No need to go into the 'plot ' really as so many have done so before, suffice to say that it is dificult to imagine getting annoyed and bored with a woman character whose daughter has gone missing - but Losing You managed this for me.The term comicbook heroine has been used before by other reviewers and a very perceptive description it is too. Nina is - reasonably- interesting at first, but you've got to wonder about a character/person who lets their teenage daughter sleep out overnight, unpacked, the night before an overseas trip, especially a daughter scatty enough to arrange a surprise birthday party for 11 am ( 11am !) that day , when departure from the house is to be by 1pm. They have a dog too, a Labrador who Nina calls Sludge . I worry about a person who calls animals or children by deliberately ugly names, but be that as it may. The question is really, why does the dog have to be introduced into the story at all, she serves no purpose, and the same can be said for the strange cousin(?) Renata, who arrives ostensibly to take care of said dog and then takes to her bed , or rather Nina's bed, apparently deeply depressed . And then leaves, saying she is "only in your way" ........... I can see why the completely stupid party had to be used to further the plot . But Renata? Sludge?I can only think that the party, the dog, the cousin and other sundry annoyances are somehow intended to show how our redoubtable heroine can overcome anything in a single bound.Heaven knows, she does have to overcome stuff. Nobody much likes her it seems, maybe that's why they all came to the party as she was packing for the plane, just to piss her off. Nope, that doesn't figure , mostly they don't even know her, it's only the people who do know her who don't much like her. No idea why all those people - and it is described as dozens -would turn up to such an event. Imagine, a teenager who you barely know invites you to a 11am party for her mother, a woman you don't know at all . "It'll be a surprise for her 40th birthday and we are going to Florida later in the day" says the teenager . "Oh lovely " you say, "We' ll be there, and what is your name again dear? "......But onward.... once she believes Charlie to be really missing and panic starts to build, she then has to contend with Everybody Else in The World, all of whom are too stupid ,too slow, too disbelieving or too deliberately obstructive to help her . Fortunately Nina is so unimaginably intuitive and clever and unstoppable that she manages the whole thing herself, all the detective work, all the interviews, all the fieldwork, all the denoument, the rescue, the natural justice, everything.Oh and I forgot , and the the hospital staff are also completely inept and also need Nina-ising, right to the last moment.The Bad Guy? I hardly remember who it was,so little was created around his character and motive.
Nicci French's novels are unusual in that they are not only extremely clever, psychologically shrewd thrillers, but they are also strong, atmospheric stories about contemporary women's lives. It must be every parent’s worst nightmare, that there child should go missing. This is exactly the predicament that Nina Landry is in when her daughter Charlie goes missing. Nina has to force the local police force to move forward with the investigation and helpful neighbours who are not helping but actually harbouring Nina’s search for her daughter. Nina however is a mother with the bit between her teeth and knows this is a race against time. As the reader, I felt like I was shadowing Nina’s every move and feeling her roller coaster of emotions going from mild annoyance as the police didn’t seem to be concerned, to baited concern as time passed and right through to outright terror when Nina realises her daughter is in some serious life threatening danger. I found this book to be very different from French’s other books as it didn’t contain any chapters. Because of this I found it very difficult to put the book down, since there were no breaks in the action. I found the book to be engrossing and it kept me on the edge of my seat right up until the end. The story was full of suspense and contained lots of action.
What do You think about Losing You (2007)?
This book had a slow beginning, But i got better once i got into it. There was no chapters in the book it was all just a run on of a story witch did make it hard to put down. I liked how i never knew what was going to happen next. This story is about a Girl named Nina who is searching for her daughter Charlie, who had not come home one day after staying at a friends house. And the family was planing on going on a holiday vacation the next day to Florida. After hours of waiting for Charlie to come home, she never does. Nina gets the police involved to help search for Charlie. No one is really taking Charlie's disappearance seriously. But as Nina talks to her daughter’s friends she realizes that Charlie had quite a few secrets that Nina hadn’t even suspected, and these secrets are what makes Nina more frantic to find her daughter. (read the rest of the book to find out the ending :) ) I would defiantly recommend this book to any that likes mysteries or thrillers. I dont really like reading and this book kept me attention really well.
—Alyssa Kent
I have yet to read a Nicci French I didn't like. I could actually SEE this story as a film as I read it. I think it would be a great adaptation for the screen. Perhaps you have to be a mother of a teenager yourself to really feel the tension but I thought the authors captured her determination and sheer pig-headedness very well. The lack of chapters kept up the pace and also made it difficult to put down as there are no natural breaks in the plot. A really good thriller set on a small island in a small community - a good change from the usual more anonymous big city settings for this kind of thriller. Where can someone disappear to when everyone knows everyone?
—Gillian
After the shocking disappointment of "Catch Me When I Fall" this book was a pleasant reminder of why I keep going back to Nicci French. I was thrilled to find this to be such a stunning return of their wonderful style of imagery and language that captivates me so. I really loved this one and Nina Landry is probably my favorite main character of any of their books I've read in the past. Unlike the usual whodunit, all of your suspicions get explored and your questions are answered as quickly as you are asking them. Nina exhausts every avenue of possibility right along with the reader. For once, here is a character that can keep up with my swirling mind as I read. Though, I wasn't crazy about the idea of no chapters or the lack of natural stopping points, I don't think I could have put it down any easier even if there had been obvious places to break. This story is truly the epitome of a fast paced page turner.*SPOILER*I desperately wanted to give this a full 5 stars but the ending did leave me hanging a bit. In the final pages, I found myself needing just a bit more. A little twist, such as an accomplice, or at least Charlie's statement would have smoothed out some of the minor wrinkles I had with the timeline of events and with Rick's motive and left it feeling much more complete. Ending considered, this gets a solid 4.5 stars for a fantastic read and a perfect heroine.
—Julia
