bring me bacck

3 stars (release date June 19, 2018)

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Finn and Layla are a young couple on holiday in France. They stop at a rest stop and Layla disappears. Was she kidnapped? Was she murdered? Did she run away? No one knows and a body is never found. Twelve years later Finn is living in a small English town engaged to Layla’s sister, Ellen. He begins receiving mysterious emails telling him that Layla is alive. He and Ellen also begin finding Layla’s favorite Russian dolls around the house – a special secret that only Layla, Finn and Ellen know about. As Finn tries to hide Layla’s possible return from Ellen, he becomes more and more frantic to determine if she is really alive, or if someone is just toying with him.

As with the author’s last book, the story starts out strong and then slowly slips into a predictable mystery that has been done before. The book is told mainly from Finn’s point of view – in the past and in the present – but is occasionally told from Layla’s perspective. I figured out the twist fairly early in the book. While the book isn’t that long, the middle and end seemed to really drag and I found myself skimming the last 1/3 of the book. Finn was supposed to be a really smart guy that makes millions in the financial world, but made strange decisions and wasn’t too bright. Ellen was very one note and most of the time I forgot she was even in the story. Overall, the book was ok.