3 ⭐️

Thank you, Netgalley and Random House Publishing, for allowing me to read and review this title in exchange for an honest review.

I found this just okay. It wasn't terrible, but I also didn't find it exciting. I enjoyed the moments of the suspense and the way the chapters would be misleading. In other words, reading a section to only read later on that there was more to it. It's the way the characters talked or the overall tone that threw me off. I didn't think it matched the vibe the story was portraying.

Finding Sophie
By Imran Mahmood

Harry and Zara, two foreign born Moslim teachers, have one child, a teenaged daughter named Sophie. This small family has always been close; but Sophie has become a typical teen – wanting to be free of parental constraints. It is a difficult struggle, one which ends with Sophie's disappearance.

Harry and Zara are frantic to find her. They refuse to believe she is dead, but they have spent months searching and are running out of options. They have spoken with everyone on their street – except for the man living at 210, who will not answer the door and refuses to speak to them. The parents find his behavior unexplainable and they believe he is involved in the disappearance. As their frustrations increase, the tension in the story increases as well. This eventually leads to a denouement involving a murder. Harry and Zara's lives spiral out of control – and it is definitely a downhill spiral. But the story contains many twists and turns, and just when you think you've got it figured out, the author throws in another curve!

I enjoyed this book a great deal. There are so many endings that don't turn out to be endings that I was in the dark until the very end. I find myself looking forward to Mr. Mahmood's next book!

This is the story of the disappearance of Harry & Zara’s teenage daughter. It delves into their anguish and sorrow. It’s a very heartfelt story. A roller coaster ride of emotion. I enjoyed it.

Very long, slow burn mystery on the disappearance of their daughter.
1st half was too character focused and not interesting to me
The ending picked up the pace but was over the top and didn't mesh well with the first half of the book.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

British criminal lawyer Imran Mahmood’s latest novel, Finding Sophie, will keep readers turning pages well into the night. Eighteen-year-old Sophie has disappeared. Not wanting to admit that she might be dead and feeling the police aren’t doing their jobs, her parents, both teachers, begin their own searches. Although dealing with their loss in different ways, Harry and Zara act as each sees fit, keeping their plans and investigative forays from each other as well as they can and distancing themselves from each other. As weeks pass, their desperation grows, causing them to take risky, even dangerous, actions and consider others.
In the process, readers meet students, other teachers and school administrators, medical personnel, the lead investigator and other officers, a creepy neighbor, a medium. and more.

Mahmood’s chosen organization makes the book. Although the basic scenario involving a missing teen could be suspenseful enough, he arranges chapters to build suspense and springs surprise upon surprise on readers. Most chapters alternate between Harry’s point of view and Zara’s as they cope with the loss of their daughter in their own ways and consider how their past actions may have influenced her. However, Mahmood sets the opening chapter in Courtroom Three of the Old Bailey and intersperses other courtroom chapters here and there, becoming more common in the latter part.

Despite striking me as far-fetched, Harry’s and Zara’s actions grabbed my attention and held it throughout as did the slowly unfolding trial scenes. Bit by bit, the story falls into place, offering many surprises.

My thanks to Ballantine/Random House for an advance reader copy of Imran Mahmood’s captivating new novel. I look forward to reading his past and future books.

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Unfortunately disappointed by this one. It felt like the author couldn't decide what direction to go - an emotional novel about the impact of grief, a taut courtroom drama or a twisty mystery. Each facet of the book was only explored for a certain portion of the story which led to everything feeling very disjointed and undeveloped. Nothing felt like it was explained enough in the end. The characters were also pretty bland and that led to struggles in telling chapters apart; their motivations didn't make sense or perhaps enough background information wasn't given.

While in the middle of this book, I thought it seemed a little slow. I just wanted them to hurry up and find out what happened to their missing daughter! But holy crap did it surprise me in the end. I did NOT see that coming. First time reading this author, and he definitely got my attention during the last half. Thanks to the author, publishers, and NetGalley for the ARC.

This book was so many things - thrilling, heartbreaking, honest, raw, and completely unputdownable. I felt like I was reading the screenplay for an episode of Law and Order: SVU - and I've seen every episode so I mean this in the best possible way. I cannot imagine the impossible way of living when your child is missing in the world, but I felt Mahmood did an excellent job of painting the picture in a way that allows the reade to empathize with the main characters. Additionally, Mahmood's legal background made the courtroom scenes feel immersive and well-researched - the proceedings were honest and accurate and that is something I always appreciate as someone who regularly watches all kinds of legal procedural dramas.

I've been recommending this to everyone in the week since I've finished and will continue to do so. I could not put this one down and can't wait to read more of Mahmood's work!

2.5 Stars

Seventeen year old Sophie is missing. Her parents, Harry and Zara, are besides themselves with worry and grief. The police investigation seems to be nonexistent. They take on becoming investigator, judge and jury on their own.

Told in alternating voices of Harry and Zara, but their voices use the same bland tone. I found this story extremely slow and, to be honest, as dry as reading a legal brief might be. While I found the initial jacket description compelling, the story didn’t live up to it for me. The author’s roots came thru loud in his writing. The parents, even though grieving, seemed emotionless and almost cold to me. I found them domineering and totally incapable of dealing with a teenager, borderline abusive. They used whatever and whoever to get what they feel is the correct outcome. They become judge and jury. The trial is slow and dull, one trying to save the other, spinning their tales, lawyers didn’t seem vested. The police interaction was non existent throughout the story, almost an afterthought. After the trial, we come to the ending that felt thrown together and rushed to bring the story to a close. I had a hard time connecting with these grieving parents, and totally could feel for Sophie’s emotional need. This was a total miss for me.

Thanks to Ballantine Books for this ARC. This is my honest opinion.

Available now!

I liked this. It is well-written and tense. The characters are so deeply pained when their daughter goes missing, and the reader gets an inside seat to their thoughts as this is told in dual POV from the parents Harry and Zara. There are also "Now" chapters told in the courtroom of a murder trial. At first I was super confused by who was on trial and for what murder but when that became clear this really picked up for me. A tad slow to start this still kept my attention with the parents each doing their own thing to try and cope. Although sometimes I wanted to scream because they were both keeping secrets from each other.

Thank you to the publisher for the copy via Netgalley to read and review.

loved this romance and how the characters changed through the story. also loved the friends and all of the interesting things that happened during the story. loved the growth of the main character and all of her trials .

A highly recommended, dark story of the lengths parents will go through to find their missing child. I couldn't put it down and am glad to see it's getting the publicity it deserves.

Finding Sophie is an emotional pact crime mystery. Written in dual time line. Seventeen year old Sophie had become a typical teenager with secrets. Angered at her parents, she leaves one day, and does not return.
The worry and concern, fear and anguish, sadness and grief the parents feel are well written and put me on their emotional roller coaster.
After six weeks and her daughter has not returned Henry and Zara begin their own investigation. Someone knows what happened to her. The neighbor in house 210 is suspicious. He has high fence wall, won’t answer his door, has a guard dog, and watches behind the window curtain.
The deeper the parents dig, the more secrets they uncover about their daughter.
The parents become the main suspect in her murder. Hence the second time line - present day courtroom. At times my heart would be racing and at times it would be breaking. Ohhhh what an ending.
Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Bantam for an edge of my seat crime mystery/thriller ARC in exchange for my review.

This slow burn turned into an eruption of suspense. I will be seeking more of this author’s work
Many thanks to Random House and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was an incredibly slow read following the grief a couple feels after the disappeared do their daughter.

I really struggled to get invested in this story as both of the main characters made such outlandish decisions. While I can under that that grief can cause people to do things by a they normally wouldn't, I could get bending some of the plans and ideas they had. It really did not make sense the way this was played out.

It might have just been me, but this was just so slow for the majority of this with the last 10% having a rather rushed ending.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

Harry and Zara's teenage daughter disappeared months ago. They experience various strong emotions: guilt over an argument with Sophie; fear for what happened or is happening to her; and bouts of anger at each other.

The author does an incredible job painting a picture of the parents' grief: "I can’t indulge the darkness anymore. The first time, it seduces you. It beckons you with a soft hand and shows you its delights. In there you can close your eyes and fall into its long sleep. Its caress soothes you beyond words and that softness is hard to get up from—harder the longer you stay inside. But when you do finally claw free from its arms, you emerge, exhausted. And then you’re out here, in the world, uncovered and raw."

Dissatisfied with the police's progress, the parents conduct their own investigation. They do make some progress finding information that may lead somewhere, but because they operated outside of the scope of the law, nothing they find is of any use to the detective, and even though they understand why, it is all so very frustrating to Harry and Zara.

One of their neighbors appears to be hiding something and both parents become increasingly desperate to find out what he knows. Lack of sleep, a void of other leads and odd behavior from the neighbor have the parents considering their darkest whims.

The author tells this story through alternating points of view: Harry and Zara, with intermittent sections of "now" which is the POV of someone on trial though it takes a little while to reveal who is on trial.

This was a quick and enjoyable read. I felt for the parents. They were trapped in a nightmare and felt the need to do something/anything to find out if their daughter was still alive. I had mixed emotions about the outcome of the trial. This would be a really good book for a book club discussion or to do as a buddy read.

Thank you Netgalley, Imran Mahmood and Bantam books for the ARC! Review will be posted on Amazon, Bookstagram, Goodreads and Barnes and Noble.

Thank you Netgalley, Imran Mahmood, and Random House Publishing Group for the ebook!! This was a great and heartbreaking story that just had me unable to stop reading until I figured out what happened. I honestly can't believe the ending!!

What would you do if you daughter disappeared? Would you search for her? If so, for how long? Would you do anything you could to bring her home and stop at nothing to find out what happened? Zara and Harry have not stopped looking since their teenage daughter Sophie disappeared. The feel as though the police at not doing enough and work on their own investigation. Zara is falling apart, Harry cannot even speak Sophie's name. They have spoken to everyone in their neighborhood to see if they had seen Sophie the day she disappeared, well everyone but one person - Herman. Every time they knock on his door he won't answer despite seeing him looking out his window. What is he hiding inside or what does he know that is keeping him from talking? Deep down Zara and Harry believe he has something to do with their daughters disappearance and will not stop until they get answers from Harry. They are willing to do anything they need to to get answers but how far will they be willing to go?

Thank you Netgalley, the author and the publisher for my ARC! I really enjoyed this one!

This is not only a mystery thriller, who-dun-it but also portrays two people who fall apart mentally after their daughter goes missing. The book opens in a courtroom but you don't find out who is on trial until a considerable part of the book goes by. The chapters are short and intertwine with the court battle, the parents and a murder. The author did super work keeping the identity of the murdered person and the murderer a secret. The book came up short for me, in the middle. The details leading up to the murder were very long and I lost concentration at one point. I stuck with it though and I am very glad. I did.
I received a digital ARC from Random House and NetGalley. This review is my own opinion.

I really enjoyed this debut thriller, finding Sophie and reminded me of a Harlan coben or William landlay novel. The story is told in quick, taut chapters that alternate between harry and Zara, parents trying to find their missing Sophie. The tension begins to slowly mount as the two searches take very different paths and they uncover things about their marriage and their daughter they never wanted to know. I won’t say more as the plot twists and intersperses with present day courtroom scenes as the readers tries to piece together what happened and which parent was or wasn’t involved.

This is a fast- paced page turner that has a slightly claustrophobic feel as the tension and suspense mounts. You will find yourself pulled into harry and Zara and at times be unsure to root for as you wonder what you would do and how far would you go if you were in their shoes.

Recommended for fans of thrillers and family dramas. Thanks to the publisher for providing the arc via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review..