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92nd out of 99 books
—
29 voters
Losing You
by
Nicci French
Nina Landry is supposed to be taking her two children on a Christmas holiday today. But the road away from Sandling Island seems littered with obstacles. Most pressing of all, her 15-year-old daughter, Charlie, has yet to return from a night out ...Minute by minute, Nina's unease builds to worry and then panic. Has Charlie run away? Or has something more sinister happened...more
Published
(first published January 1st 2006)
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This book was made very different by not having chapters. It caused it to be very difficult to put the book down since there were no breaks in the action. I found the book to be engrossing, and very quick to read. The story was very suspenseful and had lots of action. This was the first book I have read by Nicci French, and I enjoyed this one enough to read more by the author.
Nina Landry is thrilled to be going on a Christmas vacation with her two children and her boyfriend. Nina and her childr...more
Nina Landry is thrilled to be going on a Christmas vacation with her two children and her boyfriend. Nina and her childr...more
This is a book that is hard to put down (of course, the fact that there are no chapters adds to the difficulty). The plot moves along, fast and unforgiving and you move with it. Nina is recently divorced, and today on her fortieth birthday she and her two children are supposed to be leaving for Heathrow and from there to Florida. Her daughter, Charlie, is fifteen and hasn't come home from the sleepover she was at last night. Something about the situation just feels wrong to Nina, and she calls t...more
No need to go into the 'plot ' really as so many have done so before, suffice to say that it is dificult to imagine getting annoyed and bored with a woman character whose daughter has gone missing - but Losing You managed this for me.
The term comicbook heroine has been used before by other reviewers and a very perceptive description it is too. Nina is - reasonably- interesting at first, but you've got to wonder about a character/person who lets their teenage daughter sleep out overnight, unpacke...more
The term comicbook heroine has been used before by other reviewers and a very perceptive description it is too. Nina is - reasonably- interesting at first, but you've got to wonder about a character/person who lets their teenage daughter sleep out overnight, unpacke...more
5 likes · like · see review
I have to agree that if my teenaged child went missing, I would NOT be able to just sit and let the police do the investigating, especially when they are being way too by-the-book and methodical. The mom in Losing You is Nina, and her daughter has vanished right before a big and anticipated trip to America. All the action happens on their small English island town and is mostly Nina charging about, following one bit of inspiration after another. For the most part, the plot doesn't rely on farfet...more
I always approach thrillers with caution. Rarely do I read one in which I find that the characters and plot are equally strong, but Losing You gets everything right. Nina is celebrating her 40th birthday and about to leave her Sandling Island home (60 miles from London) with her teenage daughter, her 7 year old son and her new boyfriend. All of them have been looking forward to a Christmas vacation in Florida. But her daughter, Charlie, who has planned an unwelcome surprise party for her, is now...more
This book had a slow beginning, But i got better once i got into it. There was no chapters in the book it was all just a run on of a story witch did make it hard to put down. I liked how i never knew what was going to happen next. This story is about a Girl named Nina who is searching for her daughter Charlie, who had not come home one day after staying at a friends house. And the family was planing on going on a holiday vacation the next day to Florida. After hours of waiting for Charlie to com...more
Hmmm. The first third of this book was hard to get through. There were SO many characters, and a lot of them had similar names--Alex and Andrea, Rick and Rory--and that made it hard to keep track of everyone. And the mother was being rather stupid. If a 15-year old isn't in contact with you immediately on the morning after a sleep over which is also your birthday and the day you are leaving for holiday in America, you should start tracing her path RIGHT AWAY. Duh. And she kafuffled about way too...more
This is definitely a good candidate for long road trip entertainment. Fast-moving (action in less than 24 hours), very detailed, plausible story. Lost daughter and a desperate mother trying to find her. Everyone else is in slo-mo but she realizes early on that if she is going to find her, she is pretty much on her own. What learned? Probably 99% of teenagers that go missing have run away, so police response to incidents like this situation basically consist of wait a while and she or he will tur...more
Overall, a pretty good read. Most of the story is plausible. The author gives a great deal of detail about her surroundings.
I definitely understand Nina's need to actively search for her daughter. I can not imagine anything as horrifying as my child going missing. I do feel that she basically abandons her son in her desperate search for her daughter. I know she wanted him to be safe but he was as upset and scared as she. It felt unfair that she ignored him the entire time.
Their were also extra...more
I definitely understand Nina's need to actively search for her daughter. I can not imagine anything as horrifying as my child going missing. I do feel that she basically abandons her son in her desperate search for her daughter. I know she wanted him to be safe but he was as upset and scared as she. It felt unfair that she ignored him the entire time.
Their were also extra...more
OUTSTANDING!!! This is the first time I've read anything by the husband/wife team who form the pseudonym of Nicci French, and I must say that I was VERY pleasantly surprised. I started reading late last night and was finished within a 24-hour period, which is a rarity for me. I had the book clutched in my hands all day today, only taking two short breaks for lunch and dinner. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough, and didn't want to put it down until I'd reached the end. It was wonderfully writt...more
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Losing You by Nicci French is a story about a mother, secure in her new life and convinced that she shares everything with her children. This comes to a complete and sudden end when her daughter doesn’t come home. Frantic with apprehension and worry she contacts the local police that try to calm her and play down her anxieties. Frustrated with the apparent inactivity of the authorities she takes the investigation into her own hands. The facts she uncovers about her daughter, her friends, her nei...more
An impossible timeline - a week's worth of activities are accomplished in about 5 hours. A ridiculous scenario - a birthday party attended by a horde of people that the celebrant barely knows or doesn't know at all. Said surprise party scheduled two hours before celebrant and family are to leave for an international flight. Top all that off with a missing 15 year old daughter - the party planner. The mother/protagonist, Nina, chucks out the guests with maybe 15 minutes to go before departure tim...more
This book was interesting - it depicts two days in the life of a mother whose teenage daughter goes missing. Actually... maybe it was only two. Anyway, the pacing is great. I found some of the mom's actions / suspicions a little crazy but I loved the book until right at the very end.
i don't know why but for some reason I thought there was another twist coming. The last two scenes of the book were awkwardly stilted... so much so that I checked the book jacket to be sure I wasn't listening to an a...more
i don't know why but for some reason I thought there was another twist coming. The last two scenes of the book were awkwardly stilted... so much so that I checked the book jacket to be sure I wasn't listening to an a...more
Piece 'o crap thriller. A plot from which something could have been made, but wasn't.
Aug 19, 2012
Cláudia
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
mystery-thriller-suspense,
2012
This is actually a 2,5 star book.
I can't say how I would have behaved if my daughter went missing, but I can understand Nina. Even though, I couldn't like her, and she annoyed me extremely... Several other things in the book were strange, annoying and left us asking why were they even there in the 1st place or why weren't they explained. The cousin that arrives to take care of the dog while they go on vacation but then just lefts, the new boyfriend that it's simply stuck in traffic so it really...more
I can't say how I would have behaved if my daughter went missing, but I can understand Nina. Even though, I couldn't like her, and she annoyed me extremely... Several other things in the book were strange, annoying and left us asking why were they even there in the 1st place or why weren't they explained. The cousin that arrives to take care of the dog while they go on vacation but then just lefts, the new boyfriend that it's simply stuck in traffic so it really...more
I don't even have to go into much detail to review this book. I totally agree with everything Barbara Hoyland says in her review of it in June, so you can just go and read that. But here are a few of my own comments:
I usually like books by Nicci French as kind of a guilty pleasure once in a while. Some have been better than others, but I haven't totally disliked any. Until this one. It was just plain awful. I should have realized it when I had to read the very first line of the book 4 times, and...more
I usually like books by Nicci French as kind of a guilty pleasure once in a while. Some have been better than others, but I haven't totally disliked any. Until this one. It was just plain awful. I should have realized it when I had to read the very first line of the book 4 times, and...more
In Losing You, Nicci French has woven a tale bursting with emotional impact. The book reads like a personal experience, such is the depth of detail and intensity of feeling in the writing. And, for the reader, this is not so much a read as a personal trip taken with the extraordinary mother on her search for her missing daughter. I will say no more about the plot, as I have no wish to inflict spoilers on potential readers.
In common with many of today’s writers, I have a day job. Because I share...more
In common with many of today’s writers, I have a day job. Because I share...more
This was one of the most suspenseful mysteries I have read in a long time. It’s Nina’s birthday and she is getting ready to take her kids and her boyfriend to Florida for Christmas. While trying to get everything ready for the trip, a surprise birthday party occurs supposedly put together by her daughter, Charlie. When Charlie doesn’t show up for the party or for the departure of the trip, Nina becomes frantic with worry. The first thing she does is go to the police but they don’t believe Charli...more
I gave this a four....but was thinking a 3.75. :) Nice, quick, summer mystery read. I didn't think I would like it after the first five pages but then really got into it and read in four nights after putting kids to bed. There were a few key players and I would think I had the mystery solve but then the story would take a turn and having me second guess myself. Nice read it you're looking for something quick, not complex and to keep you interested.
I love Nicci French. Nothing too fancy, not gonna win any awards.... just a nice, solid thriller to get you through your long commute. This book centers around a middle aged woman whose daughter goes missing one day and inexplicably (but just like every other Nicci French book), no one else seems concerned or thinks anything is wrong. So its up to her to solve a crime where everyone is suspicious and things look hopeless for 95% of the book. The ending is a bit abrupt, but all in all, a solid sh...more
This was a surprisingly good book. I "read" it as an audiobook and had a little trouble listening to the English accent, but overall it was a book that kept me interested all the way through. It is about the strength of a mother's love, and her bond to her children. It did not resolve the way I expected. I recommend this to any mother who knows that the love for her children is the strongest tie in her life - I think any mother would sympathize and agonize right along with Nina. Good book. Will...more
I felt that this was a very quick read. Perhaps that was due to the fact that there were no chapters, it was just one bit story. It made it very hard to find a stopping place, encouraging you to continue reading.
After the first seventy pages, the story progressed nicely and kept the reader interested and on the edge of their seats.
It's the first book that I've read by Nicci, but it certainly won't be the last.
After the first seventy pages, the story progressed nicely and kept the reader interested and on the edge of their seats.
It's the first book that I've read by Nicci, but it certainly won't be the last.
I liked this one and would have rated it higher but the mother, Nina, drove me nuts at times. At the beginning she was all poor me, then after she realized Charlie was missing it seemed like she whined all the time about how she really didn't know her daughter at all. My first thought was what did you expect, most teens hide so much from their parents. I did like the action of the book. I wasn't sure who to pick as the bad guy.
I loved this book, for action and hard to put down, I would give it a 5. Since there are a few cuss words I did not like and it did not have chapters and the ending was so cut off like a cliff- might be 2 or 3? As some other mentioned it was a little too farfetched, but it was fiction? So I might overlook that? So anyway I settled on a 4 for how exciting it was and the character influence I got pulsing into my blood from Nina.
I love the way the suspense built, which I believe would be the case if this were an actual missing person situation. The police were plodding and dismissive, I hope not typical for such an event. I had a hard time putting the book down and actually finished it in the early hours of the morning because I couldn't sleep thnking about it. Have read most of the other Nicci French books and enjoyed them all.
My first read of a Nicci French book and I found it a real page turner. Read it in just a couple of days. I like the vivid descriptions of the landscape, the characters and the build up towards the plot at the end. The fear, frustration and despair of Charlie's mum and a sense of extreme urgency throughout the story is almost tangible. I will definitely read more books by this author.
Glad I didn't pay any money for this book. A harmless mystery written from the perspective of a mother who's daughter has gone missing. Some pointless characters eg her boyfriend who spends the entire novel stuck in a traffic jam. Ok for bringing on holidays, reading while drinking a cold beer at the pool and then leaving behind without a second thought in your hotel room.
This husband & wife team are one of my favourite authors & I've read all their books.
Synopsis
Nina Landry has given up city life for the isolated community of Sandling Island, lying off the bleak east coast of England. At night the wind howls. Sometimes they are cut off by the incoming tide. For Nina though it is home. It is safe. But when Nina's teenage daughter Charlie fails to return from a sleepover on the day they're due to go on holiday, the island becomes a different place altogeth...more
Synopsis
Nina Landry has given up city life for the isolated community of Sandling Island, lying off the bleak east coast of England. At night the wind howls. Sometimes they are cut off by the incoming tide. For Nina though it is home. It is safe. But when Nina's teenage daughter Charlie fails to return from a sleepover on the day they're due to go on holiday, the island becomes a different place altogeth...more
I read this book a while ago, and it took me a while to finish, as I kept taking long breaks from it. Though some parts were full of suspension, others felt like a drag (probably because the entire plot is in a time-span of one day).
The ending is very rushed and I felt there were many unanswered questions, leaving the reader a little confused and disappointed.
The ending is very rushed and I felt there were many unanswered questions, leaving the reader a little confused and disappointed.
The last scene was worth the whole book. I had a little problem with the characters and their relationship to others in the book. (I admittedly have a problem with names.) The flow of the book was not great but that could have been intentional to show the craziness of the day the main character was having. I will look for other things by this author.
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Note: (Nicci Gerrard and Sean French also write separately.)
Nicci Gerrard was born in June 1958 in Worcestershire. After graduating with a first class honours degree in English Literature from Oxford University, she began her first job, working with emotionally disturbed children in Sheffield. In that same year she married journalist Colin Hughes.
In the early eighties she taught English Literature...more
More about Nicci French...
Nicci Gerrard was born in June 1958 in Worcestershire. After graduating with a first class honours degree in English Literature from Oxford University, she began her first job, working with emotionally disturbed children in Sheffield. In that same year she married journalist Colin Hughes.
In the early eighties she taught English Literature...more
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Dec 14, 2008 09:22pm
Dec 17, 2008 06:34am