Watch Me Disappear by Jill Dawson came to my attention via a review by John Self. While I was vaguey aware of her through her novel Fred & Edie, the striking cover of which regularly used to catch my eye in my previous existence as a bookseller, I had never gone as far as to pick up any of her books. Now that I think of it, I have no idea why, and what a shame because Watch Me Disappear is a fine book indeed.

The novel follows Tina Humber who returns to the Cambridgeshire village she grew up in for a family wedding, and so confronts the memories of her childhood friend Mandy, who disappeared when she was 10. (An aside: another book about girls going missing? How odd. I didn't notice until now.) It's a long time since Tina has been in England - she now has a career researching seahorses in the US, where she also has a husband, and a child the same age as Mandy was when she went missing. Long-buried memories start popping up unbidden, and soon Tina realises she knows exactly what happened to her friend, and perhaps always has.

This book is a real slow-burner. I don't mind admitting that at first, when I started reading it, I was inwardly debating whether to put it straight back down again. Not that there was anything bad about the book, it just wasn't grabbing me. Soon, though, it got somewhat under my skin and I couldn't put it down even if I tried (a cliche, but true). The slow-build, now that I have finished it, is actually perfect for the story. If everything moved at top speed then the narrative would undoutedly lose that magic ingerdient that makes Watch Me Disappear so compelling. Not only is it compelling, but it is also brave - not many writers could handle a subject as thorny as the innocent sexuality of young girls without it smacking of sensationalism or being a touch tawdry but Dawson pulls it off without question. A mark of a talented writer and no mistake.

At times it is an uncomfortable read, not least when the image of Holly and Jessica, the two Soham schoolgirls brutally murdered a few years go, is invoked on one or two occasions. The invocation works here, but again it is easy to see that it could so easily have gone completely wrong if Dawson hadn't been in full control of her subject. This book perhaps isn't for the faint-hearted, but my, you'd be missing out.

I first saw this book reviewed in a newspaper review section. It immediately piqued my interest and I soon bought the book. I was certainly not disappointed upon reading.

The characters within the book are well-developed, and the book has a definite sense of place and time.

The book is both an easy-to-read mystery and a page turner. A book easy to get lost in with an overriding sense of sadness throughout. ( )

You Reading Group book of the month. ( )

Tina comes home from the US for a family wedding, and this brings memories flooding back from when she was 10 and her best friend Mandy went missing.
A subtle novel, in which the author forces Tina to relive her memories and she gradually realises what must have happened to Mandy, and how it affected her life and family in so many ways.
Very evocative of East Anglia and girlish pastimes of the 1970s, but also rather creepy, this novel is highly recommended. ( )