Cover Image: Schoolgirl Missing

Schoolgirl Missing

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Member Reviews

This is a fast paced thriller with two strong lead characters.
The story had plenty of twists and turns to keep you gripped from start to finish.
The main characters were not the warmest or most relatable, and at times they were frustrating as hell, but as the story unfolds you learn how their pasts have shaped their present lives.
There are plenty of secrets, lies and suspicions to keep you guessing right til the end.
An enjoyable read for twisted thriller fans.

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This book is about a 14 year old girl who has special needs that disappears from her fathers boat overnight, and as one would expect, her parents are distraught looking for her. There is secretes, lies, and deception. The characters were not likeable or believable. I was expecting more mystery and while the beginning of the book was very captivating, the middle to the end fell flat.

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This is one of those books that is too slow paced to really dig your heels into, at first, but when it finally picks up, it becomes amazing. I thought it had a good premise, with lots of tension and secrets, which kept you on the edge. If the beginning was a bit more fast paced, I would have given 5 stars!
Will use in a challenge and let the members of chapter chatter pub know about its release!

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Husband and wife, neither of whom are honest or likeable, which means I had no idea where this story was going. Plus, going forward after the end of this story I can't see them living happily ever after. Quite a compelling read to the extent I finished it in one day.

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Thank you for the opportunity to read this book and I did enjoy it it was right up my street. My type of read couldn't put it down it won't disappoint

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I really enjoyed this book once I got into it, bit of a slow burner but then I flew through it always guessing, never right. Great twists and turns.

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Publisher’s description: “When fourteen-year-old Poppy vanishes on a family boating trip, suspicion soon turns close to home – to the two people who should do everything to keep her safe, her parents, Kit and Neve. Neve has a secret. Kit is lying. Everyone is watching. Who do you believe?”

I have read and liked several books by Sue Fortin, and “Schoolgirl Missing” keeps that streak going. The characters are well-developed, although the only one who was at all likeable was Poppy. This book is less about Poppy going missing (it was only a few days) and more about the secrets everyone is keeping.

Overall, Neve has made some very poor decisions in her past, but her current life with her husband Kit and Poppy, who Neve adopted when she and Kit married, seems great except for one thing. Neve would like a biological child of her own, and Kit is dead-set against it. Neve’s obsession leads to additional poor decisions as a result.

I thought the book took a while to get to the schoolgirl missing part, and the ending was a little too convoluted for my liking. That said, one of this author’s strengths is her ability to guide you in one direction, and just when you think you have it figured out, she makes you realize that you were completely wrong. I won’t give anything away because that wouldn’t be fair.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

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I have read a few of Sue Fortin's books and found them to be quite good.Schoolgirl Missing is no different,Kit and Neve are married and Neve desperately yearns for a baby but Kit is happy to just have Poppy his daughter from a previous marriage,Neve has had a traumatic past which comes back to haunt her when Poppy goes missing from a family boating trip.The story is a little far fetched but at the end of the day it is fiction and it races along at a good pace and the ending is a bit predictable but i would recommend this book.A solid 4 star read.

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Neve is married to Kit, who lost his ex-wife during childbirth, and has always wanted a child of her own, which her husband is not on board with. Their daughter Poppy is special needs and disappears from a boat trip one weekend. What happens next is a wildly unbelievable bunch of twists and turns in the hunt to find out who is responsible for Poppy's disappearance.

This book was ok. I was intrigued during the first half of the book due to the intense story building but the second half was absolutely bonkers. The characters are largely unlikable and unrelatable and all have insane back stories. I didn't hate this book but I didn't really like it either.

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I wanted to like this book, but I just found all the characters so unlikeable. Because of this, I didn't really care what they did or what happened to them. The whole story was convoluted. Parts read like a romance novel, which I don't prefer. Overall confusing. Not terrible, just not for me.

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SCHOOLGIRL MISSING is an engrossing, psychological thriller set in Ambleton, a lovely quiet village with a river running through it.

What’s really likeable about it straight-away are the opening chapters that draw you into the main characters, Neve and Kit Masters and their daughter, Poppy. Neve is impulsive and unreliable. She was someone who I could empathise with, but she also had me losing patience with her. Kit had a deep-rooted fear of loss as a result of previous life experiences which I could fully understand.

Because Poppy is Kit's daughter and not Neve's, she cannot hide her all-consuming need to have a child of her own. Kit, however, doesn't share her desire which has put a strain on their relationship, and when Poppy vanishes, the cracks begin to deepen. Would either Neve or Kit harm Poppy to achieve their own aims? Are those around them completely as they seem?

One of the highlights of the book was following the many twists and turns of the plot and I absolutely loved the way in which this story developed. Both the plot and character development are excellent, and the story is captivating and engaging. I found that I was regularly pondering where the story was going to next.

This was an interesting novel particularly for the interplay of the different secondary characters as well as the primary ones- a handsome suitor, a supportive best friend, an unpleasant ex-husband, and a dodgy past acquaintance, to name but a few. I thought that all of the characters were very cleverly written - resulting in my constant changes of opinion about whether or not I trusted them. 

I loved Sue Fortin’s writing style which I found to be so vivid and very easy to read. She portrayed the characters’ feelings incredibly well as the story unfolded and Neve's past was particularly well told.
SCHOOLGIRL MISSING is a story full of secrets, suspicion and lies that held my interest from start to finish and the way in which Sue Fortin brought everything to a conclusion was just fabulous. I loved it and it has left me eager to read more from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley, HarperCollins and Sue Fortin for a free ARC of this book in exchange for a voluntary, honest review.

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Thanks to Net galley for the opportunity to read and review this book. First the good, the story line was pretty good, the characters were well developed and relatable, the book was relatively fast paced and easy to read and stay interested in.The ending was actually great and played out in a pretty unique way. I would have given this book 4 stars but i found the beginning a little choppy, the storyline bounced around and didnt flow really well. It seemed like it took the author a bit to find where she wanted the story to go, at first i wasnt even sure who was telling what story, or even who the main character was. The story then proceeds with the missing child and it starts to feel like this is the story, but alas it is not in fact about a "schoolgirl missing" that is just a small side story in what is actually the main undercurrent. So while it took this book a while for this book to get on some sure footing where you kind of have a real story to get invested in, the last half of the book was really solid and well done.

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I found it hard to like the main characters in this book, but I felt the same way about the characters in The Birthday Girl. Alot of it was far fetched and although I completed it, I found myself not entirely caring for the ending. Could’ve been better

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A fab and creepy read that kept me gripped from the first chapter. Strong characters and a excellent storyline.

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Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have found this book a hard one to rate in the end I would give 3.5stars, I loved some bits and really hated others. Was I enthralled by this book? Yes it kept me entertained and I just wanted to see what happened next. However, did I like any of the characters? No I didn't, I started off the book liking and even feeling sorry for Neve; all she wanted was a biological child and Kit seemed very controlling and unwilling to even speak about this after the tragedy of losing his wife in childbirth 14years earlier. Poppy, Kit daughter is now 14 but has some brain damage due to oxygen starvation at birth but Neve has adopted her and loves her as if she was her own.When Poppy goes missing on an overnight boating trip we start to learn more about the characters. It's clear all the characters are hiding things, none are entirely nice or honest people.

I did like the twists and turns that Sue played out they were very enjoyable to read. Do I think the book was realistic? No I really don't think the police are that incompetent and framing a dead man was a really unrealistic low point I don't think Kit or Neve would really have been able to get away with it neither did they deserve to live happily ever after. That being said as an escapism thriller it was fab and I will read more by Sue Fortin.

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With thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the book in exchange for an honest review.
Schoolgirl Missing is a very elaborate psychological thriller based on lies and deception., but whose? Is it Neve, Kit or Lee? Or is it all three? What about Jake, is he involved? The main characters are not very pleasant characters and it is hard to have sympathy or emphasise with any of them.
Recommended.

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Schoolgirl Missing # NetGalley
Sue Fortin

If you want to read a book that will keep you guessing until the end, then this book is for you. This was my first Sue Fortin book to read so I was totally unprepared for all the twists and turns she uses in her books. I must say that I didn’t particularly like the main characters. They come off a bit cold and I could not get invested in their daily lives. You will want to read it through to the end to tie up all the subplots and it does all come together, but it was not a very satisfactory ending. I did enjoy this book enough that I will look up some of the author’s other books that she has written.
3 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy read of this book.

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Many thanks to Harper Collins and Sue Fortune for the opportunity to read and review this book. Schoolgirl Missing was just brilliant. I started it yesterday and finished in less than 24 hours. I simply could not put it down. This book is not just your average missing person book. Made up of secrets, lies and mysteries the characters are likeable yet untrustworthy at the same time. The story revolves around married couple Kit and Neve and their daughter Poppy who goes missing one night. Please read...amazing book

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I am a great fan of Sue Fortin, and have loved all her books to date. This always builds a great expectation every time I pick one of her new books up. I could not wait to read it. And I wasn’t disappointed. What a cracking read! 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳

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The title of this book could simply be a, not uncommon, heading in a Newspaper. Poppy is a 14 year old with special needs who disappears overnight whilst she, her father, Kit ,and her stepmother, Neve, are asleep om their boat. No evidence of an abduction nor reasons for Poppy to run away apparent. Not unusually, suspicion falls on the parents but why and how? All is not well between them. Neve desperately wants a child of her own whilst Kit is adamantly against the idea; a view that has not weakened despite Neve's pressure. Poppy's disappearance adds to the strain. But neither's behaviour helps. Kit retains residual grief from his first wife's death in child birth and he lies whilst Neve has a past which she wont share with him. Can the marriage survive this and what about Poppy? Life can never be the same again and something has to give. But what?.
The author neatly introduces snippets about Kit and Neve's background and behaviour which help the reader to imagine what is going on between them. But I found some twists a little far fetched leaving me no particularly liking or sympathy for any of the main or side characters expect Poppy, the innocent throughout.
I was torn between a 3 and 4 star rating for this book but finally concluded with a personal '3' because it did not leave me clamouring to read other books by the author

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