#BookReview ‘Burnt Paper Sky’ by Gilly Macmillan (a.k.a ‘What She Knew)

About the book…

Rachel Jenner is walking in a Bristol park with her eight-year-old son, Ben, when he asks if he can run ahead. It’s an ordinary request on an ordinary Sunday afternoon, and Rachel has no reason to worry—until Ben vanishes.

Police are called, search parties go out, and Rachel, already insecure after her recent divorce, feels herself coming undone. As hours and then days pass without a sign of Ben, everyone who knew him is called into question, from Rachel’s newly married ex-husband to her mother-of-the-year sister. Inevitably, media attention focuses on Rachel too, and the public’s attitude toward her begins to shift from sympathy to suspicion.

As she desperately pieces together the threadbare clues, Rachel realizes that the greatest dangers may lie not in the anonymous strangers of every parent’s nightmares, but behind the familiar smiles of those she trusts the most.

Where is Ben? The clock is ticking…

My thanks to publishers Piatkus for approving my request to read the superb thriller, ‘Burnt Paper Sky’ by Gilly Macmillan, which is available in paperback, e-book and audiobook formats.

It is the first novel to feature detective Jim Clemo, who is one of the two first person protagonists, along with Rachel, the mother of missing boy , Ben Finch.

This book is high on tension, the two highly stressed and motivated individuals have their chapters interspersed with police reports, statistics on the chances of finding missing children alive, blog posts and social media posts (all fake but it is so highly authentic that you genuinely forget these are not real). As well, a year post the abduction, there are transcripts of Clemo’s enforced psychotherapy sessions. It is clear that something very traumatic has happened, triggered by Ben’s abduction and things look as bleak as the signature shade of the autumnal sky.

It only takes a second for your world to fall down….

For Rachel, it is something she does all the time, her son and dog run ahead of her whilst she takes a call from her sister, they always agree to meet at the swings so when she gets to the park and finds he is not there, neither is their dog, her assumption that he is hiding is not far off the mark. Any parent reading this will most likely relive the twist of fear that ties your stomach in knots when your child hides, and that lurch never quite leaves.

So when she cannot find Ben, and calls for him, with no result, the mystery kicks into gear. Is Rachel a reliable narrator? Her pre-occupation with her ex-husband’s seemingly settled and happy life makes her vulnerable and a prospective suspect for Jim Clemo, who takes his responsibilities super seriously.

As the investigation ties the police service, including Clemo’s girlfriend Emma as Family Liaison Officer (something Jim recommended her for, thinking no one knows she is his girlfriend) up with interviewing an alarmingly large number of suspects. Even when you think that you are doing everything to keep your child safe, there are quite a few unknown variables and a large number of people with which they engage, that suddenly come into the spotlight , it’s actually quite scary. The dogs and police and volunteers turn up no trace of Ben, their dog is found with a broken leg and it appears that Ben has been abducted.

A press conference which goes a badly wrong as it is possible to go thrusts Rachel into the spotlight as a potential suspect-the media have already gone hell for leather with her being irresponsible enough to let him run ahead of her.

The suspense is unrelenting, the lack of consistency in who you can actually pinpoint as the person who abducted Ben is constant and the worry that he won’t be found alive is permanently wedged at the back of your mind. Clemo and his team bring to the surface secrets and motives that are hugely believable, as Rachel finds her trust has been betrayed by people who are not who she thought they were.

Broken trust and misdirection add to the tension and ratchet it up to fever pitch, the anticipation of finding Ben alive is almost unbearable. And, as the days go by, you begin to wonder even if he is found, will he be the same boy who vanished? Is his mother ever going to move past being the woman who lost her son?

There are so many layers and nuances to the characters that they feel like people that you know and, when it ends, you feel satisfied that the abduction is resolved realistically, perhaps not as neatly as maybe some stories could get away with, but in a manner which is true to life. It is hard to believe that this was a debut novel, it is strong and confident in both plot, character and imagery and it gives me great pleasure to know that I have more of her back catalogue to enjoy!

About the author…

Gilly Macmillan is the New York Times & Sunday Times bestselling author of ‘To Tell You The Truth’, ‘The Nanny’, ‘What She Knew’(previously published as ‘Burnt Paper Sky’ in some territories), ‘The Perfect Girl’, ‘Odd Child Out’& ‘I Know You Know’.

Gilly is Edgar Award nominated and an ITW award finalist. Her books have been translated into over 20 languages.

She grew up in Swindon, Wiltshire and also lived in Northern California. She studied History of Art at Bristol University and the Courtauld Institute of Art in London.

Gilly lives in Bristol, UK with her family and writes full time. She’s currently working on her seventh novel.

Links-http://www.gillymacmillan.com/

Twitter @gillymacmillan @PiatkusBooks