Book Review | Both of You #20booksofsummer21

I mean what better way to start off this year’s challenge with a book that wasn’t on my original list and one that is a book that I was supposed to read at the end of May. That’s what I love about the 20 books of summer challenge you can make it up as you go along.

Both of You
Adele Parks

Leigh Fletcher: happily married stepmum to two gorgeous boys goes missing on Monday. Her husband Mark says he knows nothing of her whereabouts. She simply went to work and just never came home. Their family is shattered.

Kai Janssen: married to wealthy Dutch businessman, Daan, vanishes the same week. Kai left their luxurious penthouse and glamourous world without a backward glance. She seemingly evaporated into thin air. Daan is distraught.

DC Clements knows that people disappear all the time – far too frequently. Most run away from things, some run towards, others are taken but find their way back. A sad few never return. These two women are from very different worlds, their disappearances are unlikely to be connected. And yet, at a gut level, the DC believes they are.

How could these women walk away from their families, husbands and homes willingly? Clements is determined to unearth the truth, no matter how shocking and devastating it may be.

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This is the first Adele Parks book that I have read, I have heard really good things about other books that she has written so I was excited to get my hands on this book.

I have to say that this is a thriller with an angle that was very unexpected and exceptionally intriguing but it is also the kind of book that you really don’t want to know too much about before you read it so this review is going to be a little short but sweet.

This is the first book I have read that involves the pandemic in the storyline, mostly because I have been avoiding books on the topic but actually I think it was really interesting as a backdrop and really helped to add an extra level of suspense to an already brilliantly tense story. I also really enjoyed that whilst this is a thriller and we are waiting to find out what has happened to Leigh and Kai, it is also an interesting look at family dynamics, we really get to explore what happens to the families in a time of trauma and uncertainty.

I was kept guessing for quite a while in this book, I had an inkling of how it was going to end but then something else would happen that made me question my predictions and that’s something I enjoyed, being thrown off the scent having those doubts. I did at points think that DC Clements could have been utilised more but actually having a few days to sit with the story I quite like that the focus wasn’t entirely on the police investigation and that there is an element of her having to catch up to the events, which also helped with the tension in the story.

The characters all have some secrets which of course always makes things more fascinating and kept me wondering about their motivations, they are the kind of characters that you want to keep reading about even when you feel very far removed from them. I feel like that will make more sense when you read the book.

Both of You is a highly enjoyable and surprising book and I am looking forward to reading some more of Adele Parks books.