The Day I Lost You: A Novel

Two women both claim they are the mother of two-year-old Sam. One of them, Lauren, is in Spain with Sam when the police arrive. Apparently, Hope, the other woman, and her husband, Drew, have alleged to UK police that Lauren abducted Sam. The narrative moves backwards in time from the near-present, through Drew’s admission of an affair (eighteen months earlier) to a car crash (twelve months before that), before finally bringing the story back to the present. The backtracking is a clever device that allows the author to allude to events that have already occurred but not yet shared with the reader. This compounds the mystery, leaving the reader intrigued and puzzled, albeit sometimes at sea. Matters become clearer as the gaps are filled in in the third part of the story to the point, indeed, where the reader may be able to guess the key incident precipitating the tragedy. The Day I Lost You is an ingeniously constructed mystery that lays bare the lengths to which a mother’s love will drive her. While the rather tame ending may not do justice to the emotional drama and shameful actions that precede it, this is a book well worth reading.