Are You Local?

LOCAL GIRL MISSING by Claire Douglas

This is journalist Claire Douglas’s second book after her bestselling debut The Sisters. It centres around a seaside town and the mystery surrounding the disappearance and even possible death (no body was ever found) of Sophie, one of the novel’s two main protagonists, whose story is told through her diary entries throughout the book. The other main protagonist is an ex-resident of the town turned successful London business woman, Frankie, who tells her story to the reader in the present.

Sophie’s teenage diary entries are convincingly written with lots of authentic detail of 90’s pop music and fashion and contrast well with Frankie’s more mature and sophisticated narrative, giving the novel two equal but different voices that help drive the story along, as they often hold opposing views of the same incidents and the reader is left to make up their own mind as to who is telling the truth, which helps create tension and suspense throughout the novel.

The book starts well but the tension sags a little in the middle and the book becomes a bit repetitive with too many recaps. However, after the midway point, the pace gradually picks up speed and the plot becomes increasingly twisty and more complex: as the novel heads towards the climax there is new information thrown at the reader left, right and centre, which makes for an interesting ending.

Overall, this was an interesting, easy to read yet multi-layered story about a very complicated relationship between two best friends that starts simply and slowly but builds in tension and complexity as more and more dark secrets are revealed.

I’d like to thank Netgalley for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

3/5