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Book Review of What She Knew

What She Knew
reviewed on + 379 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2


Once begun, this is a difficult book to put down when real life interrupts reading life. This is the story of a missing child, Ben Finch, told from the perspectives of his frantic single mother, Rachel, and the lead detective in the case, Jim Clemo. The histories of the peripheral characters are also fascinating in their reactions and motivations relating to a missing child.

The book follows Rachel as she copes in the week following the disappearance of her son and endures the cruel judgments by the press and social media. Any parent can only imagine the fear and panic when a child is missing, and it is palpable in this novel. The characters are very well drawn and the heart-stopping conclusion is logical. This is a remarkable debut novel by a talented author, Gilly Macmillan, whose career I shall follow with interest. I am grateful to LibraryThing to be an early reviewer of this book.