Okay .. so this book had all the bells ringing for me when I started reading, for reasons that don't mean anything to other readers I am sure, but made me smile. I have a great-niece called Lilly and her brother is Lucas ... Add in the fact the Private Investigator in this book is from an area of Telford just a couple of miles from where I work and ... well. It amused me.

Those small coincidences aside, I absolutely devoured this book. Totally a one afternoon sitting kind of a read. As soon as I picked it up I knew i was going to have to set aside any other plans (which were in fairness rather limited) and just devote myself to reading as I was hooked from the off. Setting the scene in the most dramatic of ways - the disappearance of young Lily. So small, so innocent, a scene so totally shocking that took me completely unawares that I was compelled to read on to find out what was going on and why.

Cue the main body of the story. Writer Lucas is trying desperately hard to write a follow up to his massively successful novel but struggling to find muse or focus after the loss of his long term partner. Booking himself into a writer's retreat near his hometown, he has no idea of the history of owner Julia, and the tragic story which haunts her. The longer he stays at the retreat, the more he finds out about Julia and her missing daughter, Lily, the more determined he is to help her find peace. As Lucas starts to look into what happened on that fateful day years ago, terrifying things start to happen, not only at the house, but in the neighbouring community, events which put everyone's lives at risk.

Man, oh man, what a story. The whole idea of a missing child is bad enough. Who would abduct a young girl and can she possibly still be alive after all this time? But when you take this most harrowing of circumstances and give it a Mark Edwards twist, you are assured of a read which is not only thrilling but, in this case, totally chilling too. Capturing some of the uncertain and creeping edge which underpinned The Devil's Work, and there is a nod to that book in that Julia used to work as an illustrator for Jackdaw, Mr Edwards has pulled together one hell of a read with an undercurrent of unease from start to finish. Mysterious noise in the walls, spirit guides, unexplained voices singing in an empty bedroom - the atmosphere in this book is eerie to say the least, the mystery compelling.

What I love about Mark Edwards' work is the way he is able to make you so invested in the characters. He has quite the mixture here, beginning with Lucas, damaged by his personal loss and able to easily identify with Julia as a result. He was a character I warmed to immediately, and this is just as well as the  majority of the story is told in first person from his perspective. Julia was harder to get to know but as a quiet character, easy to sympathise with her and her overwhelming sense of loss. The other writers, Karen, Suzi, Max and eventually Ursula make up a real mix of characters, from the slightly odd to the downright rude, but all felt real. Then there are the villagers, all trying to keep their own counsel as secrets from the past do not make for good reading.

There is a sense of the otherworldly about this novel, local superstition and folk-lore informing the story in surprising ways. So many suspects to divert your attention and so many people who had made such grave errors in the past which now begin to impact the present. The pacing of the book was spot on, matching the story with slower periods of reflection contrasting against the high tension, heart thumping moments of peril. Skin crawling characterisations kept me on high alert and as segments of the story moved to Lily's perspective in the months leading up to her disappearance, I could feel myself being drawn deeper and deeper into the story. This was quite probably my favourite book so far by this author. Top stuff combining all the things I like in a story - chills, thrills and a good old-fashioned mystery.

And then that ending ... Just desserts? Quite possibly but not what I was expecting. Bravo sir.

Fantastic book. Real fan of Mark Edwards and this book didn’t disappoint. In depth character development and full of twists

NOTE TO PUBLISHER I am part of the blog tour for this book so will publish my review on my blog on 9th May as part of the tour - here is what I've written ....

I’ve been lucky enough to be one of the very first to read his new book and I’m delighted to report it’s as excellent as his previous work which include his debut The Magpies and the terrifying Follow you Home.
My Review
In his latest psychological thriller Mark draws on his experience as a writer and bases his newest work around a writers retreat in Wales. A book with a small group of authors as many of its main characters makes the keen reader feel instantly at home and that’s how author Lucas feels when he arrives at the writers retreat run by Julia but his peace of mind is soon to be shattered by a plethora of inexplicable and spooky occurrences. As an established horror writer Lucas should be used to strange goings on but a recent tragedy, the death of his girlfriend have left him shaken and mistrustful.
Perhaps this is why he feels drawn to Julia, owner of the old country house she has recently opened the doors of to a host of writers. She too knows the pain of loss, she has never come to terms with the deaths of both her husband and her only daughter Lily. Despite the 2 years have passed since the dreadful accident which took them both from her she is unable to accept that Lily is actually dead, especially since her body was never retrieved from the swollen river which swept her away and in which her father drowned trying to save his daughter.
Rural Wales is brimful of legends and myths which should provide the ideal inspiration for Lucas’ writing be he struggles to find the right words, his writing muse has fled. So he immerses himself in local life and listening to the scary legends which include the Red Widow who steals young children and consumes them.
Hi fellow writers turn out to be a disparate bunch with whom he has less in common than at first he hoped, and he soon becomes enamoured with the beautiful Julia and takes it upon himself to try and help her by secretly investigating the mystery which remains around her lost daughter. With the help of a young private eye he sets out to find what really happened to Lily, hoping to provide closure for Julia, but he opens up a whole can of nasty wriggling worms that twine ever more tightly around him and he ends up making matters between them worse and even putting his own life at risk.
Local residents are deeply superstitious and secretive and he realises more is being concealed than revealed as he doggedly battles on to uncover the mystery around Lilys disappearance and that 35 years earlier of another pre pubescent girl.
It would seem that nobody can be trusted. Nobody is telling the whole truth and it appears that local legends which indicate something supernatural going on seem to have some foundation after all. Despite his sceptiscism, after all as a horror writer he knows things that go bump in the night are firmly made up just to scare people. But when the truth is finally uncovered its far more terrifying than anything he could have dreamt up.

I’ve only read one other Mark Edwards book so I was intrigued enough to give this one a go. Unfortunately though, I didn’t gel with it. Missing child books have been around a lot lately, and I just didn’t get on with this one. Yes, in parts it was atmospheric, and I like Mark’s writing style, but I wasn’t gripped by the plot unfortunately. Fans of the psych chiller genre will love this one, but it wasn’t for me!