FINDING SOPHIE

Two South London parents take the search for their missing daughter into their own hands.

Six weeks ago, 17-year-old Sophie King went missing. Her parents, Zara and Harry, have lost confidence in the police investigation, especially since one of their neighbors, Herman in number 210, has refused all questioning. The Kings begin their own separate investigations, each in their own way: Harry patrolling the area and quick to anger, Zara subtly infiltrating Sophie’s social circle. Both are rash but make significant discoveries. Meanwhile, a year later, a murder trial is about to commence. As the novel jumps between the two timelines and Zara’s and Harry’s points of view, the truth of what happened to Sophie slowly comes into view. Though the novel is about a missing girl, the focus is less on the search for her than on how her disappearance affects her parents; it doesn’t quite have the breakneck pace of a thriller but feels more like a slow unraveling. While having only so much information keeps the reader happily guessing, the switching between time periods and between days within those periods can become confusing when events that had seemed to take place on the same day suddenly diverge. The novel hits its stride in the back half, when the focus becomes the trial and the small tricks and maneuvering of the plaintiffs bring surprise after surprise. The last 30 pages have more to say than the first 80, perhaps, but it’s worth it to get there.

A slow but steady burn.