Good As Gone By Amy Gentry

[amazon_link id=”0008203172″ target=”_blank” ][/amazon_link]’Good As Gone’ is Amy Gentry’s first novel.

Eight years ago, thirteen-year-old Julie Whitaker was kidnapped from her bedroom in the middle of the night. In the years since, her family have papered over the cracks of their grief – while hoping against hope that Julie is still alive. And then, one night, the doorbell rings.

Yesterday I spent my day gripped by Amy’s debut book, an atmospheric and dark tale about every parents worst nightmare, when a child goes missing.

Cleverly the story starts with Anne retelling, the moment her daughter, Julie was taken away 8 years ago and then flashes to present time when Julie suddenly reappears in their life.

As the story flows, it’s seen from the narrative of both Anne and Julie as they settle into their lives together. As they have spent so many years apart and Julie has been through so much, the two women are like strangers and find it hard to be close, as Anne had always prepared herself to believe that her daughter would never return and when she reappears, she finds it hard to adjust especially when she finds that things about Julie don’t make sense and she begins to question whether Julie is really home or is someone impersonating her missing daughter.

Julie is an interesting woman. Having been missing for a number of years, she’s been through an awful lot and has had many demons to deal with. Her chapters alternate between different personas she’s had to become to survive over the years and cleverly with this different characters, you do wonder if she really is Julie.

Right from the start, there is an element of uncertainty in the story, as with Anne you begin to question Julie’s story and different things come to light but as the story progresses, it becomes darker and focuses on the subject of cults with the introduction of a creepy character called John David.

Riddled with suspense and complex characters, ‘Good As Gone’ is an emotionally charged and thrilling story that made for gripping reading, with clever plot twists and confused identities that keeps the reader on their toes, this debut was an exciting read.

You can pre-order [amazon_link id=”0008203172″ target=”_blank” ]Good as Gone from Amazon [/amazon_link] and will be available to buy from good bookshops from 6th April 2017.