Three Days Missing

Author: Kimberly Belle
Genre: Suspense
Type: e-book
Source: Personal copy
Publisher: Park Row
First Published: June 26, 2018
Opening Lines: My phone is already buzzing with work email as I rush Ethan through his morning routine. Get up. Get Dressed. For the love of God, brush your teeth and hair.

Book Description from GoodReads: When a child goes missing, two mothers’ lives collide in a shocking way in this suspenseful novel from the bestselling author of The Marriage Lie.

It’s every parent’s worst nightmare: the call that comes in the middle of the night.

When Kat Jenkins awakens to the police on her doorstep, her greatest fear is realized. Her nine-year-old son, Ethan, is missing—vanished from the cabin where he’d been on an overnight field trip with his class. Shocked and distraught, Kat rushes to the campground where he was last seen. But she’s too late; the authorities have returned from their search empty-handed after losing Ethan’s trail in the mountain forest.

Another mother from the school, Stef Huntington, seems like she has it all: money, prominence in the community, a popular son and a loving husband. She hardly knows Kat, except for the vicious gossip that swirls around Kat’s traumatic past. But as the police investigation unfolds, Ethan’s disappearance will have earth-shattering consequences in Stef’s own life—and the paths of these two mothers are about to cross in ways no one could have anticipated.

Racing against the clock, their desperate search for answers begins—one where the greatest danger could lie behind the everyday smiles of those they trust the most.

My Rating: 4 stars

My Review: A missing child is one of a parent's worst nightmares. In Three Days Missing, Kimberly Belle dives deep into the emotions, tensions and mystery surrounding Ethan, an eight-year-old boy who goes missing on a school trip.

The story is told from the perspectives of Kat, Ethan's mom and Stephanie, the mayor's wife and the mother of Ethan's school bully. Between the POVs of these two women, the reader is taken on a sometimes emotional and often tension-filled journey as they desperately try to find Ethan. 

While the pacing is quick, I appreciated that Belle gave readers time to get to know the main characters who are both strong women and mothers but from very different socioeconomic and family situations. I figured out the big twist before the end, but Belle's writing and the relationships of the characters kept me reading until I reached the satisfying conclusion. 

This is my first Kimberly Belle book, but it won't be my last. I enjoyed this fast-paced domestic thriller which felt like it had a bit more meat on its bones as it addresses bigger issues (divorce, bullying, domestic abuse ...), provides well-drawn main characters and was a compelling read from start to finish.