In this gripping debut, The Missing One, Lucy Atkins takes us on one woman’s terrifying journey to the beautiful and rugged Pacific Northwest to discover the dark secrets of her family’s past so that she can understand and accept herself. Kal McKenzie was never close to her mother Elena, whose coldness towards her spoiled any chance of a good relationship. When Elena dies of cancer, Kal feels forlorn: how do you mourn a mother who, inexplicably, just didn’t seem to love you?
While clearing out Elena’s art studio, Kal finds a drawer packed with postcards, each bearing an identical one-line message from a Canadian gallery owner named Susannah Gillespie: “Thinking of you.” Who is this woman and what does she hold the key to her ruined relationship with her mother?
Conflicted by her grief and shaken up from recently seeing a covetous text from an old girlfriend on her husband’s cell phone, Kal impulsively sets off with her toddler Finn to Susannah’s isolated home on a remote British Columbian island. A place of killer whales and storms.
Soon Kal quickly realizes she has made a big mistake. The striking and enigmatic Susannah will only share a few scraps of information about Elena. Unbeknownst to her, she discovers that her mother was a pioneering orca researcher–an activist trying to save these powerful and dangerous creatures.
As Kal struggles to piece together her mother’s past and what happened between Elena and Susannah in the 1970s, Susannah’s behavior grows more and more erratic. Most worrying of all, Susannah is becoming increasingly preoccupied with little Finn. Kal’s uneasiness soon proves true and Kal must confront the biggest threat to her family she has ever experienced.
Told in two competing narratives, The Missing One intermixes Kal’s present day journey to with that of her mother’s awakening as an independent woman, scientist, and activist. As these two narratives converge the novel transforms into a white-knuckle thriller where the secrets of the past imperil the lives of the present.
Interweaving local lore of how orcas protect those who travel away from home, and guides them back safely, in The Missing One Lucy Atkins wrestles with the question of how the past influences the present, and who has the right to own one’s history.
(P)2014 WF Howes Ltd
While clearing out Elena’s art studio, Kal finds a drawer packed with postcards, each bearing an identical one-line message from a Canadian gallery owner named Susannah Gillespie: “Thinking of you.” Who is this woman and what does she hold the key to her ruined relationship with her mother?
Conflicted by her grief and shaken up from recently seeing a covetous text from an old girlfriend on her husband’s cell phone, Kal impulsively sets off with her toddler Finn to Susannah’s isolated home on a remote British Columbian island. A place of killer whales and storms.
Soon Kal quickly realizes she has made a big mistake. The striking and enigmatic Susannah will only share a few scraps of information about Elena. Unbeknownst to her, she discovers that her mother was a pioneering orca researcher–an activist trying to save these powerful and dangerous creatures.
As Kal struggles to piece together her mother’s past and what happened between Elena and Susannah in the 1970s, Susannah’s behavior grows more and more erratic. Most worrying of all, Susannah is becoming increasingly preoccupied with little Finn. Kal’s uneasiness soon proves true and Kal must confront the biggest threat to her family she has ever experienced.
Told in two competing narratives, The Missing One intermixes Kal’s present day journey to with that of her mother’s awakening as an independent woman, scientist, and activist. As these two narratives converge the novel transforms into a white-knuckle thriller where the secrets of the past imperil the lives of the present.
Interweaving local lore of how orcas protect those who travel away from home, and guides them back safely, in The Missing One Lucy Atkins wrestles with the question of how the past influences the present, and who has the right to own one’s history.
(P)2014 WF Howes Ltd
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Reviews
Sinister, suspenseful and a great sense of place. It races along, as a family history is unpicked
A gripping page-turner
Taut, tense, and beautifully written. I held my breath between chapters and didn't sleep until I reached the end
An elegantly written page-turner which pulled me in from the start and held its grip until the final page
I absolutely loved this novel. The Other Child is seriously gripping, seriously scary and seriously brilliant
Truly unnerving. Atkins perfectly captures the vulnerability that comes with moving overseas, away from friends and support networks, and uses it expertly in this compelling novel. Not just one-more-page gripping but perceptive and beautifully written
The last book I read in one sitting like this was Louise Doughty's Apple Tree Yard. Like Louise, Lucy Atkins is brilliant at ramping up the tension so that there's not a chance of relief until the end
Addictive . . . a pace so relentless that you'll want to inhale this novel in one uninterrupted sitting
Atmospheric and packed with suspense, kept me on edge from start to finish
The rich characterisation makes for an alarmingly plausible riches-to-rags tale
This atmospheric, propulsive novel creeps up on you like footsteps in the dead of night... a tingling layer of gothic suspense
Fabulously dark
A complex, creepy and insidious novel
Sinister, utterly compulsive...will keep your pulse racing until its dramatic denouement
An absolute cracker...Fantastic!
Enjoyably creepy
Utterly gripping
Brilliantly believable...you will relish every page
This is an enthralling, creepy and endlessly twisty story about secrets, lies and the destructive power of ambition. We galloped to the climax. Five stars
I read this book in one sitting. A tense psychological thriller which explores authenticity, fame, and lies and the depths you might sink to in order to protect your reputation. A page-turner that keeps you gripped from the very first page
Such a sophisticated, layered read, I absolutely revelled in it. A wonderful, wonderful book. The plotting is superb but the real triumph is the characterisation. The moment I finished, I wanted to read it all over again
Horribly, horribly compulsive. Brilliant
Elegant, clever, beautifully written. Lucy Atkins is, quite frankly, a genius
Thrillingly creepy and darkly funny, The Night Visitor set me racing through the chapters with its brilliant plotting and characters that crackle off the page. A cannot tear yourself away novel
It's wonderfully creepy, in that clever way that is tied in with character, as much as plot and setting. And the beetle metaphor is just ingenious
It put me in mind of Misery, and Rebecca. Splendidly tense, creepy and enjoyable
One of the most vivid, memorable and menacing characters I've ever read...Dark, tense and menacing, I was quickly drawn into the story and couldn't put it down. Readers who enjoyed Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller will adore it
Characters so real you could reach out and touch them. Absorbing, exciting and full of rich detail - snap this one up!
Wonderfully dark and intriguing. In Vivian, Atkins has created a fascinating and sinister character who will stay with you long after you've finished the book. Highly recommended
The tension is immediate and unrelenting; the sense of unease palpable. Deceptive on every level, this is a gripping, Rendellesque read
Beautifully crafted, unsettling and utterly unputdownable, The Night Visitor explores what happens when we take someone else's story and make it our own
Crackles with undercurrents of mistrust and menace. Tense, atmospheric and beautifully written, this unnerving tale of ambition and revenge held me captive until the last page. Brilliant
Clever, multilayered and morally murky. I read it with a delicious sense of dread
Elegantly written with a rollercoaster of twists and turns, The Night Visitor has creepy echoes of Zoe Heller's Notes on a Scandal. I read it in two sittings
The Night Visitor is an addictive and intricately plotted page-turner. I devoured it and I loved it
Thrilling...the sort of book you think about even when not reading, and stay up far later than you should to finish. Atkins is a master of suspense; she creates characters that you feel like you've met, and situations you never want to be in. Completely wonderful
It's clever, complex and compelling and grips right up to that completely unexpected twist. A chilling psychological thriller with beetles!