Interesting concept and a quick read. Overall I found the characters likable and enjoyed this book. 3/5 for me.

This is an enthralling, unputdownable psychological thriller and a great read.

Six years ago, six year old Daniel wasn't at school when his Mum, Megan, went to collect him. He had supposedly been picked up by his father. Megan had divorced her abusive husband after years of being controlled by him and now he won't answer his phone. Now she has a phone call to say that Daniel has been found. Her twelve year old son is returned to her but so much has changed in the six years apart and Daniel won't tell her what happened to him . . . 

This is a moving story told from both points of view but also sharing what happened in the past as well as the present. As Daniel moves in with his Mum again, she has remarried and he now also has a baby sister. Daniel is reticent to share anything about the intervening years. The struggle they have to reconnect is shared in heartbreaking detail as she strives to get him to trust her again. The story is a page turner with great characters and, although some of it is predictable, there are also some surprising twists to keep you guessing and the Epilogue is a fantastic ending.

I requested and was gifted a copy of this book via NetGalley and this is my honest review after choosing to read it.

This was a page-turning thriller. A mother's worst nightmare. Her divorced husband kidnaps her 6-year old son for six years. After suffering years of abuse during their marriage, her husband punishes her for divorcing him by kidnapping their son. After six years of searching for him, Megan has finally started living again. She has married the detective in charge of finding her son and they have just had a baby. Then her son turns up, but he is not the son who was taken 6 years ago. Her husband has spent six years turning their son against her, feeding him lies so that he too hates Megan. A good story with some predictable twists.

3.5★
“Greg could be charming and convincing when he wanted to be. Megan knew that better than anyone. She had found herself easily persuaded out of her own opinions and thoughts for years.”

[My notes don't include any spoilers, as the promotional material for the book clearly describes the situations I've alluded to.]

Megan had been charmed into marrying him and then convinced to stay for several years, in spite of increased misgivings. She adores her little boy, Daniel, and the two are very close. But Daniel also loves his dad, which makes it especially hard to consider a break-up.

But when push comes to shove, literally, she calls it quits. Greg moves out and sees Daniel on alternate weekends, saying he’s too busy with work to manage anything more. He seems desperate to win her back, to bring her back under his control, to make them a family. He swears he is devoted to her and only her.

She was never good enough for his parents, however, who still live in England. His mother writes to Megan, begging that she allow Daniel to continue to visit them from Australia and not punish them with the split.

Then the unthinkable. One day after school, Daniel is not at the gate and she’s told his father picked him up. The book then moves back and forth between the early days of their marriage to six years later, when Daniel is located, and then occasionally flashes back to Daniel living with his father in Australia or elsewhere.

I enjoyed this particular passage. Anyone who’s ever hurried a schoolboy to get ready will recognise a kid like this.

“In the living room, six-year-old Daniel is dressed in his sports pants. Bare-chested, his ribs protrude, fighting with his collarbones for angles in almost comical opposition to his chubby cheeks.”

There’s something heart-achingly endearing about the angles and elbows and ‘wings’ on active little boys. That’s how she remembers Daniel, so six years later, at 12, she realises she’s missed the transformation.

Megan has survived the six intervening years with the help of her parents, family, friends, and particularly from a couple of Facebook friends she’s made through the blog she writes about missing Daniel. They share stories and commiserate about their lost kids. She also leans on the detective who never gave up looking for Daniel.

“‘Okay,’ agrees Megan, unable to comprehend the practicalities. This is one of the things she has come to rely on Michael for: his ability to bullet point any situation so that it can be managed. She will follow his instructions because she can’t think for herself right now.”

She is often reduced to sobbing and running, but not so often that it interferes with the flow of the story, if I can put it that way. We know how awful it is, but the story keeps moving along, pulling readers with it.

I realised fairly early most of what had happened, but I enjoyed it and I’m sure the author will gain a lot of new fans with this one.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for the preview copy from which I've quoted.

Megan has lived her worst nightmare - her son Daniel was abducted by her abusive ex-husband Greg when he was just 6 years old. But now, with a new baby and a new life, Megan hears the words she's longed to hear for the past 6 years, "They found Daniel". Overjoyed to be reunited with her son, she finds the 12-year-old Daniel cold, distant and withdrawn. Can Megan break through to her beloved son to find out the truth and help him heal?
The story shifts between past and present, from both Megan and Daniel's perspective, which I enjoyed. One of my favorite movies is "The Deep End of the Ocean" which is a similar premise to this book and what drew me in. I liked to book but the ending fell a bit flat for me. Overall, a good read!
Thanks to Nicole Trope, Bookouture and NetGalley for the ARC of this book!

Megan,s ex-husband, Greg took their son Daniel from school and disappeared. Megan has never stopped searching and wondering if he is ok and what he is doing.
Now 6 years later she has remarried and has a daughter Evie and receives the phone call she has been dreaming for. They have found him. She finally has her son back but he is not the happy little boy she lost. What has Greg done to him? What nightmares has he been put through and what lies has he been told?
This was great read that I didn't want to put down.
Throughly recommend and will be looking for more from this author!

Not at all a bad read, but I found I had to keep picking it and putting it down and reading it in small doses. A sad tale of a mother facing her worst nightmare. The loss of a child, made only worse by the fact that she knows exactly who took him.

I am no longer interested in the content of this book. So, I'm DNF'ing this book for now. I may circle back around to this book one day.

The Boy in the Photo by Nicole Trope is a thriller that is full of some feels. Megan's son, Daniel, is kidnapped by her abusive ex-husband. She always keeps hope alive, but she also goes through the process of mourning the loss. Six years pass, and Megan's life goes on, including a marriage to one of the detective's who worked on her son's case and the birth of a daughter. Then, she gets the call she always hoped for - Her son is alive. Daniel comes back to her new home, but it is far from an easy transition. Daniel is not the same kind, sweet boy that Megan knew and loved. Megan and her family do what they can to make Daniel feel at home, but it's challenging. Throughout the story looks back at how Megan navigated the disappearance of her son, as well as how she is coping in the present with this new version of Daniel. And then, y'all, here was a twist that I did not see coming at all, and that is what made it so very great. Again, this is heavy given the unhealthy relationship that begins the story, as well as how the return goes, and the twist plays a role in that feeling, too, but this is a powerful story of a family working to rebuild and define an unexpected now normal. Thanks to NetGalley for the access to this thriller.

What a page turner. This book was so sad but so happy all at the same time. How intriguing it was too. I loved it

The story of a boy who goes missing at the age of 6 as he is taken by his father....and then returns. A gripping novel with twists and turns and kept me guessing!

THE BOY IN THE PHOTO
BY NICOLE TROPE

I had no idea that this remarkable novel written by Australian Author Nicole Trope would be so heartbreaking and drop my stomach to the floor while reading it. While I understand that divorce can be brutal, nothing could prepare me that an ex husband who is the father of your child could do something so heinous as to abduct your six year old impressionable boy from his own mother. An only child Daniel is not at school when Megan goes to pick him up. She is informed by the teacher that her cruel ex husband has already picked him up without prior notice and not authorized in the parenting plan and custody agreement.

Megan has contacted her family members and is certain that Greg has taken Daniel to England where his parents reside.

SIX YEARS LATER

Megan has remarried to Michael who was the detective who investigated Daniel who is a missing six year old child., While she is feeding their daughter Evie Megan receives a shocking telephone call saying Daniel has been found. Daniel has walked ten kilometers into a remote police station two hours away and announced who he is. The police station in Sydney was notified and Michael is calling to give her the news. Megan hurriedly arrives to pick up Daniel but it is not the happy reunion she was hoping for. Daniel is cold and distant, no longer the sweet and affectionate boy she remembered. Daniel is grief stricken by the loss of his deceased father who burned up in the shack they inhabited. But Megan fears for the life of herself and the lives of her family because there are things that Daniel is saying that doesn't add up.

As Megan wants to pick up her old life with Daniel where they left off and hug him and smother him with kisses she realizes that the twelve year old boy in front of her is cold and distant. She knows that she needs to give him time and space but he is repeating to her the steady diet of lies and abuse his father has fed him. He accuses Megan of not wanting him and deserting him all fed to him by his dad in an effort to hurt Megan and alienate Daniel from his mother.

Nicole Trope is a talented enough and skillful writer to pull us into the story feeling all of the emotions of pain and loss and agony. How desperate Megan is to reconnect and reach Daniel so he knows and understands that even though she has started to rebuild her life she never stopped thinking about Daniel. Never stopped missing him and feeling like she carried a huge hole in her heart during the six years he was missing.

Even though this novel was hard to read, it is different and distinct and I appreciated that it was so unlike so many other novels written today about abducted children. The homecoming is emotional in evoking all of the pain of missing the many milestones in your child's life that you never get back. Loss on such a deep visceral level a mother never recovers from but can only hope that you and your child will never suffer that loss ever again and hope that you both will one day reach that place of trust that nothing so horrendous will never happen again. I plan on reading all of Nicole Trope's novels as this is the first one that I have read from her body of work. Highly recommended!!

Thank you to Net Galley, Nicole Trope and Bookouture for providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Heart wrenching, gripping, intense, made me hug my babies kind of book. When Megan's son was abducted from school, my hear dropped because I could not imagine losing my kids. Megan was abused by her ex husband, and fear took over her when she learned he had picked up her son from school and vanished. She gets a phone call 6 years later informing her that they found her son. In shock, Megan had recently married the Detective assigned to her case. This book is written from their point of views and what came of after finding Daniel.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I could not put it down until I had answers. I can not wait to see what author Nicole Trope comes out with next

I was given an ARC from NetGalley in return for my honest review.

A mother’s worst nightmare, losing a child but Daniel is found! He’s just not the boy he used to be. It was a gripping read and I couldn’t put it down. It’s a very heartbreaking story and I felt so awful for this mother and Daniel. I was on the edge of my seat throughout and was shocked by the ending!

Man, this book gave me ALL the feels. I cannot imagine what it must have been like to lose a child when you haven't actually lost a child. Six years ago, Megan's ex husband picked their son up from school and never returned. After years of searching, years of chasing clues that ran cold, Megan has to come to terms with the fact that her child was lost. And, worse, he was lost to the man that she thought she had loved. I was so filled with rage for so many aspects of this book - I was mad at the injustice, the lies, the deceit. I cannot imagine having to come to terms with the fact that while you know your son is alive, you will never find him; until, one day, you do. He's disheveled and scared and a bit feral, but he's alive. And, he's alone. Where is his father and what's been happening to Daniel all of these years?

This book made me think and feel and yell. I really enjoyed the ride.

This is the first nicole Trope book I have read, but it certainly won't be the last.
I'm not ashamed to say that I cried many times while reading this book.
I felt every emotion as it was written, the fear, pain, suspense, heartbreak, anxiety and feeling of foreboding .
This is an incredibly well written book and I can't praise it enough.

Nicole has not just written of her own fears, but that of anyone who has ever had a child.
From the minute you become a parent one of the leading fears is losing that child.
She covers those fears so incredibly well, along with those that come from divorce, failed relationships and the impact or all family attached .

One of the best books I have read in some time.

Boy this was an emotional read. Very thought provoking. Set in Australia made it even more personal for me. I loved the twists and turns and the emotional connections. This is the first book I have read by this author and I look forward to reading more.

Abducted children who return home years later has become something of a trope (no pun intended) in suspense fiction. THE BOY IN THE PHOTO twists this plot in a new and interesting way - it was not a stranger abduction, but the boy's own father who took him. It is heartbreaking to read of the lies the boy's father told him and makes one wonder how easily one's own child could come to believe lies about those nearest and dearest. Good story, interesting characters, twisty plot - can't go wrong.

I received a free e-copy of The Boy in the Photo by Nicole Trope from NetGalley for my honest review.

Daniel was abducted at age 6. He is later reunited with his Mom. Megan, but he is not the little boy she remembered. The truth is he absolutely scares her.

An emotional, heat-breaking read.

A fast paced and heartbreaking thriller that kept me turning the pages! Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an advanced reading copy.