#Review Bring Me Back by B A Paris #NetGalley #HQStories

Bring Me Back by B A Paris

Publication date 8th March 2018

HQ/Harper Collins
384 pages

Book description:
A young British couple are driving through France on holiday when they stop for gas. He runs in to pay, she stays in the car. When he returns her car door has been left open, but she's not inside. No one ever sees her again.

Ten years later he's engaged to be married; he's happy, and his past is only a tiny part his life now. Until he comes home from work and finds his new wife-to-be is sitting on their sofa. She's turning something over in her fingers, holding it up to the light. Something that would have no worth to anyone else, something only he and she would know about because his wife is the sister of his missing first love.

As more and more questions are raised, their marriage becomes strained. Has his first love somehow come back to him after all this time? Or is the person who took her playing games with his mind?

My thoughts:

Layla and Finn are travelling back from a break in France when they stop off at a small, basic service station. It is during this stop that life changes big time as Layla vanishes while Finn goes to use the facilities.  Twelve years later and there is still no word from Layla, the police have pretty much concluded that Layla is not going to be found alive and Finn has tried to move on with his life and is dating Layla's sister Ellen.  All is going well until they announce their engagement, then mysteriously little Russian dolls start appearing in and around their cottage.  How are they getting there and who is sending them?
The significance of the dolls would only be known to Layla, Finn and Ellen. Then Finn starts getting anonymous emails which he initially believes are from Layla - but how can that be when Layla is supposed to be dead? His mind does overtime and he works through virtually all his friends and people who knew Layla trying to work out who could have sufficient knowledge to be able to send the messages.
The author has created an excellent background for Finn and Layla with snippets of information which make the reader jump to numerous conclusions as to what happened between Layla and Finn which could have led to her disappearance.  You can really relate to Finn's mental state as he tries to piece things together, and the awkwardness created as he almost accuses some of his closest friends of having been involved.  Fortunately the bonds of friendship are strong enough for everyone to rally behind Finn in efforts to find out who is behind the mysterious happenings. The characters are just questionable enough to put each of them in the frame and there wasn't really any one of them that I disliked - I just didn't trust any of them 100%.
My only reason for not awarding this book the full five stars was the credibility of the final outcome - I will let you decide whether you agree or not when you read the book for yourself.  I ended up with a whole list of questions once I had finished reading, and will be interested to know what other readers think once this one hits the shelves.

A great read which will get your brain buzzing trying to work out who, what, when and why right to the last chapter.

My thanks to Harper Collins and Netgalley for the opportunity to read an early copy of this great novel before publication date in exchange for honest feedback.

About the Author:

B A Paris grew up in England but has spent most of her adult life in France. She has worked both in finance and as a teacher and has five daughters. Behind Closed Doors was her first novel published in 2016, followed by The Breakdown in 2017.