A Birthday You'd Never Forget (Losing You - Nicci French)

Member Name: salem_witch

Product:	Losing You - Nicci French
Date:	09/12/07 (229 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: An easy to read gripping thriller

Disadvantages: The ending isn't the best

Having read a handful of Nicci French books I grabbed 'Losing You' off the shelf at the library thinking it would do. I tried to recall what I thought of the previous books but my mind went blank. I thought that they must have liked them as I tend to remember the ones I dislike and had I loved them then I'd have also have remembered. I had no high expectations of 'Losing You' and sometimes that can be for the best. Nicci French is in fact a pseudonym for Nicci Gerrard and Sean French. They are a married couple who write in unison without the reader being able to tell who is who. I did a quick search to see who they went about this and they said they wrote a chapter and then passed it over to the other. They read it; made any alterations they wanted and wrote the next one and so on. All I can say is they must get on very well to do this and their writing styles must be very similar!

Nina Landry has a busy day ahead of her. She and her new boyfriend are heading off to Florida with her children for a Christmas break. Not only that but it's Nina's fortieth birthday. It's morning time and she is having car problems so she's turned to a neighbour who is trying to fix it. On top of that he isn't sure if Charlie, her 15 year old daughter, is home from a sleepover the previous night. Being a typical teenager she promised she'd do her packing, some chores as well as her paper round before they have to set off to Heathrow.

Nina moved to Sandling Island, in East Anglia, with her husband Rory 2 years ago when he wanted to start up a restaurant. She was reluctant to move from London but in the end she grew to love it. The restaurant failed and Rory left the island and his family. She's not been with her boyfriend all that long but she's happy and he's given her a new lease of life. So she's really looking forward to her holiday. On arriving home to do some last minute preparations for their holiday Nina discovers that Charlie isn't home yet. There is a knock at the door and it turns out that Charlie has organised a surprise birthday party much to her dismay. Amongst all the chaos of the uninvited guests Nina continues to get things ready as well as leaving more messages of Charlie's mobile seeing as she's not answering it. She can't understand what's taking her so long.

She contacts the police and after looking around her room and seeing a few things are missing they imply that she has run away. It certainly looks that way to an outsider but Nina knows Charlie wouldn't do that. She was looking forward to Florida as much as she was. If she ran away then why organise the surprise birthday? Has something happened to her? Adamant that something has happened rather than running away Nina starts to look for Charlie herself seeing as the police aren't taking it seriously. Will she find her? Will they still manage to go on holiday?

Nina is the narrator so not only do you follow her trying to find her daughter you also hear her fears and thoughts. She is very likeable but at the same time very determined. She won't just sit at home and let the police deal with it, as she's sure they're not trying hard enough. As the story unravels we get to know Nina very well. From her relationship with her children, ex husband, boyfriend and the man she had a fling with. We learn that although she likes it on Sandling Island she doesn't really know people all that well yet. Not only does her character come to life but also so does Charlie's. From the very start of the book Charlie is introduced to us from her mothers narration as well as conversations with others. It becomes clear that she is an independent young lady who doesn't tell her mother much. But then again what teenager does!

Whilst reading 'Losing You' I found that French's description of all the characters made it more enjoyable. Even the Labrador Sludge came to life and was described very well instead of a fleeting mention. I did feel, however, that her son Jackson didn't come across too well. For an 11 year old he was a bit of a wimp. I know his sister was missing but I thought he came across much younger than he was. He was into his gadgets and technology, which I found believable but overall I found that I didn't warm to him much. Even though Charlie was the one that was missing I felt I knew her more.

The whole book is actually set in one day. There are constant reminders of the time so you're always aware what the time is. Even on the back cover the blurb was all done under times. This underlined the sense of urgency that Nina has in finding Charlie. Then later on it proves useful when Nina thinks back to what happened at different times when she 's trying to puzzle out where Charlie was and what she was doing.

One thing that I wasn't over keen on was there were no chapters just spaces to indicate where a chapter could have been. Even then one section could go on for a long time. So finding a natural place to stop reading sometime proved a bit difficult. It wasn't that much of a problem but for those who read books in small bits on the commute to work could find this annoying.

I wish I could remember other Nicci French books to compare 'Losing You' to but if I'm honest I can't recall anything about them. I wouldn't say this was a riveting read but it was certainly much better than I originally expected. The setting on an island was different to most crime fiction books I normally read so that was good. Plus the narration was from the missing persons mother rather than a detective so this gave it a different perspective on things. Another nice thing is it isn't in a series so you don't need to make sure you're reading books in order. As much as I liked it and would recommend it to others there were a few things that I didn't like. Nina's character at times was a bit unbelievable. I'm not saying that it wouldn't happen but the way she went round 'interviewing' people and trying to find Charlie didn't quite feel right at times. Also there were a few things at the end that I felt hadn't been explained. Obviously I can't say what as it would spoil it for those who want to read it. All I can say is the reason for everything happening didn't seem very plausible.

Overall I would recommend it especially to those who have read and enjoyed previous efforts from Nicci French.

Summary: A gripping story about a mother looking for her teenage daughter