Missing by K L Slater

 

Split between two timelines, this was a story that caught me by surprise. Just when I was convinced of the plot, it changed; left me thinking that I could have guessed it all along as the twist was quite plausible.

While this story is about a missing child, yes, there is a child that has gone missing in the 2019 timeline, there was yet another child who had gone missing way back in 1993, it is a lot more about a child missing out on parental love, a parent losing any sense of how she should deal with her child(ren). It was a story of missing out on memories that actually defines childhood. It is the missing of innocence by the time adulthood sets in, leaving the individual broken and irreparable.

When Josie was a young girl, she had faced the most devastating of moments - her baby brother went missing and eventually found dead. Samuel Barlow, a few years older to Josie, was convicted and sentenced to 30 years of imprisonment.

Moving ahead, Josie is a single mother, raising a cute daughter, Ivy and also running her patisserie café. She constantly lives in fear of the day when Samuel would be released and he would take his revenge on Josie. Unfortunately for her, Samuel's sentence has been shortened and he is to be a free man, five years ahead of time.

When one is over cautious, one tends to fall into the same rut that was being desperately avoided in the first place. Suddenly one day, Ivy goes missing from her caretaker's garden. Knowing for sure that Samuel was always lurking around the corner and obviously seeking some sort of revenge, Josie is convinced that Samuel had abducted her daughter. I was convinced too, until the dual timelines opened the box of worms that I was not expecting.

Did Ivy come back home? Was Samuel actually at fault? Can childhood traumas ever heal? Do people become cynical almost teetering on the brink of insanity? Is there a light at the end of the tunnel?

Listen/read this one to get to the bottom of these questions. At 75 chapters, I felt the book was a little too long and I obviously preferred to listen to it than trudging through so many pages. I quite like the Brit accent and the multiple voices that the narrator has pulled off beautifully. The deep voice of Samuel's character was very nicely executed. But, I would have preferred that the narration didnt sound too screechy in some scenes. Overall, an enjoyable story to listen to over other chores. There are great authors and there are comfortable ones - the ones you can turn to on a rainy day or a summer afternoon, or even over tea. K L Slater is one such comfortable writer - worth one's time.