This is quite emotionally intense with quite a focus on mental illness. The present-tense narrative didn't work (but then, it never does, in my opinion). Nor, in this instance, did the first-person POV; the disappearance of a young mother on holiday in Tenerife has a profound effect on more than just the main narrator, and we never really quite get into the minds of the other characters also distressingly affected by it all. There are, in fact, two narrators: the mother who disappeared, telling her story, and the daughter, Anna, telling her story, thirty years later. The build-up to the ending is compelling, but the final 'reveal' was a little disappointing, flat and a tad unbelievable. 

Although I did quite enjoy it, it turns out that the book blurb is slightly misleading. 'And then a body is found'. Well, yes, but not until the very end and you've pretty much guessed whose it is by 75%, in any case. Moreover, the title is also misleading. The '11 missed calls' only get a brief and passing mention. If you blinked while reading that bit, you could well have missed it. 

It's quite well written and the author certainly portrayed both narrators well. The anguish and anxiety of them both came over well and sympathetically. 

Editing-wise, I do wish authors and their editors would learn that standing is not the same as standing up and sitting is not the same as sitting down. Look it up. 

Okay, but not great.

This book was a good read. But had a slow start and didnt quite grab me as I would have hoped. Still good though.

I had enjoyed the previous book by this author and was keen to give it a read. It was again very compelling and great Sunday afternoon read where you can pretty much read it in one sitting however I don't feel it kept me guessing enough. I don't know that I would read this authors work again.

OK so this book wasn't terrible but it all just seemed a bit rushed as you near the end of the book. I really hated how the chapters jumped from one person's perspective (in the past) to another person's (in the future), I felt like you were just getting into one person when you had to jump to the next and found it difficult to remember where we left off the previous person. It's strange because I read another of the author's books and she wrote exactly the same way and I enjoyed it in that book. I also didn't care for the ending, I felt as if the author wasn't really sure what was going to happen until it did and it was really quite disappointing in my opinion. It was an OK book and I liked the build up just didn't think the pay off matched up.

Thanks to Avon Books UK for allowing me tor ead this book in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book, it held my interest and I was satisfied with the ending.  It tells the story about a young woman following the birth of her second child, a little girl., Anna.  Her older child, a son Robert,  was almost a perfect baby, but her daughter was a less contented baby.  Her daughter didn't sleep very much, therefore Mom didn't sleep a lot.  Between being exhausted and suffering from post natal depression, Debbie was struggling to get thru each day.  Debbie's husband, Peter, doesn't quite know what to do.  Her childhood best friend, Monica, tried to help when she can but with a husband, son and a full time career, she doesn't have a lot of free time.   The two families decide to vacation together.  The vacation causes Debbie more stress and when the families return home, Monica's husband and Debbie are no where to be found.  The story is told alternately by Anna and Debbie, which lets the reader gradually see both perspectives.  Anna struggles with the thought that if she had never been born, her mother wouldn't have left them.  Thank-you to Netgalley, Harper Collins and Elizabeth Carpenter for an ARC in exchange for a honest review.  Review will be posted on Goodreads, Amazon and Kobo.

I've never read a Elisabeth Carpenter book before, so the storyline grabbed me from the beginning. I kept stopping and starting the book as life often gets in the way, but over the past couple of days I've really got engrossed in the story and needed to find out what happened.

What happened at the cliff edge? Who was there? Who died? Where is Debbie? All these questions being asked in the story.

Annie (Anna is what she likes to be called) and her mum Debbie recount their lives 30 years ago (going back and forth in chapters of their life and what really happened on that cliff top). Who really died on that cliff top? What are other people hiding. All will be revealed when you read the heart stopping 11 Missed Calls.

Anna was only a month old when her mother, Debbie went missing.  Presumed dead by many, left her kids and ran off with a lover by others. For the past 30 years Anna has been obsessed with finding out the truth about what happened to her mother. Out of the blue Anna receives a letter and knows it has to be from her missing mother ... But how? 
11 Missed Calls jumps between Anna's present day viewpoint to Debbie's viewpoint 30 years prior before she went missing. 
A slow start but once I got into it I couldn't put it down.

3.5 Stars

Thirty years ago, Anna's mother disappeared.  Anna has always believed her mother died, but all of a sudden she is receiving notes .. could they be from her mother?  Her father wound up marrying her mother's best friend ... were they having an affair?

Anna is not having a good time.   She only knows a few things about her mother, no one seems inclined to tell her exactly what happened that night.

Upset because everyone keeps telling her she's crazy and to forget her mother for good, she turns to her husband for support .. and comes across a picture and she fears her husband is having an affair.

She has a history of having stalked a women who looked like her mother, now her family worry that she's going to be repeating history.

This drama is told in chapters, alternating between 30 years ago and today.  Not everyone who makes an appearance along the way are who they say they are.   And when Anna starts to feel threatened and is afraid someone is following her, she has to wonder why someone wants to keep the truth from her.

This is well written with clearly defined characters .... not all are likeable, not all of them trustworthy.  The suspense is low key, but the reader will have a hard time putting the book down until reaching the conclusion. The ending was a bit of a disappointment, felt a little rushed, not what I had expected.

Many thanks to the author / Avon Books UK / Netgalley for the digital copy of this psychological drama.  Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

Anna was a baby when her mom Debbie disappeared while they were on vacation with a family friend named Monica and her family. 30 years later, Monica is married to Anna's father. One day Monica receives an email allegedly from Debbie setting Anna on a craze to discover what really happened to her mother.
This book was an interesting study of character. It started a little slow for me but it developed well. A roller-coaster ride for most of the story, but with a deflating end that left me disappointed.

I'm really sorry to admit I was incredibly bored by this book. I quickly lost interest when I discovered how predictable the story is. If you are just starting to develop an interest in thriller books, then you may enjoy this story. However, those who typically read only thrillers have seen this story line along the way.

11 Missed Calls by is a cleverly told story written from several points of view, with two different timelines. We see what happens before Debbie disappears leaving her two young children behind, we also see her grownup children Anna and Robert 30 years later, as they are still struggling to come to terms with the reason their mother would just walk away from them whilst they're away on holiday in Teneriffe. During this time, Anna has become increasingly worried that there is something her family is not telling her, and she begins to do some digging around and finds a private detective to help her. Is their mother dead, or is there another reason she walked out of their lives for good? 

I think the author captured Debbie's and Anna's characters and what they each went through really well. I totally did not see that ending coming and I was convinced I had all the answers, right up until the very end. I felt for Anna and how lonely she was when she finds her husband's love letter from another woman, which ingeniously added another twist to this family drama.   Overall this was an entertaining read, rife with family secrets, lies and surprises!

11 missed calls had me hooked the moment I started reading fast paced full of mystery and secrets 😍

When I read the description, I knew this book would be right up my alley. While the book had a great storyline, I felt like it left a lot of questions unanswered for me. I usually love an intense book however this one was almost too intense, with some unexpected twists that made it hard for me to keep up. I think the ending was rushed, which made it hard to process based on the intensity of the book and plot twists before that. Even so, I still felt engaged with the book and wanted to follow through until the end. I look forward to future work from the author.

I am a sucker for mysteries'/thrillers where someone goes missing.  This wasn't as action packed and twisty as I hoped, but it still delivered.

Anna grows up not knowing her mother Debbie. When she was a baby Her mother disappeared and Anna grows up with her father Peter, brother Robert and step mom Monica. 

Thirty years later Anna wants to know what really happened to her mother and find out who is sending the family notes, could they be from her mother?

Beautifully told in 2 timelines, we have the past where we can see what happens before Debbie disappears and the present where Anna tries to cope with growing up without her mother and feels her family is holding something back from her.

Loved the way the tension slowly builds up and I felt like I could not trust anybody in this book.  I’m pleased to say I did not see that ending coming, I was fooled by the red herring but pleased by the outcome.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review.

I loved Elisabeth's debut but struggled with this one.  For me the book failed to deliver on the synopsis and at the conclusion I was left feeling befuddled as to what I even read.

This was a lovely story about love, family, and a mystery!

Sometimes how you feel about a book has everything to do with expectations and nothing really to do with the book itself... I picked up this book expecting a twisty psychological thriller and what I got was women’s fiction with a side of mystery.... now I love women’s fiction with a side of mystery, but when I’m expecting some kind of dark twisted story I don’t like it quite as much.... hope this makes sense, it’s kind of like when you take a drink expecting 7-Up and it is water, you like water but you were expecting 7-Up so it’s not as palatable...  All of this is to say this is a good book and I think it would be even better if you go in knowing what you’re getting!

This is a story about a mother and a daughter.... we get Deb’s story in 1986 and the events leading up to her “disappearance“.... we also get Anna‘s perspective in the present day and her life coping with having been abandoned by her mother at the age of two years old.... I found both of these ladies stories compelling although admittedly I was a little more drawn to Deb then Anna... Deb was a very sympathetic character, I felt so much for her I had a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that she would ever leave her daughter? Anna interestingly was quite a lot like her mother... The mystery of Deb’s disappearance kind of took a backseat to these ladies captivating tales....

This is a story I’d love to give a second chance to, I think I would really love it a lot more the second time around!

Full review to come.
I deeply apologize, but life is a handful lately and I'm using all my free time to read, not review. I hope everybody understands.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It had enough mystery and suspense to keep me turning those pages throughout the entire book.

30 years ago Anna’s mother disappeared, she always believed she died that day, but now and email has appeared and a body has been discovered. A study of two women across time and how they deal with truth and fulfilment.

Not great, not bad just didn’t care.