Missing Persons [Kindle Edition]

I've always enjoyed the books written by the team of Nicci French, and so I expected this solo book by Nicci Gerrard (one half of the Nicci French writing team) to be pretty much in the same vein. It was and it wasn't. 'Missing Persons' is the story of the Hopkins family, Mum Isabel, Dad Felix, daughter Tamsin, son Johnny, and daughter Mia. They are a typical family unit, with all the trials and tribulations that most of us experience. Tamsin, the oldest daughter, is overweight and unhappy. Mia, the youngest, is thin and being bullied at school. Johnny.........well, Johnny is perfect. He is a kind, caring, loving boy, who fulfills his parents dreams by going to university. Isabel finds it hard to let him go, but she does, and speaks to him constantly. Felix is more reserved, their marriage is settled into middle-aged contentment, and things are good. Isabel has her two close friends, Jenny and Leah, and the three of them put the world to rights on their girlie nights out. But then Isabel can't get in touch with Johnny. He doesn't answer his phone, there is no word from him, and panic sets in. Johnny is 18 years old, an adult, and if he disappears - well, there isn't a great deal that anyone can do. Suddenly, the world comes crashing down for the Hopkins family.They have to consider their greatest fear - that something terrible has happened to Johnny, and that he is dead. Isabel refuses to believe that this could be so, she would KNOW if her son were dead. Isabel and Felix search frantically, enlisting the help of Johnny's friends, and finding that they really didn't know their son as well as they thought. Is it possible to love TOO much - to smother someone, to drive them to acts of desparation?
This is a very deep book in my opinion, quite uncomfortable at times, and giving plenty of food for thought. As a parent, we love our children, and want the best for them. This book shows that what WE think is best, isn't always what THEY think is best, and how hard it can be to live up to other people's expectations. It's a very good story, extremely well written, as you would expect from Nicci Gerrard, and I plan to read more of her solo work. Highly recommended.

This is a very well written book with a really exciting premise - young, seemingly well-adjusted boy goes off to University and promptly disappears off the face of the earth. It's all about the aftermath of his disappearance and how each member of the family is affected emotionally and physically. Unfortunately I found it overly long and I thought it lacked balance.

The female characters, mum Isabel and sister Mia, are much more developed than the male characters, Felix the father and Johnny the missing boy in my view. I came away feeling I had really got into the mum's head and the sister's, their emotional turmoil and thought processes but when it came to the male characters there just wasn't the same level of depth. Did Nicci just find it difficult to put herself in the shoes of male characters I wonder? I was also disappointed by the last section of the book entitled Johnny. Devoting the last section to the perspective of the missing boy, clearly implies there is going to be a big reveal, that where he went and why will all be explained. Unfortunately not. Where he went was only hinted at and more importantly what prompted him to disappear and remain disappeared for seven years, was only touched upon in my view and this was very disappointing.

In short, a nice enough read but ultimately not very satisfying.

Reading this was mostly a far from comfortable experience. At first, I felt it was in danger of becoming one almost unbearable long essay on loss, inevitable crumbling of a marriage, endurance; for what else can you do but go on from one day to the next; of truly terrible tension. Nicci Gerrard as the other half of Nicci French writes crime stories, psychological dramas, so I was busy wondering if and when the twists and turns might arrive. The publishers words don't help, they leave every possibility wide open. You just have to push on through, as do Felix, Isabel and their two daughters, all left reeling after it is clear that Johnny, who should have been in his first term at Sheffield University, really has disappeared.

Later on in, I was able to breath again and take in a wider view. It was all so dreadfully worrying that I definitely had to sit on my hands to stop myself peeking at the end pages for a clue. Throughout, the threads were being skilfully pulled so taut and strong. I was amazed at how much the author knows or can imagine about what is a nightmare scenario for any family. Any mother who has just seen her child off to university might be advised to read this later, when their newly launched offspring is within sight and sound.

For each person, the suffering is individual, sharing it is almost impossible, and they have to deal with their loss in their own ways. There is no alternative to the dreadful coming to terms with an aching void, an almost hopeless future. How could Johnny do this to them? And why? What had they all missed? Friends and family are all distraught.

My only tiny quibble is why they all automatically imagined he had become a down and out, a homeless wreck, or was dead through dreadful mishap when perhaps they might have had some confidence that he would make a new and good life for himself without them. Therein lies the quandary. Could Johnny survive without his family? Or did he need to leave to live his life his own way...

Isabel torments herself with what she had failed to take note of, the impending breakdown that she failed to notice, all the while still almost blind to her husband and daughters, only going through the motions. Felix uses his academic skills to try to solve the puzzle, shutting everyone else out of his life. What a clever book, I am still screwed up about it in my mind, teasing at the story, proving it really is an excellent piece of sympathetic, absorbing and quite terrifying writing.