Sara Foster's Blog
April 1, 2025
When She Was Gone is out today!
Hi GoodReads readers!
I'm so thrilled to be introducing you to my new psychological suspense story When She Was Gone. My last book, The Hush (2021) was a near-future dystopia, and You Don’t Know Me came out in 2019, so another psychological suspense thriller was well overdue and I was itching to find a good story!
The story starts on a remote beach in the southwest of Australia where early one morning an au pair called Louisa vanishes with the two young children in her care.
At first, there is little clue to what has happened, but the young children belong to a high profile and very wealthy Australian family called the Fishers - and so the news spreads like wildfire, upping the stakes and drawing media, police, search teams and onlookers to the tiny settlement between Dunsborough and Eagle Bay.
The story is told mostly from two points of view, and the first is the senior detective in charge of the case, Mal Blackwood. He’s about to retire after having had a dream career, during which he’s won two police medals. but he’s going through a tricky time in his personal life, and being pulled into this final huge case threatens to derail him.
Meanwhile, Rose, Louisa’s mother, has been estranged from her daughter for a long time, but still loves and cares for her daughter very much - and she’s also a former police officer and hostage negotiator who has her own insights into how the investigation should run. When she spots holes in the police efforts, she starts to do her own thing - much to the annoyance of Blackwood.
And then a disturbing piece of evidence is found on a nearby strip of beach, and it becomes clear to all of them that they are in a race against time to bring Louisa and the kids safely home.
Once I had the initial concept of the au pair and the missing kids, I quickly knew that the remote southwest beaches of WA would make the perfect setting, and when I hit on the character of Louisa’s estranged mother Rose the story grew from there. By incorporating the wealthy Fisher family, I also got to play with ideas around wealth, power, misogyny and control, so I could build depth into these characters and relationships. It’s been an absolute labour of love to get this into tip-top shape and I hope you really enjoy the story.
I'm so thrilled to be introducing you to my new psychological suspense story When She Was Gone. My last book, The Hush (2021) was a near-future dystopia, and You Don’t Know Me came out in 2019, so another psychological suspense thriller was well overdue and I was itching to find a good story!
The story starts on a remote beach in the southwest of Australia where early one morning an au pair called Louisa vanishes with the two young children in her care.
At first, there is little clue to what has happened, but the young children belong to a high profile and very wealthy Australian family called the Fishers - and so the news spreads like wildfire, upping the stakes and drawing media, police, search teams and onlookers to the tiny settlement between Dunsborough and Eagle Bay.
The story is told mostly from two points of view, and the first is the senior detective in charge of the case, Mal Blackwood. He’s about to retire after having had a dream career, during which he’s won two police medals. but he’s going through a tricky time in his personal life, and being pulled into this final huge case threatens to derail him.
Meanwhile, Rose, Louisa’s mother, has been estranged from her daughter for a long time, but still loves and cares for her daughter very much - and she’s also a former police officer and hostage negotiator who has her own insights into how the investigation should run. When she spots holes in the police efforts, she starts to do her own thing - much to the annoyance of Blackwood.
And then a disturbing piece of evidence is found on a nearby strip of beach, and it becomes clear to all of them that they are in a race against time to bring Louisa and the kids safely home.
Once I had the initial concept of the au pair and the missing kids, I quickly knew that the remote southwest beaches of WA would make the perfect setting, and when I hit on the character of Louisa’s estranged mother Rose the story grew from there. By incorporating the wealthy Fisher family, I also got to play with ideas around wealth, power, misogyny and control, so I could build depth into these characters and relationships. It’s been an absolute labour of love to get this into tip-top shape and I hope you really enjoy the story.
March 6, 2025
Coming soon: When She Was Gone
Hey GoodReads friends! I'm delighted to tell you that When She Was Gone will be published in just a few weeks - April 1st in the US, and 2nd April in Australia/NZ - and I can't wait to share this story with you all. A big thank you to early reviewers and those adding it to their 'to read' shelves - this means a lot! Find out more on the book page:
When She Was Gone
When She Was Gone
