This is a really good story with a lot of twists. Some of the characters were really interesting and others were hateful. I was totally surprised by the ending and thought that the story was really well written.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

The Night You Left, Emma Curtis

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: Mystery and Thrillers, Women's Fiction

Moan: women's fiction – why alienate potential readers? Men write books enjoyed by women and men alike, and they read the same.
I was on the fence about this, I love books about missing people, makes me wonder what happened, why, what were they thinking etc but there were a few reviews that made it sound not my kind of read. Still, took the plunge and really enjoyed it.
Unusually for me the majority of the people in this were irredeemably awful, and usually I need to like the majority, though enjoy a few bad to the bone folk. The only one's I liked ( apart from Lottie and Kai) were Nick and Grace.
The book flits from past to present, at varying times and occasionally I needed to backtrack to see just what time we were in. I felt for Nick as a teen, his parents even then were self obsessed. Taisie, typical kid in her actions and if any of the parenst had looked beyond what she wanted them to see they'd have put a stop to things. Fact is none of the parents were really bothered what the kids did so long as it didn't interfere with their fun. Pretty rough, and of course had some terrible consequences, not just immediate but long term.
Where the story fell down for me was the timing, with everything from years back coming together over just a few days. there's a saying that truth is stranger than fiction, so to a degree I can deal with what seems like just too much co-incidence but in this book there really was a bit more than I could believe in. Still, I wanted to see what happened to Nick, couldn't believe he'd just walked out but that's what it looked like and I wanted to know why, and if not, what had happened. Its actually something that happens very often in real life, people do just walk out, start another life, but I didn't feel Nick would do that. He seemed to adore Grace and Lottie, and even when Grace began to find out the secrets he hid I still don't feel he'd just walk out. As things come to a head more and more long held secrets come to light, bringing in some very real dangers.
Its a nicely paced story, letting things come to light slowly, and though I'd guessed some of the things that happened, there were others that came as a real surprise.

Stars: Four, a story that had me reading “just a bit more” needing to know what happened. I do feel some events stretched credulity too far and that's what stopped the five rating.

Arc via Netgalley and publishers

This was a good story, and well-written, but I am getting quite bored with books about people who are hiding a secret from their past, which inevitably comes back to haunt them. I have started suspecting all my friends of having dark secrets in their early lives, and I know it is only a matter of time before someone moves into the house next door, to expose my past life. Seriously, this is an entertaining book to read on holiday, but it's very forgettable.

A really good read. Very gripping and with some very good twists and turns. I think it was fairly easy to guess from the beginning who was who - but still the ending was surprising. It was well written and I read it from start to finish in one go.

When I started reading this book I have to confess I thought I wouldn’t finish it. It flips timelines and I’m not a great lover of that. But...... It very quickly became apparent that it was not complicated - there were 2 basic timelines (I had thought the ‘3 months earlier, 2 weeks earlier’ etc would be tricky to keep track of!) and the same characters throughout.

Very quickly I became absorbed in the book and kept picking it up. Short ‘chapters’ meant I could dip in and out between cooking, School pick up, etc. Ideal for me.

In the end I realised I was in the ‘just one more...’ stage. And i Love that!! I had originally thought it was obvious what had happened but there were some great twists and turns.

I’m really glad I chose this book as it wasn’t something I would normally read but I really enjoyed it.

Gripping!! I was totally engrossed right from the start and loved all the different twists and turns! Definitely recommend!

I really enjoyed this domestic thriller, it had plenty of twists and turns and threads to keep you gripped right until the very end.

Really enjoyed it there was so many twists and turns it kept you wanting to read more, the characters were very likeable until you found out they were not who you thought they were didn’t like Douglas at all he was so arrogant and thought he knew better than anyone else, Gracie was lovely and didn’t deserve what happened to her, the ending was brilliant I would never have guessed what was going to happen definitely recommend this book.

The Night you Left by Emma Curtis. This was a great story. Lots of twists and reveals. Lots of suspicions and with great characterisation. There’s everything from Mean Girls to The Monster in Law in this, alongside disturbing charmers (if I say more I’ll be into spoilers) Take this book to a sunny deck or the beach, you’ll be loath to put it down

An interesting book with, complicated relationships between several characters.
When Nick goes missing Grace, his partner is devastated. The police become involved and they investigate his disappearance which brings to light the death of a young girl Izzy 18 years previously.
There are many strands to the story with characters from Nick’s past life now involved.
There are lots of twists and turns as well as red herrings to keep the reader interested and excited to find out what happened in the past and to Nick.
Undercurrents of child abuse, fraud and bullying are difficult topics to deal with but are well handled.
I enjoyed the book and would recommend it- definitely kept me hooked to the exciting finale.

My thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for the ARC.
I rather enjoyed this book, well-written with good dialogue, and some not-so-nice characters which I really loved to hate.
Grace and her boyfriend Nick, together with Grace's daughter Lottie, from a first marriage, live a comfortable life in a beautiful house in the London suburbs. Grace works with a property developer; Nick is in investment banking. Grace has a small circle of friends, mostly mothers from Lottie's school, and they all share a fitness App on their phones for tracking each others' number of steps they take each day. One Friday evening Nick goes to the local shop for milk and through habit Grace looks at the App and realises his walking has stopped for a short while. The next day whilst walking the dog on the Common Nick shares with Grace his dissatisfaction with his job, and asks her to marry him. That night he leaves the house for a walk to clear his head - and doesn't return.
The story is told via Grace a few days before, on the actual day, and subsequently in the present with Nick's disappearance.
Eighteen years previously Nick and Taisie - on holiday in Devon with friends of their families, tell their stories of that holiday, with teenage rivalries and jealousies, and one which ended in tragedy.
Grace has her own tragic secret which she's never told Nick, and gradually Nick and Taisie's secrets are revealed - all coming together around Nick's disappearance.
We have blackmail, a banking fraud investigation, of course a missing boyfriend, a Detective Marsh who doesn't seem at all keen on pursuing a missing person enquiry, and Grace, who starts to piece things together back to Nick's holiday in Devon.
Nick's parents, Cora and Tim, are nasty pieces of work when it comes to inheritance rules, as well as Tim having his own nasty little secret. Grace's ex-husband Douglas is manipulative and scheming, but adores Lottie.
This was an intriguing and complex read but, although the ending was satisfactory in terms of explanations, I felt it was rather 'rushed' - a flurry of activity preceded by a slow-burn of investigative drama. Clever plot though.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House UK for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

Just after Grace’s boyfriend, Nick, asks her to May him, he disappears without a trace. The story alternates among present day, just before Nick went missing and Nick’s teenage years.

This book was fine, decent mystery, reasonable amount of characters, but it was nothing ground breaking. I liked it well enough but have read more compelling domestic thrillers lately. It is fairly short so worth reading.

The palimsestic nature of past and present craft an intriguing tale, of love, desperation and deceit. The lengths one will go to for those who they are are fully exasperated in this thrilling novel. An excellent read, and page turner. A must have for the end of the summer.

This book starts off slowly and at first I wasn’t overly keen but persevere and keep with it as the pace picks up part way through the book. Grace’s fiancé Nick proposes marriage, he then disappears. The story moves between the past, Nick’s troubled teenage years after a holiday with friends and their parents in a large house in Devon, which goes horribly wrong, the the present and his life with Grace. They each have their own secrets. The past collides with the present and is full of surprises for both Nick and Grace as Nick’s past is laid bare. The book has a satisfying ending, one I didn’t expect. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC

I read this book in one sitting ... I could not put it down. A very thrilling read. Five stars, highly recommended.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Emma Curtis for the copy of this book. I agreed to give my unbiased opinion voluntarily.

What a confusing story. Tissues of lies, hidden agendas, truth being distorted et al....
Nick has just proposed to Anna, but disappears the next day. The police don't seem overly interested...we understand why later. Anna's ex husband Douglas, father of her daughter Lottie, is one of the nastiest characters I have ever read. Nick's parents are unbelievably awful and I found it hard to relate to tham as real people.
It wasn't a happy book
But thank you for a review copy.

Grace's fiancé vanishes the night after he proposed. As Grace searches for answers, she finds that Nick wasn't the uncomplicated mans he thought she knew. She uncovers a hidden tragedy from his childhood.

The story starts off very slowly but stick with it as its pace does get quicker. There are plenty of twists with people hiding secrets and betrayals. I couldn't wait to find out what had happened to Nick so I devoured this book in one sitting. Once you get into the story the tension builds. The characters feel true to life but which ones can you trust? A decent read.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Random House UK, Transworld Publishers and the author Emma Curtis for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'm becoming quite exasperated with this kind of book. Do people never tell the truth any more? Once again we have a protagonist who is hiding something from her partner. Once again we have a partner who has been economical with the truth. And once again we have characters who don't trust one another. It's a trope that I could live without, frankly.

Grace should be super excited. The man she loves, Nick, has just proposed and she ought to be over the moon. But Nick has gone out, claiming he has a headache and instead she is musing over an App which counts steps and watching as Nick stops walking at the same time as an acquaintance Anna. Have they met up? Are they having an affair? When he doesn't come home her suspicions increase but not enough to divulge this to the police who of course, don't take her seriously anyway. Over the coming weeks she has to deal with possible loss, the grief of her daughter Lottie and the interference of her horrible ex, Douglas. And as for Nick's parents...

The story is a dual time frame, going back in the past to the viewpoint of Taisie a 15 year old girl on holiday in Devon. She is furious with Nick (yes the same one) who has kissed her friend and turns everyone against him, ultimately with tragic consequences which reach into the future.

This is a confused and confusing story. As well as the dual time frame there is a subplot to do with fraud which is full of holes. The characters are pretty much all horrible except for Nick and one or two of Grace's friends. Anna, Taisie, Douglas and Nick's parents are all dreadfully flawed with virtually no redeeming features and Grace herself is not particularly likeable.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC.

When Grace’s fiancé vanishes without a trace the night after proposing, her life is turned upside down. But has Nick walked out on her, or is he in danger? As Grace desperately searches for answers, it soon becomes clear that Nick wasn’t the uncomplicated man she thought she knew. When she uncovers a hidden tragedy from his childhood, she realises an awful truth: that you can run from your past – but your secrets will always catch up with you.

This felt like a thriller, mystery read with a difference. We do not have a high-intensity plot with constant plot changes and twists that keep the energy up. Instead, Curtis has written a book that shows the human side of a loved one disappearing. A large portion of this book is very much focused on Grace and how she manages in her life after Nick's disappearance and how she continues for the sake of her daughter. I liked this aspect of the book as it meant the book felt fresh.

Despite this, the book does suffer from a lack of twists, turns and excitement, this does desperately need an injection of adrenaline into it to really get the plot going. The book is too long for what Curtis does with the plot so it does lose its way. In a way, Curtis tries to do two quite different things with this book and perhaps it would have been better to lessen this.

The characters are good, I particularly liked Grace which made it easier to follow her as she hunts for Nick. The others are there because they are required for the plot and I had no strong feelings about them.

'The Night You Left' is a haunting thriller that portrays what happens when someone vanishes. Curtis does also have a hunt for Nick but this is where the plot suffers due to a lack of excitement and tension.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK for an advance copy.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a tad far fetched but all the same I couldn't wait to get up to bed to read it!