Missing - K.L. Slater

Reading Challenge Category: Free ARC from NetGalley

Official Blurb:

I've known him all my life. I know he has taken my daughter. His mother says she can help me. But she's the last person I can trust...
Samuel lived next door when we were children. We were inseparable. But he didn’t like sharing me with my adored little brother. And one terrible night, he got rid of my brother forever…
Now, years later, he’s free. And my daughter is missing.
I turn on my baby girl’s unicorn nightlight and bury my face in her pillow, my heart breaking. I know Samuel has her – he blames me for ruining his life, and even after all this time, he still doesn’t like to share.
As darkness falls, there’s a knock at my door and I open it to see Samuel’s mother. She says she can help me.
I know I can’t trust her, but I don’t have a choice. With each step I take, my fear grows stronger. Can she help me find my daughter? Or does she know something about what really happened all those years ago? Something that could stop me from saving my baby girl…

My Thoughts:

The book initially gripped me as we were inside the head of eight-year-old Jimmy. We were with him as he took his last breath and were instantly invested in finding out what happened to him. However, we jump forward 26 years with Jimmy’s death a solved crime and the perpetrator having served 25 years of a thirty-year sentence.
The time span of such a magnitude made it hard to come to terms with. The other characters, Josie and Maggie, had carried on with their lives, but it didn’t feel like such a vast amount of time had passed. It was strange.
Josie was an infuriating character, and I felt like her sections of the book did make it drag somewhat. It is told from a couple of perspectives and chapters from the past. Maggie was more likeable; however, I did find some of her actions frustrating.
At the end of the story, the twists as to who had taken Ivy and why came out of nowhere. Sometimes this can be good if breadcrumbs have been laid throughout, but these villains came out of nowhere, and it all felt a little too forced. None of the reasons were realistic.
There were a lot of loose ends to tie up in the end, which were completely sewn up in pretty bows. However, the ending dragged as there were just so many leaps through time. There were a couple of ‘one week later’ chapters, a 1993 chapter, then a three-month later chapter, and if that wasn’t enough, we ended with an eighteen-month later insight. I was like, oh for goodness sake, just end now!! I felt like I rushed through these last five chapters and didn’t really savour the story.
Some of the bows felt a bit too loose as well and didn’t just sit right with me. Too many people were just let off the hook and were able to get on with their lives.
So, overall it was a good storyline, but I just couldn’t find myself that invested in it, and it took me a while to get through. Just a three-star read for me!