Description

In the award-winning Elizabeth is Missing debut novelist Emma Healey explored grandmother Maud’s attempt to solve a 70-year-old mystery as she succumbed to dementia.

Now, in her dazzling follow-up Whistle in the Dark, we meet Jen, mother to 15-year-old Lana – who has just been found after going missing for four desperate days. Lana can’t talk about the missing days. As her daughter’s life falls apart, Jen turns detective to discover what happened . . .

How do you rescue someone who has already been found?

Jen’s fifteen-year-old daughter goes missing for four agonizing days. When Lana is found, unharmed, in the middle of the desolate countryside, everyone thinks the worst is over. But Lana refuses to tell anyone what happened, and the police think the case is closed. The once-happy, loving family returns to London, where things start to fall apart. Lana begins acting strangely: refusing to go to school, and sleeping with the light on.
With her daughter increasingly becoming a stranger, Jen is sure the answer lies in those four missing days. But will Lana ever reveal what happened?

‘A psychological thriller that meshes the homely with the Gothic’ Literary Review

‘Oozing with tension and written with captivating brilliance’ Heat

‘As gripping as its predecessor’ Elle

‘Gripping, deeply affecting’ Irish Times

Publisher Review

A compelling modern family drama with witty and wonderful characters. Utter bliss. -- Nina Stibbe This novel is a beautiful and rare thing - a page turning thriller with all the pain, warmth and humour of authentic family life portrayed. I absolutely loved it. -- Kate Hamer, author of 'The Girl in the Red Coat' Utterly compelling and insightful, I was drawn into this family in crisis from the first chapter of this unflinchingly honest and beautifully written novel -- Rosamund Lupton, bestselling author of 'Sister' Healey is a natural story-teller -- Claire Fuller, author of 'Our Endless Numbered Days' I don't know anyone else who writes like this. Emma Healey's voice soars, sings and startles as she takes you right under the skin of her characters. She 'magics' the ordinary into the extraordinary and, just as impressively, transposes the extraordinary to the ordinary. Unforgettable. -- Jane Corry, bestselling author of 'My Husband's Wife' Will stir and shake you -- Emma Donoghue, author of Room on 'Elizabeth is Missing' Very good indeed -- Jojo Moyes on 'Elizabeth is Missing' A thrillingly assured, haunting and unsettling novel. I read it at a gulp -- Deborah Moggach on 'Elizabeth is Missing' I've never read anything like it -- Ruth Rendell on 'Elizabeth is Missing' A dark and riveting psychological thriller * Stylist on 'Elizabeth is Missing' * Every bit as compelling as the frenzied hype suggests. A gripping detective yarn and a haunting depiction of mental illness * Observer on 'Elizabeth is Missing' * Tender, fascinating, compelling, charming * Evening Standard on 'Elizabeth is Missing' * Harrowing, touching and hugely memorable. No conventional crime novel but a compelling work that crosses literary genres * Sunday Times on 'Elizabeth is Missing' *