Omg wow this book is amazing it's full of twists and turns it will keep you up all night I really enjoyed this book

Really enjoyable read. Good characters and a Good story. Well worth a read. Think others will enjoy.

So happy to be given a whole budget to replenish our senior shelves in the school library. The books in there are far from appealing at the moment and I have been delighted to find books here that will intrigue, captivate and engross my senior students.

This is a fantastic read with characters they will be able to connect with, a pacy narrative and an ending that will provide plenty to talk about.

It's great to read a book that does not feel formulaic and gives some credit to their reader's intelligence too. Young people are very fussy about the books they choose to read and in this time-precious day and age it really has to be something above and beyond the ordinary to get them to put down their devices and get their noses stuck in a book.

I think this is one book that will definitely keep them turning the pages until the end. This is going onto my 'must-buy' list and I really look forward to seeing what the young people themselves think of this twisty, clever and engaging novel.

*thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

2 stars.

This just wasnt for me. I struggled through the beginning because I though that once I got to know the characters then the story would pick up and be fast paced. Sadly, that did not happen. Still at 30% of the way through I was still bored, but I pushed on to the end and I do have to say that the twist there did bump this star rating up from 1 star to 2 stars. 

The IDEA of this story sounded so good! A missing person story, yes please! Just the kind of books I love. But love just didn't happen with this. Alot of people did like it, so it's obvious that it's not a bad book, just not right for me.

The Missing Twin is the story of two women – Edie, a 23 year old working in a Mediterranean holiday resort and Fatima, a woman trying to escape a war torn country to safety and a new life. At first, it seems difficult to imagine how their lives will connect as their backgrounds are so different but Alex Day has woven a dramatic and suspenseful tale which expertly combines the two strands.

I have to admit that when I first started this book, Edie irritated me so much that I was ready to throw the Kindle across the room. I found her immature, selfish, self-centred and quite frankly for a 23 year old, just plain stupid – part of me was wishing that it had been her who had disappeared and not her twin Laura but I guess that’s the reaction the author intended. It was Fatima’s story that kept me reading. The tragedy and suffering that families like Fatima have to endure is heartbreaking to read. Widowed, homeless and penniless she joins forces with her brother in law and they, together with their respective children, make the perilous journey to find sanctuary away from the bombing of their country.

Edie’s obsession with the odious Vuk, was hard to stomach, and every time he treated her badly I was willing her to see his true colours. I did find the names confusing at times and frequently got my Vlad (the resort manager) and Vuk’s mixed up!

Fatima’s story was a real eye opener into the immense difficulties and danger that refugees have to suffer to get to safety; being constantly ripped off by people traffickers, struggling to find food, water and shelter. Having to deal with illness, my heart was in shreds whilst travelling with Fatima. She was definitely my favourite character – her resilience and bravery was tremendous and I was so hoping throughout that everything would turn out well for her. There was part of her story that I did correctly guess quite early on – however this aspect was quite cleverly done.

Despite my feelings about Edie, there was a point in the story when she redeemed herself and I actually felt a bit guilty for disliking her so much earlier. Once I knew more about her background, I did begin to see her in a different light. Again, I had already guessed part of the final outcome but this didn’t spoil my overall enjoyment.

In my opinion, if an author is able to invoke a strong reaction in readers to fictional characters, then they have done their job well. Whilst The Missing Twin was suspenseful, I’m not sure that it could be called a psychological thriller, but it was a well structured and emotional read, making me think about the people behind the newspaper headlines and the struggles they face.


My thanks to Killer Reads and Netgalley for the opportunity to review

Thanks to netgalley for the ARC of this book to review.
This was a gripping and thrilling read that had me hooked until the very end. Recommended.

This was generally an enjoyable read - fun for holiday. It was however, pretty predictable and a little ridiculous, but I enjoyed it none the less.

This is an absolutely brilliant story. it's so well written and thoroughly recommended. There are two storytellers. The first is Edie, she is British and at present works in a bar on a Greek island. Her twin Laura comes to visit then vanishes. Our second storyteller is Fatima, her homeland has been bombed and she and her 3 year old twins are journeying to Europe and safety. The story is dramatic and heart breaking at the same time but I was unable to stop reading!

I read this is one sitting. Utterly gripping. . I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend. Thank you.

It’s no secret that Alex Day is the alter ego of Rose Alexander, whose Under an Amber Sky I enjoyed so much when I read it back in May (you’ll find my review here). It would have been wrong of me to start reading this one expecting it to be a similar book – when an author chooses to write under a different name there’s usually a really good reason, and this was a totally different type of book. In fact, I really take my hat off to the author – it’s a real achievement to write well in two such very different genres. Did I enjoy this book as much? I’ll be honest and say I didn’t – but that’s just a matter of personal taste and preference, and there was still a great deal about it that impressed me.

My first disappointment was that there was no real sense of place about the resort setting of Edie’s story – I picked up Adriatic, mention of Kotor, the Eastern European names, but I always do like to understand the geography. And then there was Edie herself, who I really disliked from outset. Her approach to life, her personal morals, her attraction to a man who was plainly using her, all made me rather indifferent to what happened to her – and her twin was so lightly drawn before her disappearance that I really didn’t care much about her either. I did understand the handling in the light of the story that unfolds, but it just wasn’t for me.

But I found this very much a book of two halves – Fatima’s story was so very well done, emotional, horrifying, with a stunning depth of detail. The death and destruction, the harrowing attempts to cross the border, the world of traffickers and people smugglers, the episodes at sea, the threat from those close to her – all were superbly handled, and remain vividly in the memory, with really graphic, detailed and well-drawn imagery. And as the stories converged, the build up of tension, excitement and danger was thoroughly excellent: and while I’m often not the world’s biggest fan of an advertised “killer twist”, that was very well handled too.

I read very few thrillers these days, and despite its many positives – which include every element of Fatima’s story – I think this just wasn’t right book, right timing for me. It was good to discover Alex Day, and I’m sure others will love that side of the author – but I think I’ll stick with the Rose Alexander I so enjoyed.

Great book and a secret I didn't see coming. Definitely a page-turner as I finished it in a day.

5 full stars from me for this one.

Highly recommended.

when i first saw the title of this book "THE MISSING TWIN" i was excited..
the story follows edie where she works at a holiday resort there she has a kind of boyfriend called vuk whos very mysterious one night her twin sister laura turns up, edie who is very happy to see her tells her to go rest in her room until she gets of work and after they go out and party but the next morning edie wakes to find her sister is not there shes missing,

so edie is worried about the fact her sister is missing but no-one else is her boyfriend or the local police don't seem to care so shes on the hunt to find her sister herself..

next we meet Fatima who has problems of her own her country has neem bombed her children her nephew and brother in law try to make the make jorney across the border ans by chance her abd edie cross paths!

like i said when i saw the title of this book i was excited thinking it will be a great thriller but sadly i was very disappointed very early on i was bored with the story and the fact that it told two womens diffrent story made it worse it just didn't work if edie and Fatimas story was told in there own book and bot one maybe it would be better.. i didn't like any of the characters the story did not grip me and if im truly honest very predictable i guessed who Fatimas brother was very early on also gussed about laura very early on the only reason i finished the book and not stop after 10 pages was because i got this book in exchange for an honest review... someone people may have loved the book but im sorry to say i was glad i finished it.. thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for my copy

Really enjoyed this book. The characters were relatable and the story engaging. Worth a read for sure!

This is a story of two very different women with two very different stories.

There is Edie who waitresses at a seaside resort. Her twin sister Laura surprisingly shows up. They have a crazy night on the town but when Edie wakes up hung over and disoriented her sister is no where to be found. What happened to Laura?

We then alternate chapters with Fatima. Fatima is escaping from her war torn country with her twin 3 year old daughters in tow. Her husband was killed and her home destroyed in a bombing.

Edie is not a smart woman. She's reckless and all around annoying. I almost DNF this book three times because every time I was reading her chapters I wanted to throw my kindle against the wall. If I had to read about how perfect and pretty she was while every one else is fat and plain one more time I was going to go mad. Around the half way mark her story did start to improve. In the end, while I still didn't love her character, I could sympathize with her and I did feel that her character matured a bit.

Poor, sweet Fatima. The horrific conditions that her and her daughters endure is beyond sad. I became so attached to them. Before this Fatima was a housewife and she never really had to make decisions. Her husband took care of everything but now it's up to her to keep her daughters protected while navigating them to safety through a terrifying landscape. Let me just say that this story is powerful, relevant, and important. If I rated on her story alone I'd give it 5 stars.

While this did have a rocky start I did ultimately enjoy this and found the ending to be satisfying. 3.5 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Publisher: Killer Reads (HarperCollins imprint)
Date published: August 2017
Format read: e-book. Thanks to the publisher for my copy, via Netgalley.

With each chapter of The Missing Twin I became more and more engaged, wondering what on earth was going on and just how the two protagonists might overcome their ever-worsening difficulties. The novel is carefully constructed; it consists of two storylines that appear at first to be unrelated, told in alternating chapters from the points of view of two young women in very different situations.
Edie, a middle-class English girl in her 20s, works in a Croatian resort as a cleaner/bar-hand. In her time off she enjoys freediving (swimming underwater while holding one’s breath). She is treading water in life, however, having given up on various possible careers and is besotted by a guy at work who clearly cares nothing for her. Fatima, in contrast, is married with two daughters and lives in an unnamed, war-torn country. Apart from being a similar age (and that Edie is a twin and Fatima is the mother of twins), about the only thing they have in common is that both face a crisis in their lives early on in the novel which brings them into life-threatening danger, forcing each to re-evaluate their lives and what is truly important.
It is particularly difficult to say much about the plot without giving away crucial information. One of the most memorable things about The Missing Twin is the rug-pulling twist close to the end, which puts a lot of earlier things into perspective. (Clever title, too.) Suffice to say, Edie comes to believe that her twin (Laura) who suddenly disappears has been the victim of something sinister, possibly connected with the resort. Edie feels compelled to investigate with the intention of finding Laura. Fatima’s crisis begins with losing her husband and her house during a rocket attack; she sees little choice but to flee her devastated homeland with her daughters to seek a new life.
Early on in the book, I admit, I did wonder about Edie – why she was doing such a dead-end job and why she was so preoccupied with Vuk, another resort worker. He seems to see her in purely sexual terms (he doesn’t even give her a good time in bed!) and is obviously not on her side. That’s not to say the ‘relationship’ wasn’t believable – many girls fall for the bad guy, after all – just that early on, when we had very little background information about Edie, I found it hard to understand what was in her head. But this changed over the course of the novel, as her character develops.
Both the Fatima and Edie threads of the plot are infused with suspense by around the half-way point, and the tension ramps up in the second half with quite a few pageturning scenes and some chilling, hold-your-breath moments. The separate storylines intersect satisfyingly close to the end.
The novel portrays the plight of refugees exceedingly well, showing how they are exploited by people seemingly able to carry on their activities with impunity. The journey towards the promised land of Europe that Fatima makes is full of peril – what she has to endure on the way felt horrifyingly real to me. In a short time, she goes from being a high-status wife and mother in an affluent household to a woman with virtually nothing except herself and her daughters.
This was an entertaining and emotionally involving read. A successful dive into the realm of the thriller for Alex Day, in my view – one with strong social elements as well as the psychological. Re the final twist, I wouldn’t be surprised if this divides readers… But I’ll say no more about that and let you make up their own mind!

Edie works in a holiday resort and her twin sister Laura who turns up to visit her but then suddenly disappears again without trace. Meanwhile Fatima and her twin daughters are trying to escape from their war torn country and will do anything necessary to remain together and to get to safety.

The story alternates between the two stories and I struggled to start with to see where these stories were going and why they had been included in the same book. As the book progressed the storylines did pick up in speed and direction and in the end there was a good climax to the story.

The Missing Twin

The Missing Twin is a real page turner, I was gripped!!! It will keep you guessing right until the end with all the twists and turn, my goodness, it left me dizzy!

There are two stories running through The Missing Twin. I really enjoyed both Edie’s and Fatima’s very different stories, and how they come together at the end. Wow! Five stars from purplebookstand.

I was lucky to be provided with an ARC of this book and I voluntarily provided this review.

This is a gripping debut psychological thriller that I found hard to put down. With characters that are totally believable I was sucked into the book from the start.

Edie has always felt inferior to her identical twin sister Laura but have always been best friends. When Laura joins Edie out of the blue to the gorgeous island on the Adriatic Sea where Edie now works and lives she couldn’t be happier. This joy is very short lived as just as Laura arrives she goes missing leaving poor Edie to search for answers with dead end results as even her boyfriend Vuk, in which she has a toxic relationship with, is unwilling to help.

Fatima’s story tells a completely different one, yet it is also so addictive. When Fatima arrives home with her twin daughters’ aged just 3 years old she cannot believe what devastation is in front of her as her home is flattened and her beloved husband dead. The next stage of her life is to leave her war torn country in the hope of finding a better life for her girls, this journey is terrifying yet amazing to read. Fatima endures trauma and tragedy yet it is this that gives her a strength that she never knew she possessed.

The chapters alternate between the two stories and it is hard to see how their lives could be linked. A compelling read with a massive twist at the end that is so unexpected!

5 Star read. My thanks to Net Galley for the ARC this is my own honest opinion.

A MISSING GIRL…A SECRET TO BE UNCOVERED.
Edie and her identical twin Laura have always been best friends. So when Laura surprises Edie at the Mediterranean holiday resort where she’s working, Edie can’t wait for the partying to start! But then, Laura vanishes without a trace…
At the same time, in a country on the other side of the sea, Fatima and her twin daughters set out on a harrowing journey that only the strongest – and luckiest – survive.

At the start of the book I really liked the chapters alternating between Edie and Fatima's stories. I was struggling to see how the two stories might come together as they seemed so far apart at first, but eventually I did work out what the link probably was.

As I read on though, the alternating chapters became a bit annoying as Fatima's story was very well written and emotive. It was also very topical - an issue we've all heard about on the news - so it was good to read about it from this perspective. However, I could not connect with Edie at all as a character and found her annoying, dim witted and pathetic. The middle of the book seemed slow and then by the latter half I was fed up of Edie and just continued reading to see if I was correct about how the two women were connected.

Overall, it was very readable and I would look out for this author again. I'm not sure I would describe it a psychological thriller as such but it was an interesting read.

Thank you to Net Galley, the publisher and the author for providing me with an advance copy of this book in return for my honest opinion.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. I have read the reviews for this book and must say that they are all correct. Really good read.