William Wooler is a family man, on the surface. But he’s been having an affair, an affair that ended horribly this afternoon at a motel up the road. So when he returns to his house, devastated and angry, to find his difficult nine-year-old daughter Avery unexpectedly home from school, William loses his temper.

Hours later, Avery’s family declare her missing.

Suddenly Stanhope doesn’t feel so safe. And William isn’t the only one on his street who’s hiding a lie. As witnesses come forward with information that may or may not be true, Avery’s neighbours become increasingly unhinged.

Who took Avery Wooler?

---

It was the next door neighbour, working as a nurse at the same hospital as the father, who had a crush on the young doc and wanted to be with him, but couldn’t due to the doctor having an affair with another woman.

I just saved you 3-4h of reading a mystery that’s an easy resolvable deed by any half decent police person. I think the only thing that was slightly good about this book is how shitty Avery was. There’s nothing new about how manipulative children can be – and Avery, suffering from ADHD and oppositional defiance traits – is no saint. She provokes her dad, gets slapped in response (not cool, not cool) and decides to shack up with the lady next door to prove her point. And the father, instead of immediately telling the police he was home when Avery got home, he lies to save his skin – and causes undue delays as the police are trying to put together her steps, wasting precious time. If this was a life or death situation, his lies could have cost them her life.

In the chaos that errupts, her mother is distraught, her brother blames herself, people are accused of murder left right and center and even other boys get dragged in when she confesses she had an older boyfriend.

It’s a shitshow of epic proportions, only matched by the Aussie show “The Slap” – If you haven’t seen it, give it a go. It’s a good discussion point on how you can discipline your unruly kids when all else fails.

Oh, and Avery – I thought she was a teen until I had to double-back to read her age (9). She’s WAAAAY to manipulative for her age.

3/5 run of the mill mystery – but all the characters are flat and unlikeable. Police is depicted as sloppy. Teachers are depicted as sloppy. Small town is deemed as conservative repeatedly. Bore.