Happy Thursday from a cold and wet Southern California!☔️
Apologies if I did not make it to your blog yesterday, I have a cold/flu that is kicking my old booty! So fingers crossed I wake up this morning feeling better!
Excited to share with you today my review for this engaging mystery with a dash of thriller! Another wonderful group read with my Besties!💕
My Thoughts
This was an intriguing story that kept the mama bear in me on the edge of my seat!
This is a story guaranteed to make any parent squirm… Leslie and Jenny receive the call that no mother ever wants to receive, they need to head to Thailand to identify their daughters bodies…
Being a parent is a tough job, and being the parent of adult children is sometimes even harder… i’ve read so many reviews that state that they don’t know anyone who would allow their children to go to Thailand at the age of 18? And that’s fine if you don’t believe you would allow your children to go to Thailand, but it does not mean that a parent that would allow their children to go to Thailand is a bad parent…. I also think that a lot more UK kids in their late teens early 20s travel, the gap year is much more common… I personally don’t know anyone here in America who had a gap year? With the exception of Malia Obama, who I guess I don’t know personally…It is more than likely I would not want my kids to go to Thailand, but there comes a point in your child’s life that it is up to them… in this book Alex has graduated is about to head off to university and has saved her money for an entire year for this trip, in hindsight probably not the greatest idea, but… well I went off on a bit of a tangent there, sorry about that…. back to the book!
When two 18-year-old girls Alex and Rosie go missing while on holiday in Thailand it stirs up all kinds of emotions in Kate…. Kate’s son Jacob dropped out of university and went traveling to Thailand to “find himself“ with very sporadic communication with Home… Kate who is a reporter instantly gets herself on the case, and when the families travel to Thailand she is compelled to go too… but Kate has no idea what awaits her in Thailand, secrets and deceptions that will turn the reporter into the story!
This book really was more of a mystery/police procedural/family drama than a traditional thriller… but I was still completely engrossed in the story wanting to know what happened to these girls… I really liked Alex and I loved getting to know her through her Facebook posts and communication with her BFF back home… Rosie on the other hand was much less sympathetic, to say the least…. my heart broke for these parents and I really felt their pain and their need for justice and truth…. I can only imagine how hard it would be as more andMore truths were revealed about your daughters’ horrifying last days…
A perfectly paced story that was propelled forward by short concise chapters… i’d say this book was more plot driven then character driven, and generally I do like a story to be more character driven, but this one completely captivated me…. as I said my mama bear was on high alert… I just needed to know what had happened to these girls, and how these parents coped with living my worst nightmare….
A well constructed story with a large dose of mystery and a splash of thriller! Recommend!
🎵 OK I’m going to start doing something a little different with all my reviews. I love music and I always have a song going through my head as I’m reading… so I’m going to start sharing with you lyrics and a link to the song running through my head while reading. At least until I run out of songs or inspiration!
Bangkok, Oriental setting
And the city don’t know that the city is getting
The creme de la creme of the chess world
In a show with everything but Yul Brynner
Time flies doesn’t seem a minute
Since the Tirolean spa had the chess boys in it
All change don’t you know that when you
Play at this level there’s no ordinary venue
It’s Iceland or the Philippines or Hastings or
Or this place!
One night in Bangkok and the world’s your oyster
The bars are temples but the pearls ain’t free
You’ll find a god in every golden cloister
And if you’re lucky then the god’s a she
I can feel an angel sliding up to me
– Murray Head 1984
*** Big thanks to Berkley for my copy of this book ***
About The Book
The police belonged to another world – the world they saw on the television or in the papers. Not theirs.
When two eighteen-year-old girls go missing on their gap year in Thailand, their families are thrust into the international spotlight: desperate, bereft and frantic with worry.
Journalist Kate Waters always does everything she can to be first to the story, first with the exclusive, first to discover the truth – and this time is no exception. But she can’t help but think of her own son, who she hasn’t seen in two years since he left home to go traveling. This time it’s personal.
And as the case of the missing girls unfolds, they will all find that even this far away, danger can lie closer to home than you might think . . .
The Besties Thoughts
Book friends are the best friends! Berit☀️✨
Berit Talks Books 
Pingback: The Suspect by Fiona Barton #bookreview #tarheelreader #thrthesuspect @figbarton @berkleypub #thesuspect #bookbestiessuspect – Jennifer ~ Tar Heel Reader
Pingback: BOOK REVIEW: The Suspect by Fiona Barton @figbarton @berkleypub #bookbestiessupect – PhDiva
Perfect song choice for this one and wonderful, thoughtful review! I enjoyed reading this with you, Berit! ♥️
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Pingback: #BookReview: The Suspect by Fiona Barton @BerkleyPub #series #bookbestiereadsuspect @figbarton – Dressed To Read
I listened to the song! It is really good (never heard it before). Love your review of this suspenseful book too! ❤
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Glad you enjoyed this book, Berit!
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Oooh I am reading this book and loving it too… I needed something to divert my mind from my problems, this was bang on… Loved your review… I don’t know much of the English songs… I spent my early years only studying.. 😂 😂
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Love the song, Berit!!! I agree, I didn’t find it odd that they traveled. Great review and I hope you feel better! 💕
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Wonderful review, Berit! Hope you’re feeling better. ❤️
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I’m going to be singing that all day now – it’s my favourite song from that musical!
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So creative adding a song to your review Berit! Great review 🙂
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I’m glad you ended up liking this one! It just wasn’t for me once I figured out early one who did what although I did empathize as a mom with the parent’s grief. That would be so devastating. I’ve heard a lot of people commenting as well on why the girls were allowed to go to Thailand at age 18, but I guess I didn’t find that odd but my high school graduation gift was a 12 week trip to Europe with several friends, so I spent the day after graduation till the first week of August traveling to 14 different countries at age 18. Two of our moms came to chaperone, but they stayed in England for most of the trip, so we were technically on our own. Our 21-year-old has been backpacking across Greece and Italy, and my 19-year-old is planning a trip abroad to Spain this summer, so I think it just depends on the family norms too. Now if they told me they were going to Thailand, I might try to talk them out of it…Anyway, fabulous review as always, Berit!
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Thanks and yes if my kids wanted to go to Thailand I might try to direct them in a different direction, but I went to Mexico on a train when I was 18 so? I think a big reason for the gap year is to travel? I don’t know I just don’t like when people make statements like that because it seems like a judgment? And we all parent very differently… also I probably trust one of my kids over the others if they were to go to Thailand, LOL you don’t even parent your own children the same way, OK my rant is over! LOL
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You’re welcome, and I think at 18, you have to let your kids start being adults too so if they want to take a gap year and can afford it, then by all means. Traveling for several months or a year is great life experience before starting college or entering the working world, and a lot of students that I have who have taken a gap year went overseas into programs where they volunteered, learned new languages, taught English, etc, so they came back with real-world experiences into the classroom that they wouldn’t have had coming straight from high school to college, so I see the advantage to it from a teacher prospective. I definitely agree that those statements sound like judgement. We all parent differently and that’s okay. I decided to homeschool my 8 year old this year for 3rd grade since she has severe general anxiety disorder and was crying and throwing up every day she had to go to school, so it was a nightmare!, But wow, the comments I got from well-meaning family and friends who wondered if she would be educated properly, lol. I tried not to be insulted and reminded them that I did have a teaching degree and PhD in English Lit and had been teaching university level classes for almost 2 decades, so I thought I had 3rd grade handled…it’s just crazy how people can act like they know what’s better for you and your child. Haha! True, I’m only trusting mine to go to Spain because it’s a study abroad program through his university, so he’s taking classes and seeing the sites! On his own, he’d probably get lost since he has zero common sense…You’re rant is allowed; people are too judgmental.
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This had to be a tough read for you as a parent, Berit. Excellent review and it’s coming up for me soon.
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Yes it absolutely was! I hope you enjoy!
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