ABANDONED. boy kidnapped and murdered, found in tree

[Carrie]

Hey, I'm new to this so you might have to bare with me! I am trying to remember the name of a book I read years ago, the book itself had a white cover with a red symbol on it (can't remember the title or authors name). The book was about a young boy who goes missing and is then found murdered with signs of abuse. It basically ends with a paedophile who breaks into peoples houses, drugs the mum and tries to abuse the kid (I think he breaks into the loft space and then goes from there??)

Not much more info I can give I'm afraid, although I do remember near the beginning of the book when they're searching for the missing boy the police helicopter spots what he thinks is a tyre in a tree which turns out to be the missing boy.

Please help, this is driving me insane!

[Tab]

Carrie, you should change your post title to something more descriptive about the book.

How many years ago did you read this book?

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Carrie, I changed your header for you. How many years ago did you read this? Do you have any ideas on where it might have been taking place? (England, U.S., Canada, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Australia?) I'm basing most of my guesses on how you spell tyre. (And yes, I spell it the same way, but it's not an American way of spelling it, hence all the U.K. suggestions.)

[Carrie]

Morning, thanks for your help!

It was probably around 12years ago and I think it was based in England, I could be wrong on that but the more I think on it, I'm thinking England

I also remember the detective investigating ends up talking to a swimming teacher but the teacher doesn't want to speak to him so swims out to the middle of the pool, the detective just walks straight into the pool, the teacher gets out so they can talk and the detective mentions he's glad his cigarettes didnt get wet while he walked into the pool.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Carrie, are you still looking for this book?

[Ingo]

Could it be
The Treatment

by Mo Hayder?
Not entirely sure about all plot points you mentioned, as it is a while I read the book.

There is a movie version I recently saw of the Treatment, a Belgian adaption, very dark and gritty (as is the book, not for the faint of heart). The dead boy was found in a tree and most other scenes (except for the helicopter I think) happened as you say, the pool scene may be shortened and changed, but was in the movie, but both may also be a differences between filming and book, also due to pacing and time constraints.
Highly recommended if you find it and can play it on your devices (it is available from Amazon.com).

The first few books of her Jack Caffery series, starting with Birdman Birdman, all feature plots or subplots with one or more pedophiles.

One additional advice, if you really are into Mo Hayder (I am) and read all or most of her books, it helps to add this book to your library:
Encyclopedia of Unusual Sex Practices, this was mentioned in one of her books, and sometimes I think she gets her ideas by randomely picking a page from that book and writing a story around it, not a bad idea, you learn plenty of new stuff you did not really want to know.

[Ingo]

And just checked, as per Goodreads the book was first published 2001. It also takes place in England / UK, with Mo Hayder being an English born author.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Lobstergirl wrote: "Carrie, are you still looking for this book?"

No response in 2+ years. Moving to Abandoned.