What she knew

Title:

What she knew

Author:

Macmillan, Gilly, author.

ISBN:

9780062413864

9781629537511

Personal Author:

Macmillan, Gilly, author.

Edition:

First William Morrow edition.

Publication Information:

New York, NY : William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2015.

Physical Description:

472, 14 pages ; 21 cm

General Note:

Includes a reading group guide.

First published in 2015 by Hachette UK.

Abstract:

Rachel Jenner is walking in a Bristol park with her eight-year-old son Ben when he asks if he can run ahead. It's an ordinary request on an ordinary Sunday afternoon, and Rachel has no reason to worry--until Ben vanishes. Police are called, search parties go out, and Rachel, already insecure after her recent divorce, feels herself coming undone. As hours and then days pass without a sign of Ben, everyone who knew him is called into question, from Rachel's newly married ex-husband to her mother-of-the-year sister

Subject Term:

Missing children -- Fiction.

Mothers and sons -- Fiction.

Missing children. (OCoLC)fst01023685

Mothers and sons. (OCoLC)fst01027007

Genre:

Psychological fiction.

Thrillers (Fiction)

Fiction.

Thrillers (Fiction.

Electronic Access:

Cover image static.harpercollins.com/harperimages/isbn/large/4/9780062413864.jpg

Document ID:

SD_ILS:2224624

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Library	Collection	Collection	Call Number	Status
Searching... Baker Street Branch (Kern Co.)	Searching... Unknown	Adult Fiction	FIC MACMILLA GIL	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Beale Memorial Library (Kern Co.)	Searching... Unknown	Adult Fiction	FIC MACMILLA GIL	Searching... Unknown
Searching... California City Branch (Kern Co.)	Searching... Unknown	Adult Fiction	FIC MACMILLA GIL	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Fig Garden Branch (Fresno Co.)	Searching... Unknown	Adult Fiction Area	MACMILL GI What	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Frazier Park Branch (Kern Co.)	Searching... Unknown	Adult Fiction	FIC MACMILLA GIL	Searching... Unknown
Searching... London Branch Library (Tulare Co.)	Searching... Unknown	Fiction Area	MYST MACMILLA GILLY	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Mariposa Branch Library (Mariposa Co.)	Searching... Unknown	Adult Fiction Area	FIC MAC	Searching... Unknown
Searching... North Fork Branch (Madera Co.)	Searching... Unknown	Fiction Shelves	MACMILLIAN	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Northeast Branch Library (Kern Co.)	Searching... Unknown	Adult Fiction	FIC MACMILLA GIL	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Tulare Public Library	Searching... Unknown	Fiction Paperback Shelf	Macmillan	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Wasco Branch Library (Kern Co.)	Searching... Unknown	Adult Fiction	FIC MACMILLA GIL	Searching... Unknown
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Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

New York Times Bestseller

"The Changeling meets an episode of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit but set in the UK." -The Skimm

In her enthralling debut, Gilly Macmillan explores a mother's search for her missing son, weaving a taut psychological thriller as gripping and skillful as The Girl on the Train and The Guilty One.

In a heartbeat, everything changes...

Rachel Jenner is walking in a Bristol park with her eight-year-old son, Ben, when he asks if he can run ahead. It's an ordinary request on an ordinary Sunday afternoon, and Rachel has no reason to worry--until Ben vanishes.

Police are called, search parties go out, and Rachel, already insecure after her recent divorce, feels herself coming undone. As hours and then days pass without a sign of Ben, everyone who knew him is called into question, from Rachel's newly married ex-husband to her mother-of-the-year sister. Inevitably, media attention focuses on Rachel too, and the public's attitude toward her begins to shift from sympathy to suspicion.

As she desperately pieces together the threadbare clues, Rachel realizes that nothing is quite as she imagined it to be, not even her own judgment. And the greatest dangers may lie not in the anonymous strangers of every parent's nightmares, but behind the familiar smiles of those she trusts the most.

Where is Ben? The clock is ticking...

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

British author Macmillan alternates between two narrators in her haunting first novel: Rachel Finch, a grieving mother whose eight-year-old son, Ben, disappears from the Leigh Woods in Bristol 10 months after her husband left her for another woman; and Det. Insp. James "Jim" Clemo, who tirelessly searches to find Ben. Rachel can't forgive herself for letting her son run alone in the forest, and Jim blames himself for not solving the case sooner. In the aftermath of the investigation, Rachel learns disturbing things about her past and comes to the painful conclusion that she can trust only a few people in her life. Meanwhile, Jim suffers from severe depression that leads to acute insomnia and panic attacks, causing his department to mandate counseling sessions. The suspense intensifies as suspects are ruled out, and the media relentlessly pursue Rachel for negligent supervision of her son. Readers will have a tough time putting this one down. Agent: Nelle Andrew, Peters, Fraser and Dunlop (U.K.). (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Kirkus Review

The search for a missing boy is seen through the split perspective of his frantic mother and the police detective determined to solve the case, despite its deleterious effect on his psychological health. Newly divorced photographer mum Rachel Jenner thought she was giving her 8-year-old son, Ben Finch, a bit of freedom when she let him run ahead during a walk in a Bristol park. But when Ben vanishes, Rachel immediately blames herself, and the media is quick to paint her as a neglectful parent, too. Macmillan, in her debut, leans a bit hard on the "bad mother" trope, one that's been well-trodden in recent fiction, but she creates a compellingly complex investigator in DI Jim Clemo. The narrative is split not only between Rachel's and Clemo's perspectives, but also Clemo's post-investigation sessions with a department-ordered shrink, indicating that however the Finch investigation turned out, it wasn't pretty. As Rachel waits and frets at home, often in the company of her high-achieving older sister, Nicky, who clearly knows more than she lets on, Clemo and his fellow officers, including his secret girlfriend, DC Emma Zhang, whom he perhaps unwisely recommended as Family Liaison Officer for the case, try to piece together a case from a dearth of physical evidence. The requisite family secrets come to light, though Macmillan gets credit for some truly clever red herrings. While there's little new ground broken, the missing child scenario, when done reasonably well, as it is here, is a reliable hook, and with Macmillan's taut pacing, this is an engaging debut. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

It is every parent's nightmare: your young child goes missing after being out of sight for just one moment. When eight-year-old Ben runs ahead of his mother, Rachel, as they walk home from the park, she thinks nothing of it. After all, he has the family dog with him, and she knows the clearing he is headed for. But when she arrives mere minutes later, he's nowhere to be found, and the dog is there with a broken leg. After an intense police search of the area, Rachel and her ex-husband are left frightened and confused, and they know time is running out. Days pass and the police have few leads, while an anonymous blog (complete with awful comments from the peanut gallery) threatens to derail the investigation. The ensuing media circus turns Rachel's neighbors against her, and she is having a hard time trusting her own family, to say nothing of her ex. Macmillan peppers her debut with subtle red herrings and a variety of potential suspects, ratcheting up the tension slowly but oh so deliciously.--Vnuk, Rebecca Copyright 2015 Booklist