinks is a crime—a child abduction— but even she's questioning if the distressed girl she encountered was "part of the dream?"

"I changed my behaviour to placate him. I've been thinking about it recently. I feel like during the course of my marriage I lost the girl that I used to be." Author Rachel Ward throws in a disgruntled ex-husband with questionable coercive and controlling behaviours, a nosy neighbour Joan whose head is always over the fence, and a jealous son-in-law zealously guarding his pregnant wife. It's a lot for Frances to contend with a complex set of dynamics. It's no wonder she needs a psych.

What this book does well is describe the way complex trauma can be experienced as overlapping events: "I wonder again at how my brain mixed the real and the imagined yesterday, meshing different layers together." It also shows off how perpetrators of coercive control can use trauma to keep their victim and survivor in a heightened state of anxiety and use it to drive them back under control. At the same time you see Frances regaining her autonomy and sense of self—"I don't want to be a bit player on my own story"—and acts of rebellion: "Rick would never tolerate pets in the bedroom. Ella moved onto the bed the day he moved out."

This is a good story, well conveyed, and well paced. The characters are realistic. Domestic violence is portrayed well, with nuance and complexity, including its intergenerational impacts: "He may be my tormentor, but he's also still, my husband, the father of my child, the grandfather of my grandchild." Complex trauma is also well described, situated in childhood trauma overlaid by subsequent traumas, with panic attacks and other physiological symptoms—the trauma body—all part of Frances' experience. I enjoyed this book.

This was a very good book that had me very intrigued the whole way through. The main character, Frances, receives a call that her daughter is in the hospital. As she is driving there, she sees a young girl, who she believes has been kidnapped. Her daughter isn’t in the hospital, and ends up meeting Frances and helping her get home. Is Frances losing her mind, is she developing dementia like her mother, we just aren’t sure. I thought the plot moved along well and went back and forth with who was narrating, either Frances or Naomi, her daughter. The anguish and emotion that Frances is dealing with was very palpable. There were several twists which I won’t give away, but I found them to very well done.

I highly recommend this book. I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a digital ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and HQ Digital for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The writing itself was a bit blunt and awkward, but the story was fast-paced and kept me wanting to read. The plot was really good and pulled you right in. It was hard to put the book down and was a very quick read. The characters were a bit cookie cutter at some points, but it didn't detract too much from the story. There wasn't anything too amazing or outlandish about it- but it was still very reliable and easy to read, which is exactly what I look for in a thriller. If you're looking for a solid and fast-paced thriller, I would definitely recommend this one.

I received this book from NetGalley and HQ in exchange for an honest review. This statement is always true. I’m not given compensation to discuss a book and I’m not told how to rate a book. I am given a book in exchange for my opinions on it, and I am truthful in all my reviews whether I loved them or not.

The book was well written. Just when I thought I knew what was going on, the plot thickened. I was left in suspense and needed to read it. I managed to finish it in one sitting.

This story follows Frances and her anxiety over her daughter who was in an accident. On her way to the hospital, she sees a young girl crying out for help. She has to make a choice, either aid to her daughter, or follow a child who is desperate for help and recognition. It is also Frances story, her life with her happy family, or is it? Her past, her present, and her future all lie within these two events. How does someone choose to help a distraught child or her own flesh in blood? Her choices make an impact and change her course of life.

If you love psychological thrillers, you will love this. There is so much to grasp in this story. It is not overloaded and there is great character development and each person is unique. The struggles, the family stresses, the bonds that are built and broken, it is a roller coaster of a ride. I wish I could bring myself to say more, but I do not do spoilers, but it is a great read with mystery, thriller, suspense, and psychological twists an turns that may make you think you have it all solved, but you don't.

One part that was a little confusing is that there were no chapters, but they were labelled with the character who was the narrative at that moment. It seems at times, these narratives veered off into another character's narrative, which led to a small bit of confusion, but easily solvable with little backtracking.

I had found so many typos in this ARC. There were a lot of spaces missed between words, so the words were blurred together and I mentally had to separate the words and re-read the entry. I reported as many that I could find through the "report error" page. With this being an ARC, errors are expected, but this was overload. Every page at least had one and as much as 5 or 6 in a single paragraph. I hope that these errors are resolved by the time of the release.

An unreliable narrator or an unsuspecting victim?

I’ve not read from this author before but I was compelled to pick it up purely based on the synopsis and wow am I glad I did! Right from the start this book’s plot line moves quickly and doesn’t fail to grab your attention. Beautifully written, this book was effortlessly to read and only made me read it quicker than expected.

I loved how as a reader need to decide whether the narrator is reliable? Whether what they saw was true or imagined? And if it were true, why this is all happening? It’s spun in a way that you can’t help believing everything and yet believing nothing.

Told from the perspective of Frances and her daughter Naomi you get to see the actions and reactions that surround the situations that Frances gets herself involved in. Added to this the book also throws in a chapter here and there telling the story of ‘the girl’ who has been abducted and is now living with her ‘new’ mummy and daddy.

I loved it! This book kept me entertained for hours. The only reason I didn’t mark it higher is because I felt the ending was drawn out much longer than necessary and was too neat and tidy. I like a little ‘what happened next’ to be left for my own imagination and for me, this book didn’t do that. But overall a really decent read, I’d certainly look out for another from this author.

Thanks to NetGalley for my advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I started this book while winding down for bed and ended up reading all of it in one sitting. I often enjoy books that leave you questioning the narrator’s reliability and this book left me questioning and changing my opinion every few chapters. Not predictable, interesting twists and makes you question if Frances is spiraling into madness or involved in something sinister. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and HQ Stories for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

#NetGalley #TheGirlWhoVanished @HQStories

This is the first book I’ve read by this author, so I didn’t know what to expect. I certainly didn’t expect to read it in one day.

A brilliant storyline with unexpected twists and turns, and it really had me gripped. Frances is woken from a nap by a phone call from a London hospital, telling her that her daughter has been in a road accident and Frances needs to get there as soon as she can. She lives in Bath so it’s a couple of hours to get to London. Whilst driving, she sees a car going past with a little girl in the back, mouthing the words ‘help me’ out of the window. Frances is really worried and doesn’t know whether to keep going on her journey to London or to follow the car and help the little girl. She keeps going and then stops for a break at the motorway services, where she spots the other car again.

Absolutely loved this and will definitely look out for more by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and HQ/HQ Digital for an advance reader copy in return for an honest review.

Definitely my kind of book, great from start to finish, I’m looking forward to seeing what is next from this author