What a brilliant suspense filled psychological thriller with lots of twists and turns. The story line is amazing, I don't know how the author came up with the idea but I'm glad she did I read it in two sittings, The ending left me gobsmacked. coming as a complete shock, it was hard to put down.and highly recommended.

On a hot summer’s day in 1996, Claire’s younger sister Eleanor - a particularly vulnerable thirteen-year-old, very young for her age - disappears without trace after going alone to get an ice cream. Twenty years later there is still no clue as to what happened to Lenni - her family have never quite given up hope, but she is widely assumed to be dead.

Claire is now married - to surgeon Callum - and still lives close to her parents’ farm, but father Patrick is now descending into dementia. In hopes of helping his cognitive state Claire decides to organise a reunion of their childhood friends, to whom Patrick was like a second father. Claire’s brother Jason; his heavily pregnant wife Greta; and old friends Maggie (complete with troubled teenage daughter Rain) and Nick all gather once more at the farm. But right from the start, the reunion doesn’t go at all according to plan. And someone knows more than they are telling about Lenni’s fate.

The main narrative is interspersed with non-chronological snippets from Lenni’s viewpoint. It’s apparent that she has been held captive, but the who, why, and indeed where remain elusive, and poor Lenni’s confused perceptions shed little light.

(I did develop an inkling of who might be responsible - though with no idea of whether I was right and, if so, why and how.)

The Reunion is a top notch psychological thriller - intriguing, compelling and at times heartbreaking. Particularly near the end there are some very emotional moments which are well handled by the author.

If I have any criticism to make it’s perhaps a certain unwillingness to go to the police when it would seem to be the obvious course of action. But that’s a very minor point (and hardly unusual in the genre!).

The characterisation is really well done -the portrayal of Lenni is particularly memorable. One character proves to be truly awful. But it’s not till the end that their full heinousness is revealed.

Ultimately there’s a sense that (some kind of) justice has been or will be done, though it’s hard to imagine how the characters will cope with everything that has happened.

An excellent read which I couldn’t wait to get back to every time I put it down. Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!

An excellent thriller deserving of the psychological genre. Twenty years ago a child went missing. Claire was supposed to be looking after her vulnerable little sister. Claire decides to bring the group of old friends who were there that day together for several reasons. The family farm will be sold so a chance to enjoy a last weekend. Also Claires father is suffering health wise and this would cheer him up and hopefully help with the dementia. Despite the grief of the past this is a family who have moved on and Claire has a wonderful relationship with her parents. This story is gripping and when another child goes missing wow does this story fling you all over the place. Lots of wonderful twists and turns, red herrings and a never saw that coming ending.

Wow, wow, wow! Just when I thought I had it figured out, I was wrong! And that was 3 pages from the end! I love a good book about secrets and lies: deceptions from the past and present. But this one literally kept me up all night as I had to know whose secrets were the worst! When Claire and Jason's younger sister, Lenni goes missing, the family is thrown into chaos as both of the siblings feel somewhat responsible as Lenni has always been protected as she is "simple." Years later her disappearance still haunts the family even as both Claire and Jason have moved on and are married with children. Their mother, Shona deals with her husband, Patrick's move into dementia and his wanderings/memory loss. When Claire organizes a reunion to celebrate her dad and bring childhood friends back together, all hell breaks loose...slowly. Weaving past and present, we are thrown into the maelstrom of childhood jealousies, passion, familial duty, and so many emotions that your head will be spinning--seriously, right up until the last page that had me gasping!

In 1996 Claire's younger sister goes missing from the beach.

Eleanor or Lenni as she is known wants an ice cream, she is not meant to go anywhere on her own but neither her brother or sister wants to go with her.

So she goes on her own and goes missing.

Claire feels really guilty and never stops blaming herself for what happened.

Years later Lenni has never been found and her parents have lived in the same house just in case she came back.

Claire and her friends meet up at the family home for one last time and we get to find out their friends views on what happened that day.

In some places it was a little confusing some parts I couldn't work out what or why they did what they did.

Although this did not take anything away from the book, it had many twists that I didn't see coming, and lots of red herrings.

A gripping book.

I loved this book, it starts with the disappearance of Lenni aged 13 after her sister Claire lets her go and buy an ice cream on her own. It moves forward 21 years where Claire's father is suffering from Alzheimers, and in an attempt to help him remember she organizes a reunion of people she spent time with as a child. The twists in this book are outstanding and just when you think you know everything, a final twist comes out of nowhere. Absolutely brilliant.

A story of friends and family with lots of secrets who reunite in Cornwall after many years apart.

In 1996, 18 year old Claire is on a beach in Cornwall with friends enjoying the sunshine when her 13 year old sister Lenni disappears. Now, twenty or so years later she still lives in her childhood home town near her parents who have promised each other never to leave their farm in case Lenni ever turns up. But Claire's father Patrick has Alzheimer's and it appears that her parents will have to move as he is becoming more difficult to deal with. Before they move though she plans a reunion of her childhood friends hoping that they will help Patrick with his memory difficulties. All of them were there the day Lenni disappeared. As others have noted, this is a slow burner with the first part of the book setting the scene. The characters are introduced - some are likeable, some not and as is the way with get togethers of all sorts, tensions rise. I enjoyed this book especially the twists. Just when you think it's all sorted out, wham! you get hit in the face with another revelation. It's all very cleverly done. I do wish though that publishers would stop advertising that there's a 'jaw-dropping twist'. I find that this intrudes on the pleasure of a book. We all know psychological thrillers have twists so there's no need to warn us in advance. The most pleasure I ever got from a twist was in Sarah Waters' Fingersmith. No one (at the time it was published anyway) thought to warn us in this way and so the twist was unexpected and all the more delightful for that. With this novel there are several twists throughout and at the end you are left breathless with the revelations. A very cleverly plotted book I thought. What I wasn't so sure about was the characterisation. Some characters such as Rain are very well drawn, others not so much. Callum, Claire's husband for example, doesn't appear to have much personality and two characters (Patrick's brother and his wife) are introduced at one point and appear to have no real role to play at all. I also struggled with motive at various places and was left wondering why several characters behaved in certain ways. However, on the whole it was very good and I would recommend it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC.

I would like to thank Bookouture and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘The Reunion’ by Samantha Hayes in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
In 1996 Claire takes her thirteen-year-old sister Lenni to the beach. When Lenni begs for an ice-cream Claire gives her a pound coin and lets her go off to the ice-cream shop alone. But Lenni disappears and hasn’t been seen since.
Twenty-one years has passed and as Claire’s father is suffering from Alzheimers she decides to organise a reunion of family and friends hoping to improve her father’s memory. When her best friend’s fifteen-year-old daughter goes missing their thoughts return to the disappearance of Lenni.
This is an amazing psychological thriller! I was completely absorbed from the start, through each twist and turn to the shocking and unexpected ending. I thought I’d guessed the plot but I was wrong and by the last page I was left open-mouthed with astonishment. I can highly recommend ‘The Reunion’ to all readers who enjoy a nail-biting thriller.

`A reunion` meant well, ended into the worst reunion in history:
`The guilt` is feeding slowly its way from the past to the present.
`Beeing trapped` with all its different meanings.
`Two teenagers`, one from the past and the other from the present, share a secret.
`And a wife, who suddenly found herself in between of all this events.....

A great gripping thriller with the basic question: How far would you go to protect the ones you love?

I started The Reunion on the train yesterday and finished it today. My goodness what a fabulous book.

I was drawn in from the very first page and my whole journey passed in a blur as I was enthralled with this book.

Fantastic writing, great characters and some cracking twists and turns. Absorbing and addictive - it gets 5 stars from me. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture and the author for the chance to review.

I am surprised by myself how I never heard of this author before. This book is so good, that I just finished purchasing all the books by this author. It is so well written; its like an onion. The more you read, the more layers you peel.

What a little cracker The Reunion turned out to be, when I first started reading this book I admit I had some reservations, there seems to be an abundance of children going missing crime/psychological thrillers on the market at the moment, and the pessimist in me wasn't convinced that author Samantha Hayes would be able to put an original spin on a well used subject, but somehow she does.

The book begins with the disappearance of teenager Eleanor, whilst spending the day at the beach with her brother, sister and their friends. Fast forward twenty one years and her family are still no closer to knowing what happened to her all those years ago. Dad, Patrick is now suffering from Alzheimers, and daughter Claire decides that a reunion of friends and family could help her dad with his memory issues. As the group of friends are reunited they find themselves plunged into a further nightmare as shocking secrets are slowly revealed.

If I'm honest I thought the first half of the book was very slow, the time is spent introducing the reader to the array of characters and building on the mystery and suspense surrounding Eleanor's disappearance. I can't say I was a fan of any of the characters, some of them appeared shallow, others were just downright unlikable, and I did find myself questioning their behaviour and some of the choices they made at times, the only character I could summon up any sympathy for was Eleanor, but that said it did not stop me enjoying this book. The author manages to ramp up the tension by creating characters that are almost impossible to trust.

The Reunion has some great twists and red herrings to make this an intense and suspenseful read, yes I pretty much guessed one of the major twist early on in the book, but I would never have guessed the motive or some of the other devious sub plots, and I did have a couple of “OMG” moments towards the end where the author surprised me which always enhances my enjoyment of a book. If I had to say one thing it would be that a few things were left unanswered by the time I reached the end of The Reunion but never the less it still made for an intriguing read.

I have read and enjoyed other titles by this author so was looking forward to reading this ARC thanks to Netgalley. When the book started I found the premise for the reunion a bit flimsy and wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy it - but boy what an amazing read. Well written both in plot and characters it keeps you guessing all the way. And although the front cover had already told me about “a jaw dropping twist” - by the way, why do books do that.???? - I never saw THAT ending.. Brilliant read 5 stars.

Well... that was a wild ride! The Reunion by Samantha Hayes was truly an addicting read. I may have sneaked in reading this at a birthday party I had to go to! I definitely tend to read a little slower on weekends because of the kiddo but I was determined to finish!

We get many perspectives in this story, which I’m a fan of but I know some of my bookish friends are not.

So, what’s it about? Right from the prologue we learn that in 1996, Claire Lucas’ little sister has gone missing. Claire and her brother, Jason, were in charge of watching Lenni while they had a fun day at the beach. Lenni has not matured much since she was eight so, the parents, Shona & Patrick Lucas make a pact that someone will always watch for poor Lenni, the baby of the family.

Flash forward to 2017 and Lenni is still missing. Shona and Patrick still live at the farm house never giving up hope of Lenni coming home. Claire also lives on the land right up the road. She’s married to Callum with two kids.

Sadly, Patrick has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and he’s slowly but surely losing it. Patrick was almost a second dad to Claire and Jason’s friends growing up. She thinks it will do him good if she sets up a reunion of her childhood mates. She hopes it will bring back memories for Patrick.

So, the gang all comes back to the farm house. We meet many characters and like I said we get their perspectives. Some you will like, some you won’t. You will be undecided on who to believe or what to think. In all honesty, I was unsure of this book until I read a certain perspective, then I was like omggggg. It was good y’all.

Right as the reunion starts sketchy things happen to Claire and she gets spooked. A LOT goes down in this book. Lies, drama, betrayal and possible triggers. (Message me if you want to be perpared) All In all I really liked it. I’ll give a solid 4. Thanks to netgalley and bookouture for a free ecopy for my review. I’m out.

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were all very well described and the tension was exquisite. I literally devoured this book, staying up late to finish it - and it was worth the dark circles and bags under my eyes the next morning. I’ve read Samantha Hayes previous books and loved them. This one didn’t disappoint either.

Well written, enjoyable psychological thriller. A 'keep on reading even though I am tired' kind of book. Guessed some but not all of the ending. Look forward to future books by this author.

A gripping storyline well told with numerous twists turns and red herrings. This story is very well structured around a group of friends and one of the groups families. A missing child has brought heart break to the family and together with an illness a reunion is thought to bring happiness and fond memories but brings it’s own terror.. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and was drawn to the main character and her long lasting guilt., her attempts to bring happiness back to her family and her inability to control events. A must read

This was a great read for me and really did keep me guessing right til the end ! I had a huge list of suspects which changed with every chapter.
Claire organises a reunion of her friends hoping it will help her Dad who is in the early stages of dementia . Things go wrong very quickly when her friends daughter disappears shockingly mirroring the disappearance of Claire’s sister Eleanor years earlier . Brilliantly written , and will keep you guessing ! .

The Reunion by Samantha Hayes
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