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Find out what Mumsnetters thought of The Missing by C L Taylor

51 replies

SorchaMumsnet · 18/04/2016 10:54

You love your family. They make you feel safe. You trust them. Or do you…? When fifteen-year-old Billy Wilkinson goes missing in the middle of the night, his mother, Claire, blames herself. Claire is sure of two things – that Billy is still alive, and that her friends and family had nothing to do with his disappearance. A mother's instinct is never wrong. Or is it?

This month we’d like to introduce you to your new favourite psychological thriller author: CL Taylor. From the bestselling author of The Accident and The Lie, comes a highly anticipated new psychological thriller, The Missing. To find out more about Taylor you can read her Q&A.

The Missing tells the story of an ordinary woman doing her best to hold her family together in the face of her son’s disappearance. We gave away 50 copies of this dark family drama to Mumsnetters to read and share their thoughts about it on this discussion thread. Go to the giveaway page to find out more

You don't have to win a free copy to take part in the discussion. Anyone who has read The Missing can post their feedback on this thread. If you missed out on a free copy, you can always buy a paperback.

The feedback deadline has now ended.

This giveaway is sponsored by Avon, HarperCollins

Find out what Mumsnetters thought of The Missing by C L Taylor
OP posts:
purplepandas · 18/04/2016 10:58

The link does not work for me I'm afraid.

OpheIiaBalls · 18/04/2016 12:07

Love CL Taylor! Applied and can't wait to read and review this if I win!

MNHQ
SorchaMumsnet · 18/04/2016 12:26

Hi purplepandas- apologies! All links should be working now.

OP posts:
FoxInABox · 18/04/2016 18:19

I can't get the link for the green road in the book club email

MNHQ
SorchaMumsnet · 19/04/2016 10:19

Hi sorry about that- the link from the newsletter should be working now. You can apply for The Green Road giveaway here!

OP posts:
FoxInABox · 19/04/2016 10:28

Thank you!

ScarlettDarling · 20/04/2016 12:15

Applied, sounds like a great read.

frazzledbutcalm · 20/04/2016 12:43

Have applied, thanks. Smile

Matilda2013 · 03/05/2016 16:25

Received my copy today! Thank you so much! Will review once I have time to read

HeyMacWey · 05/05/2016 16:28

My copy arrived today - looking forward to reading it in the garden this weekend :o

chaplin1409 · 05/05/2016 18:00

My copy arrived today perfect timing as just finished another book

amysmum18 · 06/05/2016 09:49

Received my copy today, looks really interesting. Can't wait to start reading! x

purplepandas · 08/05/2016 19:51

This is unputdownable (if a word). I am easily 75% through the book and only had a couple of hours this morning to read it. I was sad to have to put it down but the Dc got up and demanded things!

Really loving it and I have not been engaged in a book as much as this for ages. Will post again when I have finished.

SciFiFan · 09/05/2016 08:05

Book received and I'm looking forward to starting it soon!

purplepandas · 09/05/2016 09:35

Finished it last night and really enjoyed it. 'Good' ending in many ways but I won't say any more than that as I don't want to spoil things. As I said above, really engaging and a very easy read. I was riveted. Thanks :)

sillylily · 09/05/2016 14:13

Thank you. My copy arrived last week and I have already finished it - couldn't wait to get to the end to find out what happened.
Without giving too much away, here are my thoughts:
It's a good story and an interesting study of how normal family relationships are affected by the strain of a very unusual situation. At the end of the book I was pleased that there was an explanation but the whole thing left me feeling rather paranoid - how many secrets are my own family keeping?
I am interested to hear what the rest of you thought.

FoxTeaParty · 09/05/2016 15:09

Received my copy on the friday, couldn't put it down once I started and finished it very quickly. The book had me thinking the whole way through and I throughly enjoyed the characters, I was left feeling like I knew them. It is definitely a page turner and I would recommend it to friends and family. The story it self ended answering everything i felt i needed to know (I do tend to get annoyed if a book finishes without me knowing all the answers!)

I am already looking at this authors other books as I have never read anything by her before, I just need to decide which one to pick first.

Persistentdonor · 09/05/2016 15:14

I found reading this book both compelling and harrowing.

We enter the narrative 6 months after a 15 year old boy’s disappearance. As the mother of 2 sons, I found the "very modern literary device" of extremely graphic and vulgar text conversations interspersed between the chapters were expressed much as you would expect from the average adolescent male, and served to portray a character less angelic than his mother remembers him.

Inevitably the tragedy causes family dynamics to spiral out of control and, as tension mounts, the mother begins to suffer episodes of dissociative amnesia.

I do have to admit I was kept guessing right to the last minute, and was surprised by the outcome.

rhinosuze · 09/05/2016 17:10

Book came late last week and I found it near impossible to put down which I haven't experienced for a long time and is extra tough when you are a mum - I found myself up in the night reading it in bed! I honestly had no idea what was going to happen and actually guessed wrong. I have to say as a mother I think you really connect to the fear of a missing child.
Overall a brilliant read and I'm looking forward to passing it on to a friend to see what they think.

Nottryingtohaveitall · 10/05/2016 17:18

I like others found the book really easy to read and pretty fast paced, so much so that I'd read it in a few sittings. The characters were fairly believable and I could resonate with a few things. However, I felt I didn't really have time to fully appreciate what they were going through due to the story being just a bit too fast paced. I like to finish books and still be thinking about the characters but this didn't do it for me.
I can congratulate the author on helping me get back to reading a book without too much concentration needed, something I've struggled with since having my DD 2 years ago and I'll probably take a look at her other work soon. Thanks for the free book, it was a really nice surprise :)

bogglebonce · 11/05/2016 11:08

A book I found unable to put down, from reading the first page I was hooked. A very fast paced book which keeps,you guessing until the end. I really enjoyed reading it.

HeyMacWey · 13/05/2016 10:44

Another one who enjoyed this book - I read it in a few days - a real page turner.

I've enjoyed CL Taylor's other books too. I would have liked to find out a bit more about the other characters relationships but suspect this would have interfered with the pace of the book.

Overall a good read that kept you guessing throughout.

insan1tyscartching · 13/05/2016 20:47

My copy arrived last week, I have really enjoyed this book. It's easy to read and fast paced, I couldn't put it down. I haven't read anything else by this author but I will be looking for more of their books now. I love it when a good book leads you to find more by the same author.
Thank you Mumsnet for sending me a good read.

cathisherwood · 15/05/2016 08:37

I enjoyed this book very much. There weren't that many characters and I think I probably suspected each of them as a murderer at some point in the narrative as more secrets were revealed.
The person I felt most sorry for all the way through the book was not Billy's mother but Kira but I really didn't expect the outcome which was perfectly logical as an ending
Like other readers I shall now look for other books by this author
Thanks for the giveaway

Matilda2013 · 15/05/2016 09:17

I've previously read the other books by this author and this one didn't disappoint! I really enjoyed this and actually didn't guess who it would be at all! The build up of the text conversations letting us into Billy's secret was great to give us a picture of what was going on. I think like other posters I suspected everyone at some point (some more than others) but I enjoyed the ending.