The Missing One

By: Lucy Atkins

Narrated by: Buffy Davies

The loss of her mother has left Kali McKenzie with too many unanswered questions. But while clearing out Elena's art studio, she finds a drawer packed with postcards, each bearing an identical one-line message from a Canadian gallery owner called Susannah Gillespie: thinking of you. Who is this woman and what does she know about Elena's hidden past?

Desperate to find out, Kali travels with her toddler, Finn, to Susannah's isolated home on a remote British Columbian island, a place of killer whales and storms. But as bad weather closes in, Kali quickly realises she has made a big mistake. The handsome and enigmatic Susannah refuses to talk about the past, and as Kali struggles to piece together what happened back in the 1970s, Susannah's behaviour grows more and more erratic. Most worrying of all, Susannah is becoming increasingly preoccupied with little Finn...

A tense, thrilling novel about a family divided by secrets, and the lengths a mother will go to protect her child.

©2014 Lucy Atkins (P)2014 Quercus Publishing plc

Critic reviews

"A moving and suspenseful tale of the secrets a family keeps." (Rachel Hore)

Totally Gripping!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Absolutely!

Who was your favorite character and why?

Kali was the main character and was really the only person who the reader becomes fully involved with. However, her Mother, who was such a mystery to begin with, was probably my real favorite.

What about Buffy Davies’s performance did you like?

Her voice is amazing...various accents used throughout were so well done.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes....I hated having to turn it off and found myself thinking about it when I wasn't listening. Even worked out longer than necessary at the gym just so I could continue to listen. That takes a pretty special book!

Any additional comments?

The only criticism I have is that some of the descriptive passages of how Kali was feeling were overdone. They seemed to go on and on....and on in some parts.

superb setting for family mystery

What made the experience of listening to The Missing One the most enjoyable?

The story of the orca was as enthralling as the twisted tale of family secrets. And the setting was beautifully described and integral to the story. I couldn't put it down. As someone with no love of toddlers I was still relatively sympathic to Finn - and he is important to the plot. But he is the reason I give 4 stars not five - a bit too much "ma ma" and "love" going on and the downside of an audio book is you can't skip those bits so easily as when reading a book! Susannah was a magnificent and scary character - unforgettable in fact.

What other book might you compare The Missing One to and why?

Jodi Picoult's Leaving Time - because of the mother-daughter stories and also the great description of animals in the wild and captivity.

What about Buffy Davies’s performance did you like?

She does a superb job of portraying character through accents and inflections