The Missing Person's Guide to Love

This book scores points for originality and it did hold my interest from start to finish. It was clear from early on that the reader was being taken towards a twist, though when it came it was not exactly what I had been expecting. The main problem I had with it, as with so many novels I read these days, was that having read the final page I couldn't help wondering what the point was. It did not make me feel either good or bad. It was a bit like having gone on a fairly interesting journey only to find oneself at a rail terminal or airport in the middle of nowhere.

Summary: Isabel returns to the moors of England for a schoolfriend’s funeral. The disappearance of her best friend aged 15 has never been resolved, but she has always suspected the dead man. Isabel now lives in Turkey with a husband and a toddler. Can she solve the decade-old mystery on a quick trip home?

This was a perfectly pleasant read until the ending at which the mystery was revealed… in a pretty pedestrian manner. It seems as though the author got to the end with all sorts of issues unresolved and decided to solve the mystery and throw in a twist and tie everything up in the space of 4 pages. Not happy at all with the ending (feels like a really cheap ending to a well-sustained mystery).

The main body of the book was all right show more – I liked the Turkish influence, and Jones describes the stifling town of the English countryside well – very few stay behind, and those who leave might as well be dead as far as the residents are concerned. Of course there’s an eccentric aunt who lives in London – I rather liked her. The mystery was sustained, although not really developed (the girl goes missing near the start of the book, all the motives and potential attackers are laid out almost straight away, and then there are no further developments for ages), for the whole book.

Not worth the time. show less

Completely bizarre! I found the prose forced and there were so many holes in the plot it seemed like a cheese grater. Am I missing something?

Quite good but more predictable than you'd think. Unexpectedly predictable, even.