Changes

Lisa Kallisto is almost the typical Mum. She's got a husband and three children and she's permanently tired. Her full-time job at the local animal rescue centre frequently spills over into her home life and she's constantly chasing around trying to catch up with what she ought to have done. Husband Joe is a taxi driver and they can only just manage to afford the rent on their cottage in the picturesque lake district. It's normally pretty crime free but then a young girl - really only a child - is abducted and brutally raped. Then another girl of about the same age goes missing and Lisa was responsible for her safety. What do you say, what do you do in that situation? Lisa is about to find out.

I knew Lisa Kallisto. She was as real to me as my neighbour. They're not the upper crust in the Lakeland village where they live - they're the people who work and keep things going. They struggle financially but their marriage is good. Neither is perfect and you'll know exactly where they fit in the village when they're invited to what sounds like a posh dinner party and they go in their best clothes. Delicious. Everyone else comes off the page in the same way - even relatively minor characters are fully fleshed and the dynamics of family life are perfectly captured. The setting is just as good. It's Lakeland and you'll know a lot of the place names but this is where people ''live'' rather than where the tourists go.

It's the plot which is the best part though. Imagine that feeling of losing someone else's child. Do you go round to see the parents? Do you hide? Do you defend yourself? Lisa goes through it all and Paula Daly twangs your nerves as you read. You don't know that you'd do what Lisa is doing - but you don't know what else you'd do either. Then a third child goes missing...

If this book appeals then we think you might also enjoy [[Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn]].

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