Jen's fifteen-year-old daughter goes missing for four agonizing days. When Lana is found, unharmed, in the middle of the desolate countryside, everyone thinks the worst is over. But Lana refuses to tell anyone what happened, and the police think the case is closed. The once-happy, loving family returns to London, where things start to fall apart. Lana begins acting strangely: refusing to go to school, and sleeping with the light on.
With her daughter increasingly becoming a stranger, Jen is sure the answer lies in those four missing days. But will Lana ever reveal what happened?
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['This has been the worst week of my life' Jen said]***
(@PenguinUKBooks, 10 January 2019, first published 24 April 2018, 336 pages, paperback, borrowed from @GlasgowLib)
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I had high expectations for this book because I enjoyed Elizabeth Is Missing so much. Unfortunately, while this is an okay read it's nowhere near as good as it could be. I loved the premise and the book starts off well. I love a good mystery. What happened to Lena? I really wanted to know. I enjoyed the way the book explores the relationship between Jen and Lena. I felt this was very realistic at times. The book works well until just after the halfway point which is when the bubble starts to burst. Lena is a horrible brat at times which started to grate on me. Jena's paranoia about what happened to Lena over the four days and her analysis of every breath Lana takes gets old pretty quickly. The book has so much potential to tackle mental health, religious fanaticism and motherhood but never goes anywhere and just meanders about. The ending wasn't awful but logical and a bit of a let-down. This book was a mixed bag for me.
