The Day I Lost You

THE DAY I LOST YOU

RUTH MANCINI

***

Be sure to check out my review for The Woman on the Ledge by Ruth Mancini.

‘I need to report a crime. My baby has been stolen.’

All Lauren wants is a new life in Spain. She’s suffered an unimaginable loss, but at last she has found a home in the pretty seaside town of Mantilla de Mar. Everyone deserves a new start, and Lauren needs to put her past firmly behind her.

Hope has everything: an interesting career as a therapist, an attractive husband, a dream home in the countryside - and, finally, the baby she always longed for. Sam. Her beautiful boy.

But Sam has gone missing.

So when the police tell her that a woman has been found in Spain with a child matching Sam’s description, Hope thinks that her nightmare might be coming to an end.

But Lauren is insisting Sam is her baby. She even has his passport and birth certificate to prove it.

So what really happened to Baby Sam? And who still has secrets to hide?

One child. Two mothers. And a past that won’t let them go.

MY REVIEW

***

I really enjoyed Ruth Mancini’s last twisty read – The Woman on the Ledge so I was excited to pick up her latest standalone thriller – The Day I Lost You.

Lauren is living her life in Spain with her son Sam, but when the police come knocking insisting to see Sam’s paperwork, there may be more to their life than meets the eye.

The story is told through the perspectives of Lauren and Hope, the two mothers in the case and Andrew, one of the fathers. This change in perspective per chapter kept you guessing throughout and you saw the same events from different viewpoints which kept me engaged as a reader.

I love a twisty thriller and The Day I Lost You certainly keeps its cards close to its chest in order to keep the reveals and twists punchy and difficult to predict. Whilst this is usually my favourite type of read, I actually think this is the downfall of this book. I genuinely found it difficult to know what was happening or what had already happened - there’s a big reveal at the end where everything is laid out but I’m not really sure I actually understood the plot, which is unusual for me. This isn’t helped by the jumping of timelines in chapters which is done with very little narrative signposting. In order to keep the reader guessing, certain characters are also often described without using their names as well which also kept me confused.

I also think I didn’t really empathise with any of the characters which didn’t help. Lauren is probably the one you try and relate to as she’s the first person you are introduced to, but it’s obvious something is not being revealed about her and the more you learn about her, the more unhinged she seems. Hope is the same, there’s too much being held back about her character that you don’t trust her either. Andrew is written to be unlikeable by his actions, so there’s no-one with whom we trust or feel sympathy for throughout.

Overall, The Day I Lost You is a twisty read, but to the detriment of the plot, which I found made very little sense by the end. Thank you to NetGalley, Random House UK, Cornerstone and Century for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

LINKS TO BUY

Amazon UK Waterstones