BOOKISH FRIDAY: “AFTER ANNA”

Welcome to another Bookish Friday, in which I  share excerpts from books…and connect with other bloggers, who do the same.

Let’s begin the celebration by sharing Book Beginnings, hosted by Rose City Reader; and let’s showcase The Friday 56 with Freda’s Voice.

To join in, just grab a book and share the opening lines…along with any thoughts you wish to give us; then turn to page 56 and excerpt anything on the page.

Then give us the title of the book, so others can add it to their lists!

What a great way to spend a Friday!

Today’s feature is a recent download:  After Anna, by Alex Lake, a bone-chilling psychological thriller that will suit fans of Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn, Daughter, by Jane Shemilt, and The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins.

 

Beginning:  (Prologue)

It was easier than you had expected.  The girl came without complaint.  You spotted her as she left the school, alone, looking around, clearly bereft of a parent to pick her up.  Who would do that?  Who would be so negligent as to leave a five-year-old in such a vulnerable position?  It was appalling, it really was.

But it was good for you.

***

56:  ‘What’s going on?’ he asked, and looked back at his wife.  ‘Why’s she shouting at you?’

‘She’s trying to stop me looking for Anna,’  Julia said.

***

Synopsis:  A girl is missing. Five years old, taken from outside her school. She has vanished, traceless.

The police are at a loss; her parents are beyond grief. Their daughter is lost forever, perhaps dead, perhaps enslaved.

But the biggest mystery is yet to come: one week after she was abducted, their daughter is returned.

She has no memory of where she has been. And this, for her mother, is just the beginning of the nightmare.

***

What do you think?  Would you keep reading?

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