This appealed to me because it was something a bit different. I love mystery and suspense, but if I read one more book about a husband/wife trying to deceive the other I'm going to scream.

I thought the writing style was good. I could feel the creepy atmosphere as I was reading this.

I thought it was suspenseful. I really wanted to know what happened to the missing people. I wanted to know how the wife was tied in. I was drawn in.

I really enjoyed this book, and would like to thank the publisher and #netgalley for an advanced copy. This did not effect my review.

“Now You See Me” is an intense, claustrophobic thriller about 6 friends who enter a tourist canal ride, and only 1 returns. The story, told through the eyes of an author who is struggling with the disappearance of his wife, takes off when the author is contacted by the surviving friend, who has been arrested for the murder of his friends. The author does a great job of making you feel like you’re inside that canal, and the attention to detail makes the story all the more haunting. It’s a good thriller and a quick read.
I received an ARC of this book from the publisher through @NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The blurb makes this sound like the perfect mystery Disappearance that by rights could not have happened, along the lines of a popular Agatha Christie novel. The writing is good but the chapters are confusing, the plot is interesting in the first half but when the solution is revealed I felt it was just implausible. . And rather a letdown. I really wanted to enjoy this more then I did. First half was great, second half, not so much..

I was definitely "glued to the page " with this rampantly suspenseful English mystery. Who doesn't love Locked Room Mysteries, or some variation? This one is outdoors, in a Canal Tunnel, and what seems the sheer impossibility boggles the mind and inspires the brain to work diligently at deciphering the puzzle, even questioning whether a sort of Lovecraftian Portal was involved.


Six plus a terrier enter the Tunnel; one unconscious plus s terrier exit. No other way out, no drowned corpses, no evidence, no clues.

Thank you to NetGalley for a Kindle ARC of Now You See Me.

I've never read a book by this author before so I went into this with an open mind; also, the blurb sounded intriguing.

Robin Ferringham is an author still reeling over the disappearance of his beloved wife, Samantha, from three years ago.

During a book signing, he receives a strange call from a young man named Matthew, professing to know his wife and that he was told to call him in case he ever found himself in trouble. Matthew is in trouble.

He is the lone survivor of a boat trip that resulted in the disappearance of his five school friends. He's in prison and awaiting trial. And he thinks Robin can help him.

The story was intriguing, at first, but some things made no sense:

1. I don't know what UK laws are like but there's no way Matthew would have been arrested for the murders of his friends. No bodies, no evidence.

2. Robin travels to a typical small town where narrow mindedness and prejudices rule. People are so keen to follow whoever is more powerful, so everyone naturally turns against Matthew, because the father of one of the missing people is a police officer.

3. When Sally reveals her real name, all I said was "So?" Are we supposed to know who this is.

4. I had a difficult time connecting to any of the characters, especially Robin and Matthew. Robin came off as a sad sack and Matthew was a doormat who his friends took advantage of.

5. The recap of the past toward the end became tedious as the author explained the events of what led to the disappearances and Robin and Sam's involvement.

I did like how Sam and Matthew was connected and how her disappearance was resolved.

Overall, the writing wasn't bad and I wished I had liked the characters, or, at least, one of them.

I may check out the author's next book.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

MANY SPOILERS

Well... where to start? The whole thing read as if it were set in an alternate reality, where there were different norms (town sheep for example).

1. There seemed to me to be no way Matthew would ever have been charged with five counts of murder. Apart from anything else there were no bodies.

2. I don't believe the whole town (other than Sally) would have turned on Matthew, and nor would they have been able to stifle news coverage. It would have been an international story, not just a local one.

3. The author seemed to be confusing the role of the prison service and that of the police force, as well as the distinctions between being arrested, being charged, being on remand, being bailed etc etc.

4. Surely the families of the missing teenagers would have been seeking for proper answers and bodies to bury, not just going along with the Claypath line.

In general the whole plot was preposterous, and not in a good way. Robin was very thinly characterized, and Sam was barely present for the reader to care much about her.

I admit I skimmed the second half, but should the name Rhona Michel (Sally's real name) mean anything to the reader?

6 friends go into a tunnel along a canal and only 1 comes out. Matthew claims he has no idea what happened to his friends, but with no other possible leads, he’s charged with the murder of his friends and put behind bars. But Matthew maintains his innocence and will do whatever it takes to prove it.

3-years ago, Robin’s wife, Sam, went missing and he never found out what happened to her. Robin went from being a journalist to an author, writing a book about Sam called Without Her. One day he receives an incoming call from a prisoner named Matthew who claims that he spoke to Sam 3-years ago and it was she who gave Matthew Robin’s information. And that if he ever needed help, Robin would help him.

Robin is in disbelief, but Matthew says something that leads Robin to believe he’s telling the truth. When he learns about what Matthew has been involved in—the disappearance of his 5 friends—he goes to the scene of the crime to get to the bottom of this mystery.

Is Matthew responsible for the deaths of his friends or were their disappearances an act of magic?

Now You See Me is Chris McGeorge’s sophomore mystery novel. I love locked room mysteries, so after reading the premise of this book, I was hooked. Unfortunately, this story doesn’t take place during the disappearance of the 5 friends in the tunnel. Instead, we follow Robin uncovering the truth months later. I was hoping to be thrust into that claustrophobic atmosphere, but I felt a bit let down because the book wasn’t what I was expecting. The writing didn’t keep me engaged and it jumped around randomly in perspectives and time frames toward the end. 2.5/5 stars.

Thank you NetGalley, Hanover Square Press and Chris McGeorge for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.