Review: AFTER YOU WERE GONE, Vikki Wakefield

• 
  This edition made available as an e-book by my local library on Libby
  
• Extent: 368pp
• Text Publishing Australia:5 October 2022
• ISBN: 9781922458001
• Read an extract

Synopsis (publisher)

What happens to a family when a child goes missing?

In a busy street market, Abbie lets go of six-year-old Sarah’s hand. She isn’t a bad mother, just exhausted. When she turns around, her daughter isn’t there.

Six years later, Abbie is in love and getting married. But her fragile peace is constantly threatened: not knowing what happened to Sarah is like living with a curse.

Then she receives a phone call from an unknown number.

A man claims to know what happened to Sarah, but if Abbie tells anyone or fails to follow his instructions, she’ll never find out. How far will Abbie go to know the truth?

Prize-winning and hugely popular author Vikki Wakefield turns her hand to the psychological thriller in this unputdownable novel that will disturb your dreams!

My Take

Abbie has always blamed herself for losing Sarah, but she has never stopped looking for her.

This novel has a very adventurous time structure, with frequent use of chapter headings BEFORE, NOW, and, sometimes AFTER. The story line jumps between time frames, allowing to the reader to put together a picture of the life Abbie led, and eventually, who took Sarah. 

If you were Abbie, what would you do if someone offered you the unthinkable, to reunite you with the child you lost six years ago. What would you sacrifice?

A very jarring novel.

My rating: 4.6

About the Author
Vikki Wakefield writes fiction for adults and young adults. Her novels All I Ever Wanted, Friday Brown, Inbetween Days and Ballad for a Mad Girl have been shortlisted for numerous awards. This Is How We Change the Ending was a Book of the Year in the 2020 CBCA Awards. After You Were Gone, a psychological thriller, is her first novel for adults....