How to Disappear
As seen:
By Gillian McAllister, and and, Nicola Walker
avg rating
1 review
Brought to you by Penguin.
THE GRIPPING NEW PSYCHOLOGICAL SUSPENSE FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF NO FURTHER QUESTIONS AND THE EVIDENCE AGAINST YOU
‘Bravo! How to Disappear is undoubtedly her best yet. Gripping and emotional – a cracking read’ Clare Mackintosh
‘A relentless drumroll of suspense . . . ranks among the best psychological-suspense thrillers of recent years’ A. J. Finn
You can run, you can hide, but can you disappear for good?
Lauren’s daughter Zara witnessed a terrible crime. But speaking up comes with a price, and when Zara’s identity is revealed online, it puts a target on her back.
The only choice is to disappear.
To keep Zara safe, Lauren will give up everything and everyone she loves, even her husband.
There will be no goodbyes. Their pasts will be rewritten. New names, new home, new lives.
The rules are strict for a reason. They are being hunted. One mistake – a text, an Instagram like – could bring their old lives crashing into the new.
They can never assume someone isn’t watching, waiting.
As Lauren will learn, disappearing is easy. Staying hidden is harder . . .
__________
‘Totally addictive, with twists that repeatedly pulled the rug from under my feet’ Erin Kelly
‘Tense and unpredictable. I couldn’t put it down’ Claire Douglas
‘If Jodi Picoult wrote psychological thrillers, they would look like this. A compulsive read with a jaw-dropping twist, I read it in a day’ Rosamund Lupton
‘An intricate and spellbinding exploration of the devastating ripples that spread from a terrible crime’ Holly Seddon
‘I read How to Disappear with my heart in my mouth’ Lia Louis
© Gillian McAllister 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2020
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If you enjoy psychological thrillers you have to get hold of ‘How to Disappear’ by Gillian McAllister. It’s a brilliant and compelling story that’s almost unbearably tense. If you like psychological thrillers you have to read it.
16 year-old Zara, witnesses the brutal, unprovoked and senseless murder of a homeless man by two rising football youth stars.
Nearly a year later in court she’s tricked into revealing that she lied in court, and that the killing wasn’t totally unprovoked. The homeless man had objected to the two abusing him. Suddenly the crime is deemed to be self-defence and the youths go free. But after a year in prison their football careers are in tatters.
Shortly afterwards a group is formed with the sole intention of finding Zara and punishing her. The police take the threats seriously enough that they put Zara and her mother into witness protection, with the instruction that their old life is over forever.
Both mother and daughter find their isolation incredibly difficult and stressful (who wouldn’t?) and can’t bring themselves to entirely follow the rules. Twice they accidentally reveal where they are, and twice the group almost find them.
At this stage we begin to realise that there is more to the original murder than meets the eye. The utterly relentless pursuit of Zara is due to more than just pique.
The police can’t do much, not least because Zara is considered to be a discredited witness. So Zara’s father steps in and infiltrates the group to try to find something concrete that will show their murderous intent. What follows is very intense, harrowing and heart-breaking. At no stage did I feel confident that this would end well for any of them.
The whole book is written in the present tense, something I usually rather dislike, but here it is perfect. It gives the story an almost unbearable tension and immediacy. I very much like both Zara, who is studious and serious, and her mother who is a bit of a hippie. Both of them are so unhappy it almost drips off the page.
This book is so good that read it in almost one sitting. I rarely give something 5 stars, but this deserves it. For the intense writing, for the unusual story line and for the utterly believable description of witness protection.
Review by: Freyja
