Without Trace By Simon Booker

Without Trace by Simon Booker is a humdinger of a psychological thriller, one that is truly unputdownable. With many twists, cliffhangers, compelling characters, cunning red herrings and fast-moving action, it is a real treat. It explores how far we can trust those around us and who is telling the truth.

Without Trace by Simon Booker

Journalist Morgan Vine, 37, has campaigned for four years for the release of her childhood sweetheart Danny Kilcannon who was convicted, on dubious evidence, of killing his 15-year-old stepdaughter Zoe with a claw hammer, and is still implicated in the disappearance of his wife at the same time. Morgan is torn between her past and her present. Is Danny really the person she thinks she knows so well?

To retain contact with Danny, Morgan runs a book club at Dungeness Prison where Danny is an inmate. No one there knows her past history with Danny, a man who insists he is innocent of the crime that he was convicted of.

When the key witness in the original trial recants, Danny’s conviction is finally quashed and he is released from prison. He hooks up with Morgan and her spoilt 18-year-old daughter, Lissa.

Then Lissa goes missing and with her own daughter now at risk, Morgan has to re-think all she knows about Danny. As the media storm around Lissa’s disappearance intensifies and a shocking video reveals that Danny has sex with her daughter, she is forced to confront the ultimate question… who can she really trust? She faces the possibility that she may have been wrong about Danny.

I found it hard to put down the book. It is like a roller coaster ride. It is hard to know who really is a friend to Morgan. It is certainly one of the best books I’ve read in the past few months. I really look forward to the next book by this author.