Review: THE MISSING PIECES OF SOPHIE McCARTHY, B. M. Carroll

• this edition published 2018 by Michael Joseph (Penguin)
• ISBN 978-1-405-93916-0
• 389 pages
• source: my local library

Synopsis (publisher)

She's the victim.
But is she so innocent?

Sophie McCarthy is known for her determination, ambition and brilliance at work. She's tough, but only because she wants to get the best out of people.

Aidan Ryan is strong, honourable, and a family man. He's tough too; the army requires it.

When these two strangers are brought together in a devastating incident, Sophie's life is left in ruins. Her family wants to see Aidan pay for what he did.

Aidan's prepared to sacrifice everything - including his marriage and his child - to fix the mess he's made.

But some things can't be fixed, and Sophie is not at all what she first appeared . . . 

My Take

More a novel of mystery than crime fiction, although there are crimes: physical violence, bullying, and abduction. If I had to pick an element that I think the novel is about: it is about pain, and the effects of stress, the sort of stress created by our modern society.

Aidan and Chloe's happy family life comes to an abrupt end the day that he swerves out into the traffic without looking and smashes into Sophie McCarthy's oncoming car. Aiden and Chloe are not significantly injured but Sophie has horrific injuries. Aiden's feelings of guilt don't allow him to move on, and his stress leads to the break up of his family.

In another way this story is about the impact of something like a car crash on both sides: the person who causes it, and the person who suffers it.

We hear the story from a multitude of narrators, and sometimes see an event from numerous points of view. This seems to make it all the more mesmerising.

My rating: 4.5

About the author
Ber Carroll was born in Blarney, a small village in Ireland. The third child of six, reading was her favourite pastime (and still is!). Ber moved to Sydney in 1995 and spent her early career working in finance. Her work colleagues were speechless when she revealed that she had written a novel that was soon to be published. Ber now writes full time and is the author of eight novels, including Once Lost, Worlds Apart and Less Than Perfect. The Missing Pieces of Sophie McCarthy is her first book published under the name B M Carroll.