Finding Sophie is a missing person mystery. It contains a dual pov between the father and mother who are looking for their daughter Sophie and want happened to her. Personally I wouldn’t consider this to be a thriller not enough suspense or really and twists. It starts out as a slow burn till maybe the last 100 pgs. If it wasn’t for my curiosity in wanting to find out what happened to Sophie I probably would have DNF’d. Wasn’t a fan of the pace of the book or the way the timeline was. Not a bad story overall and I didn’t predict how it was going to end. Just not my type of mystery.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Ballantine Bantam for gifting me a digital ARC of this novel by Imran Mahmood - 4 stars!

Harry and Zara King have revolved their life around their only child, Sophie. As Sophie has gotten older and started to rebel, tension is high in the house. One day, she leaves the house and doesn't come back. The police have no clues and the couple are desperate. They take matters into their own hand as far as investigating and soon are convinced of someone's guilt, and he's not talking.

This is a slow burn book, focusing more on how Harry and Zara deal with their grief and obsession over finding Sophie. The story plays out through alternating POV of the couple, as well as scenes from a courtroom trial. The writing is wonderful, and you feel the couple's angst over Sophie as well as the fact that their relationship is now falling apart. I also liked how the courtroom decision played out. It's a tense and gripping story until the last page!

A 17 year old girl is missing and foul play is suspected......how do parents go on believing and looking when everyone else has given her up for dead? The story is broken out into chapters from about the father Harry, the mother, Zara, and the now/courtroom. From the initial chapters we see that the parents are doing a slow crash and burn and not dealing together - but falling apart separately. They have a suspect.... but getting the law to believe them is not happening and so they decide to do their own investigating. The chaos that ensues because each has their own plan and aren't letting the other in on it is very often frustrating. Their determination is inspiring in its persistence. As the reader is brought through their stories we learn with them that Sophie had secrets which draw their attention to other thoughts of what happened to her...and yet their eyes are always drawn back to the man at number 210 on their street. The man who refuses to open his door to them, to answer their questions. The story draws the reader into the mystery and what will happen to solve the puzzle of their missing daughter. An interesting writing concept of telling their story, and at times the descriptive writing is quite eye-catching such as describing the sun in the garden as "it paints hope into the colors". Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the opportunity to read and review this advance reader copy. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. #NetGalley #FindingSophie

Teenage Sophie goes out and never returns. 6 weeks later, she is still missing, and her parents are convinced the house down the street holds some answers. This is a devastating story as we watch Sophie's parents begin to unravel and it's told from several POV's. It is a slow burn as we put the pieces together and begin to find out what happened. Part courtroom drama, part domestic drama and part suspense, I really enjoyed this one and look forward to more from this author.

Thank you to #NetGalley, Imran Mahmood and Bantam Books for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

Harry & Zara King's teenage daughter Sophie goes missing, and the two parents work tirelessly to find her. They have questioned everyone in the immediate area who may know something. They spoke with every friend and neighbor.... except for the neighbor at #210 on their street. That person refuses to come to the door, no matter how many times they, or the police, stopped by. Harry & Zara are convinced that he has something to hide. It becomes an obsession with them, and they are determined to find out the truth and make someone pay. No matter what.

This book started out as a bit of a slow burn. It is told in alternating timelines between the year after Sophie goes missing, and a murder trial. I found the depths that those two parents were willing to go to in order to find the truth was disturbing, but never having experienced anything like this myself, it is hard to say what I would or would not do in their shoes. I didn't find them likeable even before Sophie went missing. Overall this was a good book, just a bit a bit dark and depressing at times.

Imran Mahmood’s Finding Sophie is part mystery and part family drama. It is the tale of a missing teenaged girl and the impact it has on her parents. Their desperation, their abject sadness is palpable in every word on every page.

“We’re both drowning. I know that. But we’re drowning separately.”

Finding Sophie is told in dual narration by Sophie’s parents, Harry and Zara, and it is told in multiple timelines. In the past, Zara and Harry tell us of their individual searches for their daughter. In the present, the story is more of a courtroom drama, with someone on trial for murder. It is not until much later in the book that we find out the details of the victims and accused. In countless stories, real and fiction, parents of missing children, are torn apart by the loss of their child and their very different ways of processing their loss. As a parent, I was torn apart by the pain Harry and Zara feel. As a wife, I was saddened by Harry and Zara turning away from one another when they needed each other most.

I enjoyed Mr. Mahmood’s storytelling. He drew me in, and he held my interest with several unexpected plot twists . I especially enjoyed the eventual depiction of Sophie through tidbits her parents uncovered during their search for her. The denouement was a complete surprise, and I am still unsure of my feelings about the resolution. However, I am very sure that Finding Sophie is a worthy, powerful read.

Harry and Zara King are desperate to find their missing teenage daughter, Sophie. Finding Sophie delves into the grief, depression, and separation between our two main characters, and the trial that brings them back together.

The first part of the book has alternating POVs between Harry and Zara, with some chapters that take place during a trial peppered in. The second part goes in depth into the trial, and the last part is the aftermath.

I really enjoyed the last several chapters, where things picked up and the plot was moving forward. Unfortunately for me, the beginning was too much of a slow burn. People who appreciate character driven plots and legal dramas wojld probably enjoy this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was such a great story. Typical married couple not talking to each other and investigating their daughters disappearance each on their own. Rather comical. Some dark things happen. You do find out what happened at the end. A bit of a let down after the ride to get there. The ride is the better part.

This was a sad but inspiring book with a semi-happy ending. These dudes is this book were fucked up and groomed & preyed on a young girl. But that isn't really the story - the story is how the parents process and deal with the loss of their daughter. Not well but in a way that I related to. I don't know what I would do if I had a daughter and she disappeared!

This was my 1st book by Imran Mahmood but will not be my last!! I am adding all of their books to my TBR!

#FindingSophie
#NetGalley

Finding Sophie by Imran Mahmood is a captivating thriller that seamlessly blends suspense with emotional depth. The beautifully written narrative is both visceral and evocative, drawing readers in with its compelling storytelling. While the plot keeps you on the edge of your seat, the novel also surprises with its poignant moments that tug at the heartstrings. Far surpassing the typical legal thriller, Finding Sophie is a work of pure brilliance that will leave readers enthralled until the very end.

Finding Sophie by Imran Mahmood is a slow but steady burn. The story revolves around two South London parents, Zara and Harry, who take the search for their missing daughter into their own hands. Sophie King, their 17-year-old daughter, vanished six weeks ago, and the police investigation has left them disillusioned. The novel deftly shifts between two timelines: the present-day search for Sophie and a murder trial that unfolds a year later. The focus on the parents’ emotional turmoil adds depth to the narrative. The trial scenes, filled with surprises and clever maneuvering, elevate the second half of the book. In summary, Finding Sophie may not race ahead like a typical thriller, but its gradual revelations and well-drawn characters make it a compelling read.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Finding Sophie was such a fun ride! It was pretty lengthy, and did take me a while to get into it, but the chapters were nice and short, and the pace had me quickly flipping pages!

We get perspective back and forth from Harry and Zara, as they navigate their lives after their teenage daughter Sophie has gone missing. There is obvious strain on the marriage, and things intensify when the parents focus their own investigation on a neighbor.

I didn’t see the ending coming, but I have complaints here. Without spoilers, it’s hard to lag out my grievances. But I’ll try: You can’t throw in a tertiary character who had no other part in the book… and then be like SURPRISE! The ending seemed rushed and underdeveloped. I loved the court aspect and the timeline jumps, that all felt right…. Right up until the ending.

Their daughter is missing. One day she's here, the next, she's not. These two parents, Harry and Zara, are each handling their loss in different ways. Readers hear from both as they launch their own investigation, settling their suspicions on a neighbor who refuses to cooperate in their search. But there's twists galore since the story is broken into two time lines. The weeks immediately after Sophie's disappearance and a year later during a murder trial. But whose murder trial? Who was murdered? This is a WTH book that will keep you reading to figure it all out. Plan a binge read, it's well worth it.

FINDING SOPHIE by Imran Mahmood is a gripping and thought-provoking domestic drama that kept me guessing right up until the shocking conclusion. Harry and Zara King are living the worst nightmare imaginable – their seventeen-year-old daughter, Sophie, is missing after a leaving the house following an argument and never returning home. Six weeks have passed and the police still have no viable clues as to her disappearance. Frustrated and frantic, both Harry and Zara have begun searching on their own. They have interviewed every person in the neighborhood, except a suspicious man living alone in #210, who refuses to open the door or answer their questions. Both parents believe that man is hiding something important and they become obsessed with getting answers. Sadly, the grief of missing their daughter is tearing Harry and Zara apart. The story is told from both parent’s points of view and also alternating between the “past”, at the time of Sophie’s disappearance, and the “present”, a year later, when the parents are on trial for murder. What has transpired during this time? From reading Harry and Zara’s perspectives, you can actually feel their pain, hopelessness and desperation. The courtroom scenes are tense and emotional. FINDING SOPHIE is a complex and engrossing story full of twists I didn’t see coming. I enjoyed this well-told story and I’m grateful to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read and review an early copy.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #RandomHousePublishingGroupBallantine for the book #FindingSophie by #ImranMahmood. This book about a missing daughter and two parents desperate to find her and the lengths they will go. A heartbreaking roller coaster of a ride till the very ending, this book is great!

This was an amazing, complex read that I sped through in just one day. It keeps you riveted and turning pages, trying to figure out what really was happening and why. It was fascinating and brilliant with twists and turns, misdirection, and a very well thought out and explained plot As mentioned, the whole premise is rather complex, but still believable. Yeah, some things may be a bit too convenient, but it's fiction so that's allowed.

Sophie has been missing for 6 weeks, and her parents are convinced that the reclusive man in 210 knows what happened to her. Both of them are on their own journeys to find Sophie. Harry is methodical, working his way through lists and maps while Zara searches for evidence in the universe that her precious daughter is still alive. The deeper they go, the more they find out about themselves and the people around them.

This is not a new story--parents, wrapped up in the lives of their child are at a complete loss when the child goes missing. Where is she? Where did she go? Did someone take her? Or did she run away? I've probably read some version of this story a dozen time since I'm a big thriller reader. But Mahmood's take on the missing child genre still manages to bring fresh ideas and perspectives to the story. I had to keep reading to figure out exactly what happened to Sophie, who is on trial, and what exactly is that creepy guy down the street doing? You can feel Sophie's parent's grief jumping off the page, and you hope for their sake they get answers to what happened to their daughter.

Missing children is a really scary concept to me, so this book worked perfectly together and was able to tell a great story. Imran Mahmood has a great writing style and uses it to create a great cast of characters. It had that tension that I was hoping for and that the characters felt like real people in this universe.

Finding Sophie by Imran Mahmood was a hard book to read for me personally.
But that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it. Because I did!
The writing was gripping and led my attention throughout it all.
A thought-provoking read that had my heart pounding for these characters.
I thought FS was a wonderfully domestic thriller. Suspenseful, fast paced, and tense.

Thank You NetGalley and Random House, Ballantine & Bantam for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Are there limits to what a parent will do to find their missing child?

Seventeen year old Sophie King has gone missing. Her parents, Harry and Zara, are frantic and don’t think that the police are making any progress in their search for her. Each parent starts their own quest to find out what has happened to their daughter, while dealing with guilt over recent arguments they had with her and blaming both themselves and one another for the tragic events. One neighbor has dodged any attempt to answer questions about what he may have seen, and the couple fixates on him as being the person who must be involved in Sophie’s disappearance. They also discover that they didn’t know Sophie as well as they thought, and that her friends may have information that they aren’t sharing. Linked in their shared tragedy but coming apart at the seams, they act in ways they never thought possible. Is Sophie still alive? And what are Harry and Zara willing to do to find out the truth of what has happened?
Both a suspenseful thriller and a tale of ordinary people thrust into a nightmare situation, Finding Sophie is told from the point of view of two characters (Harry and Zara) and at two different time periods (in the weeks after Sophie’s disappearance and a year later during a murder trial). The suffering of the two distraught parents comes across vividly and, as the parent of a daughter not much older than Sophie, struck uncomfortably close to home. What would I do, what would any parent do, if my/their child were to disappear without a trace? Accept that law enforcement is doing all that it can while sitting in a home where a child’s absence is clearly felt? Conduct searches? Question friends and neighbors? For Harry and Zara, the answer to the first is a resounding no, with a yes to the other two just as a starting point. There is difference in how each parent deals with their fear and their pain, and also a distance that grows between them when neither can help the other with their struggle as they can barely handle their own. The questions of what happened to Sophie, who was or was not involved, and what avenues of inquiry are dead ends engaged me straight through to the conclusion . The legal knowledge of the author, a practicing criminal barrister in England, informs the chapters dealing with the murder trial in a way that clarified its rules vs those of the US system with which I am more familiar. There are plenty of twists to keep a reader interested, and I could not be completely sure of anyone’s innocence or complicity until the very end. Readers of William Landay, Araminta Hall and Megan Miranda should pick up a copy of FInding Sophie and ask themselves a question: what would you be prepared to do if you lost everything you love? Many thanks to NetGalley and Bantam for allowing me early access to this gripping and emotionally fraught thriller.