Published by Bookouture on December 5 2018
Genres: Mystery, Thriller
Pages: 247
Amazon UK, , iBooks, Kobo
Goodreads
Someone took your daughter. And nobody believes you …
Then: Three-year-old Ally was found alone in a parking lot. She was barefoot and dressed only in a yellow sundress. In the middle of winter. What kind of person would abandon their daughter?
Now: Fifteen years later and Ally has a new family. But her real father has sent her a letter. And now Ally is missing.
A gripping twist-filled thriller that will have you looking over your shoulder. Perfect for fans of Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train and Teresa Driscoll.
Today I have the pleasure of welcoming Erik Therme to my blog today with an excerpt
Gemma’s Book Reviews says
A fast paced thriller, mystery and suspense filled story. I actually devoured this in an evening and stayed up late especially to finish it. Brilliant. I loved every minute of it. A well deserved five stars from me. Highly recommend! Plenty of twists and unexpected turns for the reader to endure in this one. A real page turner. Will Ally be found?
The author had me totally engrossed in what I was reading. I was desperate to find out more about where Ally had gone and to finding out more about her real parents. There are so many twists and turns throughout that had me totally glued to what was happening within the pages. It will have you changing your mind about certain characters as the author very cleverly messes with your head.
Hooked from Page One says
Keep Her Close moves along at a very quick pace, and it heats up as Dan and Holly try and track their daughter down. Erik Therme did a great job of keeping up the tension, and his writing style made it a very easy book to get into, you know when you just think, I’ll just read on for one more chapter, then another, and then another; this is that type of book. And I think here this is all down to the characters and the events they become mixed up in. I think what also made this a gripping read is that I could never be sure what the outcome was going to be for the characters, and I could never really be sure what had happened to Ally, and if whether or not she had chosen to disappear of her own accord. That was one idea that was going around inside my head.
PROLOGUE
The girl was three, maybe four years old and looked as if she hadn’t bathed in days. Her hair was a snarl of knots and mismatched hair clips, and a yellow sundress hung loosely on her tiny frame, just shy of her toes. She wasn’t wearing shoes.
“Dan?” Holly asked uneasily.
“Yeah,” Dan said. “I see her.”
He kept the driver-side door open after he exited the truck. They had been on their way to a midnight movie running late
The last thing they expected to find was a child slumped by the corner stairwell. The girl didn’t look scared, only tired and indifferent.
Her eyes were fixed on Holly, who was now in front of the truck, partially blocking one headlight.
“Are you alone?” Holly asked, enunciating each word. “Are you lost?”
The girl gave no reply. She was standing on a scrap of weathered cardboard covered in faded writing.
Homeless, was Dan’s first thought. Mom and Dad were probably sleeping it off nearby or scrounging through garbage cans for food or recyclables.
“We should call the police,” Holly said, digging inside her purse. “Should I call them? I’m calling.”
Dan kept his distance from the girl as he checked the stairwell. Some parents weren’t above using their children to lure in victims to mug, and in this day and age, you couldn’t be too careful.
“I forgot my phone,” Holly said. Her knees popped as she squatted before the girl with a smile. “Hi. I’m Holly. Do you have a name?”
“Let’s take her into the mall,” Dan said. “Someone who works inside the movie theater can help.”
Holly ignored him. “Did your parents bring you here? Did you lose them?”
The girl slowly raised her thumb to her mouth. Her fingernails were chipped rectangles, and her hands were chapped and grimy.
“Holly,” Dan said firmly, “we should take her inside.”
“I don’t think we should try and touch her. You go. I’ll wait here.”
Dan glanced around. “I’m not leaving you out here alone—”
“We’re going to be fine,” Holly said, nodding at the girl. “Aren’t we? Everyone is going to be fine, and before you know it, we’re going to find your daddy and your mommy.”
The girl’s eyes widened.
“Your mommy,” Holly said again. “Do you know where she went? Can you show me?”
The girl’s face began to twitch and pull. She took two shuffling steps forward, and Dan’s stomach roiled when he read the words FREE TO A GOOD HOME written across the cardboard.
“Dan?”
The girl was pointing toward the corner of the parking garage. Not at the corner itself—past it. Out into the distance. Dan moved to the edge, his hands fused to the concrete wall as he looked over the side.
Three stories down, on the pavement below, lay the twisted body of a woman in a growing pool of dark blood.
Thanks to Emma at Damppebbles for the tour invite and the author for a copy of the book in return for my honest and unbiased review
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