The Girls Who Disappeared by Claire Douglas (Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House, Penguin)

It’s best to trust nobody in this town.

Something really odd is going on around here. Maybe it is better to not believe it’s mystical or supernatural or whatever it is some of the locals believe. But it’s calculated and linked to the events surrounding Olivia’s three missing friends.

The Devil’s Corridor is an apt name for this long, straight A-road that leads to the market town of Stafferbury in Wiltshire. Over the years there have been reports of many strange happenings; unexplained accidents, apparent suicides, sightings of hooded figures, and the sounds of a child crying in the dead of night. But none more mysterious than the Olivia Rutherford case twenty years ago this week. Three young women disappeared from a crashed car and haven’t been seen since. 

Twenty years later, journalist Jenna Halliday is covering the case. But the locals aren't happy with this stranger's arrival. Least of all Olivia. Jenna soon starts receiving threatening notes and it is clear someone wants her out of this town before she suffers a dark fate.

Fast-paced and mysterious, this thriller is for everyone who likes the unknown, secrets from the past. Greed, shame, and sorrow are three concepts in this novel.

The characters are complex, Olivia just wants to hide away and disappear as her friends, so she disappears in plain sight. She even accepts a relationship with someone who doesn't like her very much. Jenna fights with her own domestic demons and the villagers vowed to their secrets. 

Atmospheric, intriguing, and touching novel.

4/5