With 11-and-a-half months to go in 2018 as I write my review, it's too early to say this - but say it I will: If you have but one book to read this year, make it this one.
Yep, it's that good. It grabbed my mind in the beginning and didn't let go till the end (and beyond - the next day as I finish my review I still feel like I've been run over with a Mack truck).
The story begins in 1996, when a teenage girl named Claire is playing with friends and her little sister Eleanor ("Lenni") on the beach near the family's Trevellin Farm on coastal England. Striving to be independent, as young children do, Lenni begs Claire to let her go off on her own to buy an ice cream cone. Caught up in the thrill of the waves, Claire reluctantly hands her some money and warns her to hurry.
But somewhere between there and back, Lenni disappears - and remains missing in 2017, when the here-and-now story kicks in. Claire still lives in a cottage on the farm near her parents, but now she's a successful realtor, married to a neurosurgeon and has two children. Her father, Patrick, has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's and is declining rapidly, forcing her mother to seriously consider selling the property (to which Patrick is vehemently opposed). In an effort to help boost his failing memory, Claire decides to host a reunion of the old gang of kids who used to play together. The group includes Claire's best friend Maggie, would-be restaurateur Nick and her brother, Jason, who's married to a very pregnant-with-twins wife.
The idea is met with enthusiasm by all, except perhaps Claire's husband Callum, but take nothing at face value: All the guests are bringing baggage beyond the cases that carry their clothing. Maggie has made a career out of hopping from one boyfriend to another, turning her daughter, Rain, into the teenager from hell. Nick, who was Claire's first love, is struggling with serious family issues as well as his upcoming restaurant launch. Jason is looking forward to fatherhood, but not to seeing his own father - from whom he's been estranged for years. That issue, Claire hopes, will be resolved at the get-together.
Interspersed throughout the book are chapters that show flashes of the past, each adding clues as to what the future may hold. But then, the unthinkable happens: Another girl goes missing. From that point on, there's never a dull moment (although in all honesty, I didn't notice any dull moments before she disappeared, either). The tension - and surprises - just keep mounting all the way to the jaw-dropping end. Whew!
Now that I can breathe again, I guess all that's left is to highly recommend this book and thank the publisher for allowing me to read it in exchange for an honest review. Did I say whew?
The Reunion by Samantha Hayes (Bookouture, February 2018); 410 pp.
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