Losing You [Hardcover]

Nicci French (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2008

It’s Nina Landry’s birthday, and she’s supposed to have her kids ready to leave in a few hours for a Christmas holiday in Florida with her new boyfriend, but her fifteen-year-old daughter Charlie spent the night at a friend’s and hasn’t come home yet. Not by ten a.m., not by eleven. Nina is getting angry---they have a plane to catch, and Charlie hasn’t even bothered to pack. As time passes, though slower and slower by the minute, Nina becomes uneasy. Her anger gives way to worry, and that worry quickly builds into panic.

By one p.m., she’s wondering, has Charlie run away, or has something far worse happened? And why won’t anyone---not the cops, not Charlie’s friends, not Charlie’s father---take her disappearance seriously?

As day turns to night on their home of Sandling Island sixty miles from London, and a series of ominous secrets leads Nina from sickening suspicion to deadly certainty, the question becomes less whether she and her daughter will leave the island in time and more whether they’ll ever leave it again.

In Losing You, the newest thriller from the long-acclaimed master of psychological suspense, Nicci French unravels one mother’s life and replaces it with every mother’s worst nightmare.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. A mother fights to keep her composure as she hunts for her missing child in this nuanced, literate thriller from the husband-wife writing team of Nicci Gerrard and Sean French (Killing Me Softly). Shortly before Christmas, Nina Landry, a divorced mother of two living on isolated Sandling Island somewhere in the south of England, is getting ready for a family vacation in Florida that will include her new marine biologist boyfriend. Blindsided by a surprise 40th birthday party, Nina is further disconcerted when her 15-year-old daughter, Charlie, who was supposed to help with the packing, fails to come home from a slumber party. Nina's seamless first-person account of the next 24 hours mines the frustration and feelings of helplessness that come with any investigation slowed by the rigmarole of police work. This engrossing read captures the importance of the often overlooked and underappreciated minutiae of everyday life while commanding a deeply personal reaction in readers. (Apr.)
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Review

Praise for Nicci French

“Nicci French . . . know[s] exactly how to maintain the tension . . . You live through every nail-biting minute.”
--The Guardian (UK) on Losing You

“They have mastered suspense . . . The heart pounds from the first page . . . This is a book that keeps you reading into the small hours.”
--The Observer (UK) on Losing You

“Nicci French has become synonymous with suspense.”
--New York Daily News on Catch Me When I Fall

“Nicci French is a specialist in the kind of evil that burrows from within.”
--The New York Times Book Review on Secret Smile

“Suspenseful from the start and ending with a brilliant twist.”
--People, “Page-turner of the Week,” on The Red Room

“Genuine chills and page-turning suspense.”
--Entertainment Weekly on Land of the Living

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (April 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312375387
• ISBN-13: 978-0312375386
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,400,241 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars LOST HOLIDAY, April 4, 2008

By 

BARBARA GERSHENABUM "BOOK MAVEN" (CONNECTICUT United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Losing You (Hardcover)

Nina Landry, her daughter Charlie, and son Jackson along with Christian, Nina's love interest are supposed to be getting ready to leave Sandling Island for a Christmas vacation in Florida. Coincidently, today happens to be her fortieth birthday, too. Their plane is scheduled to leave Heathrow at 6p.m., thus the whole family thinks it has plenty of time for last minute errands and packing. And the last thing on Nina's mind or agenda is a morning surprise birthday party planned by her daughter, who has not been seen since she left for an overnight pajama party the evening before. As soon as Nina realizes that Charlie is really missing she asks the celebrants to leave the house and she begins a frantic search for her. She tries to get help from the local constabulary, her ex-husband and Charlie's friends. Unfortunately no one believes that the teen is really in trouble.
Nicci French (husband and wife writing team of journalists Nicci Gerrard and Sean French) has never let her readers down. The first few lines grab the reader and keep her/him glued to the book. Fast pacing, spare prose and a story every parent can identify with make LOSING YOU another winner for fans.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Can't put it down, edge of your seat kind of mystery..., June 14, 2008

By 

Kel "acountkel" (Charlotte, NC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Losing You (Hardcover)

This was one of the most suspenseful mysteries I have read in a long time. It's Nina's birthday and she is getting ready to take her kids and her boyfriend to Florida for Christmas. While trying to get everything ready for the trip, a surprise birthday party occurs supposedly put together by her daughter, Charlie. When Charlie doesn't show up for the party or for the departure of the trip, Nina becomes frantic with worry. The first thing she does is go to the police but they don't believe Charlie is in danger. Just another teenager who is trying to make a statement with her parents by hiding out for a night. Nina doesn't believe it so she takes it upon herself to try and find her daughter. As a mother, Nina's gut feeling is, something is drastically wrong here. As a mother, the thought of a missing child can suck the life right out of you. I was pulling for Nina every step of the way.
This is a quick read and it keeps you on the edge of your seat right up until the end. Highly recommend.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great thriller with a lot of realism, September 21, 2008

By 

Mary (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Losing You (Hardcover)

I've read many books by Nicci French and they (because it's actually two authors) never let me down with their plotting and suspense. What I most enjoyed about this book is how realistic the mother's actions were once she learned her daughter was missing. As I read it, I kept thinking, Yes! That's exactly how I would respond as well, especially all the times she was impatient with the people she interviewed and the police who weren't moving fast or smart enough for her. She was a mother bear searching for her cub, she had no time to waste and it all just rang spot on for me. Keep up the excellent work, Nicci French!