Joe and Jenna were childhood friends. Her parents Alan and Helena Laskey had looked after Joe when his mother died and continued to provide a family environment when Joe's father failed to recover from his wife's death. Now Alan telephones and asks Joe to find Jenna, who had disappeared four years previously. At first, with the help of his girlfriend Sarah, who works for the Crown Prosecution Service, Joe tries all the usual avenues to trace a missing person, but both Jenna and her husband Chetwood have disappeared completely. So drawing a blank with the usual channels, Joe dredges up forgotten friends and tracks down family members who may give him a lead as to Jenna's whereabouts.
For Joe, this is more than just helping an old friend, as he admits to himself the guilt he feels for introducing Jenna to Chetwood, because after her marriage she changed. As he seeks Jenna ,he learns more about Chetwood, but conflicting information that produces more questions than answers. Did Jenna just fail to keep in touch, or is there a more sinister reason that she is cut off from all her family and friends? Struggling with his job at a high-powered law firm, conscious that Sarah is drifting away from him, caring for his taciturn and difficult father, and searching for Jenna, pulls Joe in many directions.
The balance of characters was interesting. Much was below the surface, building
the suspense. Set just before Christmas, and moving into a snowy winter, this
is a haunting book, for as Joe seeks information, the reader receives flashes
of insight into Jenna's character, but she remains for the main part veiled,
a beautiful ethereal figure that I wanted to discover and kept me turning the
pages. A compelling book. Recommended.
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Lizzie Hayes.
Crime novels also by Clare Francis, are Deceit, Betrayal, A Dark Devotion
and Keep Me Close.