by Sophie McKenzie
Published by Simon and Schuster
Sophie McKenzie is very good at fast paced page turners. And although this is about one of the most implausible stories (think Enid Blyton, spliced with Peter James and seasoned with Line of Duty) I’ve ever read, that is unlikely to bother the 12+ readership at which it is aimed.
We’re in Devon. Cat’s father is missing, presumed dead, after a sailing incident eighteen months earlier. Then she gets a call from a man called Rik claiming to be her father’s friend. There are more twists in the narrative that follows than in the average corkscrew but eventually, against enormous odds which include running away from home, almost drowning, house breaking, kidnapping, death threats and a lot more, Cat discovers the truth.
There is some really delightful characterisation in this novel. Cat’s friend Tyler, inching towards being more than a friend, is a young man we’d all like to know. His gentle, caring dad, Mr Tuesday. is beautifully drawn too as is Cat’s younger sister Bess who has elective mutism and their mum who is flamboyant, distressed, angry, working flat out and trying desperately to get things right for her troubled family.