Losing You

On the morning of Nina Landry’s fortieth birthday, just hours before she and her children are due to fly out to Florida for a vacation, fifteen year old Charlie disappears. At first Nina is simply irritated that her daughter is nowhere to be found on the tiny island off the coast of England on which they live, but as time runs on she becomes increasingly convinced that something has happened to Charlie ...something terrible.

While the story takes place over less than a day, I devoured Losing You by Nicci French in about two hours, breathlessly accompanying Nina in her search for her missing teenage daughter. What begins as an ordinary, if chaotic, day as Nina’s car plays up, as she’s trying to finish packing for their trip, as her show more depressed cousin/dog sitter arrives, as she unexpectedly hosts a few dozen people for a surprise party organised by her daughter, as she fields calls from her belligerent ex-husband, turns surreal when Nina realises Charlie is not simply late, but missing.

One of the most difficult things I have found about being a mother to teens is that they have areas of their lives that no longer include me, and even those that they deliberately exclude me from. I’m not always confident that I have taught them enough to independently make good choices and to protect themselves from situations, or people, that could threaten their well-being. Charlie, who Nina describes as ‘recalcitrant, volatile, emotional, romantic and intense’, seems more likely than most teenagers to keep secrets, especially when you factor in the issues with her father, who has recently abandoned the family, and her mother’s new relationship. As it happens, none of what Charlie has kept hidden is particularly earth shattering, but her secrets, and the secrets of others, do play a part in unraveling the mystery.

I empathised with Nina’s frustration with the police who are initially content to dismiss Charlie as a runaway, and are incredibly patronising as they do so. Objectively I understand the need of the police to gather the facts and plan the investigation, but in Nina’s shoes I think I too would disregard their orders and do what I could to unearth anything that could provide answers.

Losing You is not perfect, there was for example, the odd character I thought was superfluous, but Nina is relatable and convincing as a panicked mother, and the pacing is superb. A quick thrilling, read. show less

This is a suspenseful story about a teenage daughter who goes missing on the day the family is supposed to leave on a Christmas vacation.

By family, I mean Nina, her BF, and her two children. Mother’s intuition tells Nina that her daughter has not run away and she becomes frustrated that the police are not taking the situation more seriously. Nina is determined and swears that Charlie shares most things with her. But when she begins talking to her friends, she finds that her daughter has an entire different life she knows nothing about.

Looking back at my own teenager at 15-years-old, I think Nina handled the situation better than I would have! At that age, I was also a single mother, but my son did everything he could do irritate me, show more so my first reaction to that situation would not have been that calm, lol!

The writing was fantastic, and the plot was good. But the story felt too detailed and slow, so I forget that it all takes place on only one day.

My first book by Nicci French (the writing team Nicci Gerrard and Steve French) wasn’t as wonderful as I hoped, but I’m not ready to give up. I’ve heard great things about their books, so I’ll try another. If I had paid attention and noticed this one was first published in 2005, it wouldn’t have been my first choice.

Sincere thanks to Edelweiss, HarperCollins, and Nicci French. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

My Rating: 3.5 ⭐️’s (rounding down)
Published: January 28th 2020 by HarperCollins
Audio: 10 hours

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After publication my reviews can be found at Amazon, Twitter, GoodReads, Barnes and Noble, BookBub, NetGalley, and Edelweiss

@FrenchNicci @edelweiss_squad @HarperCollins show less

This was an exhausting read. I was stressed before Charlie even went missing, since we were dealing with a family about to set off for the airport for a trip abroad and they hadn't even finished packing! The whole action of the book takes place over the next 6 hours or so, with Nina racing around the island, which is at the same time small enough to race around multiple times, and also big enough to support a secondary school. I enjoyed her shaking off the police, who seemed competent enough but didn't share her sense of urgency, and mercilessly dragging a series of friends and acquaintances into her search. The ending made sense, although the information needed to work out what had happened was revealed very late on.

I'm not sure what show more purpose the boyfriend Christian served - he spent the novel stuck on the M25 with Nina ignoring him. I think that relationship might be over. show less

Losing You by Nicci French is a 2020 William Morrow Publication (Originally published in 2005)

Nina and her kids are excited about their upcoming trip to Florida, where Nina will celebrate her birthday with her new boyfriend. Her plans go horribly awry when her teenage daughter, Charlie, fails to come home after a sleepover.

Law enforcement is useless, quoting their usual spiel about teenagers- suggesting Charlie will turn up soon, or that she could be a runaway- etc.

Refusing to sit on her hands, Nina goes in search of her daughter, only to discover she didn’t know Charlie as well as she thought…

I will snap up any book this dynamic duo writes. Because of that, I picked this book up thinking it was a new release, only to discover, show more once I sat down to read it, that it was a reissue.

The book was originally published back in 2005, which irritated me a little at first, because while the book wasn’t expressly marketed as a new release, it was implied. I shook it off, though, because I have always wanted to read some of French’s older books, so no harm, no foul, really.

This may not be the absolute best effort by French, but for some reason, once I got started on the book, I found myself unwilling to put it down. I blew through it at lightening speed, compelled by Nina’s Herculean task of locating Charlie virtually on her own. The atmosphere was also a plus, and the way the story was layered and how it unfolded kept me riveted to the pages.

Other than Nina’s tenacity to save her daughter, and the frightening secret lives of teenagers, the book doesn’t really allow the reader much of an opportunity to attach themselves to the characters. The story is not original, by any stretch of the imagination- but for some reason, that missing child/teen trope sucks me in every single time. The pacing is brisk, without sacrificing the suspense, but the book is a little sparse and narrowly focused on Nina’s one-woman show.

Still, it works, for an ‘in the moment’ spot of entertainment. I don’t know if, six months from now, I’ll be able to recall specifics of this book, but overall, it was a thrilling way to pass away a hot, muggy afternoon.

3.5 stars show less

In Losing You by Nicci French, a worried mother faces every parents' worst fear: a missing child.

Nina Landry, along with her new boyfriend, Christian and her two children, fifteen year old daughter, Charlotte "Charlie" and eleven year old son Jackson, are about to depart for their vacation to Florida. In the midst of tying up the trip's loose ends, Nina is growing increasingly concerned when she cannot reach Charlie. Her daughter spent the night before with friends but she has failed to return home nor is she answering her phone. Growing more frantic, Nina immediately contacts the local police who are not exactly overly helpful. Nina continues searching for Charlie on her own and a shocking discovery ratchets up her fears for her show more daughter's safety.

Nina and her kids have been through a rough period since their relocation to Sandling Island. She is now divorced from the kids' father Rory and works as a maths teacher. Nina is in a newish relationship with Christian but she remains cautiously optimistic about their future. Her relationship with Charlie is strong but her daughter tends to be tempestuous and willing to fight for what she believes in. Charlie has recently been the target of bullying from her classmates, but she has recently made friends with the circle of girls who were involved. One of Nina's concerns about Charlie going missing is the fact she slept over with the former bullies. Can she believe their assertions they do not know anything about Charlie's disappearance?

With the police unwilling to put much effort into locating Charlie, Nina does not worry about offending or angering anyone during her search for her daughter. As the situation turns more dire, Nina is not at all confident the police are doing as much as they should be to find Charlie. She is further stunned by shocking discoveries about someone close to her and the kids. With the police distracted by these latest revelations, Nina takes matters into her own hands as she grows more desperate to locate Charlie.

Mysteries often need a suspension of disbelief to fully enjoy the unfolding story and it eventually becomes impossible to comfortably go with the storyline. While her worry and desperation are completely understandable, Nina's impulsivity and lack of cooperation with the police hinders their investigation. Her uncanny ability to uncover leads and unearth new information strains readers' credulity. The mystery moves at a brisk pace but the extremely tight timeframe is somewhat unrealistic since the entire mystery takes place during approximately five to six hours.

Losing You is a fast-paced and cleverly written mystery. The novel's beginning is strong and the entire story has a smooth flow since there are no chapter breaks. Unfortunately, Nina's over the top decisions are exasperating. With shocking twists and unbelievable turns, Nicci French brings the novel to an action-packed conclusion. While the mystery of Charlie's disappearance is completely wrapped up, some rather important parts of the storylines are frustratingly unresolved. show less

‘Nicci French’ is actually a husband and wife crime writing team who have published several popular thrillers, including ‘Losing You’. I vaguely recalled reading something they had written before, but it hadn’t really made an impression, (I couldn’t even remember what it was called, although a quick search online reveals that it was ‘The Memory Game’,) so I was anticipating a fairly nondescript story with the obligatory twist or three. *Yawn* Could it possibly be better than I hoped? Yes – and no.

The blurb

Nina Landry has had a tough year. Now she is eagerly anticipating her Christmas holiday with her new lover and two children. Unfortunately, Charlie, her teenage daughter, has disappeared. Vanished. Has she run away? show more Or has something terrible happened? Nina is absolutely convinced that Charlie would not have run away, but the police are equally convinced that this is a typically teenage act of rebellion. Intent on proving them wrong and discovering where her daughter is, Nina investigates and soon discovers that all it not as it seems. Did she really know her daughter? Can she uncover the truth?

The set up

French quickly establishes a desolate landscape which helps to make the later action seem more dramatic and intense. The narrator feels like she is “on the edge of the world” and that even the wind is “melancholy”. The setting is bleak and cold, a small island in December. Even Nina’s car appears to be collapsing in the chill winter atmosphere and it is all deliciously dark.

I enjoy writing which helps you to visualise the surroundings, and French certainly does this. The setting and characters are described in detail, including the arrangement of their hair and their minor actions. Some readers might perhaps find that too much time is spent on introducing characters: each one is given a detailed physical description and a history. In fact, there are regular diversions into the past where the narrator explains her own history, including the departure of her husband after their move from London to the island. At the time, these may seem irrelevant, but they do not detract from the ‘story’ since there really isn’t much of one initially.

The story opens with Nina watching a friend who is trying to fix her car while enduring ribbing from his wife. She returns home and continues organising the house ready for their holiday. She thinks about her neighbours. There is a rather odd party. Meanwhile, Nina begins to wonder where her daughter is with growing concern. It is a very slow build up and is full of mundane everyday details. This might sound dull, and I agree that it wasn’t an enthralling opening, but this is how the writers hook you in. Everything is so mundane, so everyday, apart from the gloriously foreboding weather, that you share Nina’s growing discomfort when her daughter fails to arrive home. The ordinary becomes transformed by a horrid absence of normality, and the reader makes this transition with the narrator.

There are no chapters, which encourages you to keep reading but is also frustrating as there is no natural stopping point. I think this is probably sensible given that the book has such a slow burning opening: it would be very easy to conclude after a couple of chapters that nothing was happening and put the book away in a corner somewhere. This would be a shame as, later, the tension does build up and it becomes clear that many characters have secrets to hide.

There are some nicely comic moments along the way to relieve the tension. For instance, Rick’s wife interacts with him in a very believable but quite comic way as she gently goads him about his inability to fix Nina’s car (“Well, you’ve fixed the rattle. If it can’t go, it definitely can’t rattle.”) This is another strength of the storytelling: characters and their interaction are very convincing. Teenagers are sufficiently slouchy and huffy; policemen question methodically, ploughing the same furrows over and over. The situation as a whole is at once believable and horrifying: Nina knows her daughter would not run away; the police know that teenagers do frequently run away; the reader sees the impasse and, given the first person narrator, identifies with Nina whilst recognising the pragmatism of the police approach. The juxtaposition of logic and sentiment is what makes the storyline compelling.

As the story develops and the pace quickens the possibilities multiply. Charlie’s father becomes a suspect and soon Nina can trust nobody. Unfortunately, as the pace picks up, the story becomes less believable. Nina develops super strength and is capable of impressive physical movements. A boyfriend has a cringe worthy conversation with Nina, who by now seems able to command anyone (except the police) to do whatever she wants. Nina’s lover, who is supposed to be going on holiday with her and her children, spends the entire novel stuck on the motorway and is therefore conveniently unable to provide any assistance. In fact, he did appear to be a completely unnecessary character.

And speaking of unnecessary…after the main story ends there are two key problems with the novel. 1) It keeps going. 2) Nothing new happens or is revealed. Seriously. There is a lot of ‘winding down’ narrative which really seems quite purposeless and detracts from the overall experience. It could have been summed up in a sentence or two.

The audio book

As I have less and less time to sit and read lately, I thought I would try the audio book version of this story. This worked very well as I was able to complete many dull but necessary household chores while giving most of my concentration to the recording. It is tricky to stop in the middle of a CD as there is no indication that the track is changing, and obviously it would be easiest to start again at the beginning of a new track. (I wish we still had tapes! So much simpler if all you want to do is listen straight through.) The narrator, Adjoa Andoh, used distinct voices for each character and varied her tone throughout to create an interesting and enjoyable listening experience. This is apparently a completely unabridged version (it does last 8.5 hours and is comprised of 8 CDs) so I do not feel I have missed out on any of the story.

To conclude:

Strengths:
• Good characterisation
• Very atmospheric
• Explores the mother/daughter bond
• Red herrings used effectively
• Nice touches of humour
• Convincing dialogue

Possible criticisms:
• No chapters (hard to find a stopping point)
• Very slow pace to start with
• Overly drawn out ending
• A bizarre party scene early on which, in retrospect, seems to be a clunky device rather than a realistic event in the narrative
• Nina seems to acquire super strength and super sleuthing abilities
• Uneven writing style (clichés like "two drowning swimmers clutching at each other", adjective overload sometimes when describing places, dull details like "the kettle boiled and I poured the water over the leaves")

Overall, I did enjoy listening to this story, although it was partly the thrill of being able to ‘read’ and be productive at the same time! I think that I appreciated this as a tale of mothers and daughters and how their relationship starts to break as the daughter grows older and more independent, rather than as a thriller. As a thriller, I think it is too concerned with the tiny details and not enough with motives. show less

A quick paced story about a teenage daughter who goes missing and her mother who goes all out to find her allowing no one to get in her way. You definitely have to be willing to suspend belief about certain situations but if you can, it's a wild ride.