Best book of 2020 so far!
I find it really hard to review thrillers well and keep it spoiler free so hopefully this succeeds well enough, and to an extent that y’all understand exactly why it’s so good!
With this being the second book in the series i found that I got into this book and the story so much more easily as everything was already established. Because the first one was about who had killed Andie Bell, as Pip, our MC, didn’t believe that Sal Singh - who had been convicted of the murder - had in fact done it, the whole time you were asking yourself “who dun it??” With this book being about a missing boy - Jamie, and Pip trying to find him, there was less who dun it because for most of the book we didn’t know what had been done which made the reading process even more enjoyable because I had no idea how it was going to end!
I loved loved loved the last 50 pages especially. My heart rate was through the roof with adrenaline getting towards the end, anxiously waiting to see what the end would be, and I could not have put the book down even if I had to! I was desperate to find out what everything meant!
The creep factor was still present even without an ever-present constant threatening like seen in the first book. In fact the one scene where the “baddie” obviously displays they know pip is involved only consists of about 4 words but is made even more creepy because of this!
The plot points I thought I was guessing were so wrong but also by the end it became obvious that was what you were meant to think and believe, to mislead you - all more evidence of Holly Jackson’s exemplary writing and story crafting.
The way Holly Jackson managed to link the first book with this one, and make all the plots feasible is genuinely a stroke of genius! No plot holes or missing gaps here! I think she’s got to be one of the best story crafters I’ve read!
The. characters were just as loveable as in the first book, and shoot me but I liked that there were a few relationship moments between Pip and Ravi in this one (I’m a hopeless romantic)
The only thing I guessed was one persons involvement but I had no clue what that involvement was going to be. The interaction between this character and Pip seemed a bit too random to not mean something so felt slightly out of place but I still didn’t guess anything specific, so clearly the book/twists and turns did their job!

I’m going to recommending this for years to come, and anything Holly Jackson ever publishes I’ll be there for! If you haven’t, go and read!

TW: mention of death and rape threats, missing persons, rapist - though no scenes of rape are described, violent death, internal struggles of self-worth