#BlogTour ‘Playdate’ by Alex Dahl

About the book…

It was meant to be your daughter’s first sleepover. Now it’s an abduction.

Lucia Blix went home from school for a playdate with her new friend Josie. Later that evening, Lucia’s mother Elisa dropped her overnight things round and kissed her little girl goodnight.

That was the last time she saw her daughter.

The next morning, when Lucia’s dad arrived to pick her up, the house was empty. No furniture, no family, no Lucia.

In Playdate, Alex Dahl puts a microscope on a seemingly average, seemingly happy family plunged into a life-altering situation.

Who has taken their daughter, and why?

Huge thanks to Helen at Head Of Zeus for inviting me on the blogtour for ‘Playdate’ and for my gifted review copy of the book which is out now!

”This is clearly the kind of family who can answer an unexpected house call without worrying about piles of shoes in the hallway,towering dishes in the basin,overflowing laundry bins in the bathroom, half-eaten jam snadwiches abandoned on window sill.Unlike us.”

From the moment that Elisa meets Line, she is impressed by her appearance, her calm demeanor and that both their daughters are friends. An on the spot begging for a playdate in front of another parent at the school gate is a blackmail situation any parent can relate to-those huge begging eyes make it so hard to say no especially when the other adult says the children have been begging for one for ages.

Despite not really knowing this mother, Elisa takes all her details and agrees, reluctantly to daughter Lucia going to tea. Several mobile phone pictures later, Elisa is satisfied that things are going well, Lucia is having fun and there is nothing untoward going on. The suggestion of a sleepover is met enthusiastically by Elisa’s husband, they can spend some much needed time together after putting younger child, Lyder to bed.

Elisa drops off supplies to Line’s house, checks it out, is very impressed by the organisation of it and how happy the children are. What could possibly go wrong?

The bottom falls out of their world as the next day, Elisa flies to Rome in her job as a flight attendant, and on arrival rings her husband to ask how picking up Lucia went-she hasn’t come home. She was meant to be home by 3 and at 3.47 they have heard nothing….

Jumping to the worst case scenario, all sorts of visions fly through Elisa’s mind as well as the reader’s-we know that something is going to happen after reading the synopsis, but what? The panic is immediate and terrifying, the fear you feel for the family as the phone calls to the family go unanswered, the house which was so immaculate turns out to be empty, the door answered by a cleaner, for it is actually an Air BnB….

Blame, guilt, fear and devastation descend on the family as they desperately contact the police to try and find their daughter against impossible odds-who on earth targeted them so specifically and will they ever get their daughter back?

Alex Dahl is brilliant at playing with your emotions, keeping you guessing and looking for the tiniest of clues as to why this family, why now. It is every parent’s worst nightmare and as Fredrik and Elisa tear themselves and each other apart looking for Lucia, you are there every step of the way.

Taut with suspense and mystery, this is a heartstopping thrill ride that will keep you up all night!

About the author…

Half-American, half-Norwegian, Alex Dahl was born in Oslo. She graduated with a B.A. in Russian and German linguistics with international studies and went on to complete an M.A. in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University, followed by an M.S. in Business Management at Bath University. Alex has published short stories in the U.K. and the U.S. She is a serious Francophile and currently lives in both London and Sandefjord. ‘The Boy At The Door’ (2018) was translated into ten languages and is currently shortlisted for a CWA Dagger award. ‘The Heart Keeper’(2019) is out now.

Twitter @alexdahlauthor @HoZ_Books