Hold My Hand By M.J Ford

[amazon_link id=”0008258821″ target=”_blank” ][/amazon_link]’Hold My Hand’ is M.J Ford’s debut novel.

When a young Josie Masters sees a boy wearing a red football shirt, Dylan Jones, being taken by a clown at a carnival, she tries to alert the crowds. But it’s too late. Dylan has disappeared. Thirty years later, Josie is working as a police officer in Bath. The remains of the body of a child have been found – complete with tatters of a torn red football shirt. Is it the boy she saw vanish in the clutches of the clown? Or is it someone else altogether? And then another child disappears…

When I initially started this book, I found it a bit hard to get into, I found the to be chapters quite long, I prefer short and snappier that really pull the reader in. But, I persisted and I’m so glad that I did, as this book turned out to be one of the most twisted stories that I’ve read in a while and really did keep me on my toes.

The story is seen solely through the perspective of Josie Masters, who when she was little girl, witnessed a little boy being kidnapped. She was only witness to this crime and for years, wondered what became of the little boy. Now a woman, she’s a police officer and it’s now her job to find missing people and when thirty years later, an almost identical crime occurs to the one she witnessed, she becomes obsessed with the case, investigating it obsessively whilst resurrecting old ghosts and memories.

Josie is a great lead, she’s strong and determined and even though she has her own struggles and issues in life, she doesn’t let it distract her from her job. She’s smart and notices things around her, that her colleagues fail to notice which makes her such a dominant character and keeps the reader engaged.

There are smaller stories weaved through the main plot line and they are all so cleverly written with many shocks and twists throughout the tale, that connect seamlessly together at the end. The story is also riddled with many untrustworthy and dodgy characters that you regularly feel like you’ve solved the crime, only to be stumped in the way, once they prove to be innocent.

Riddled with deceit and suspense, ‘Hold My Hand’ is an engaging debut thriller, that flows at a fast pace and once you’re into it, it’s impossible to put down. A chillingly realistic tale about every parents worst nightmare, that will have you hooked to each page.

You can buy [amazon_link id=”0008258821″ target=”_blank” ]Hold My Hand from Amazon [/amazon_link] and is available to buy from good bookshops.