ŷ������

˚₊�� ͟͟͞͞➳❥ 4/5 stars

read if you like:
�� multiple povs
�� subplots upon subplots
�� emotional thrillers

�� with a name like just another missing person, you likewise anticipate just another mystery novel - gillian mcallister is here to break the mould once again with this irresistible emotional thriller. much more than an investigation into a missing person case, this is an audacious inquisition of motherhood and the lengths to which a mother may go in the hour of her child’s need.

�� as 22 year old olivia is captured on cctv footage inexplicably vanishing into thin air, detective julia day is called upon to helm the investigation. with years of experience under her belt and a peerless work ethic, she’s more than equipped for the task. that is, until a secret julia’s been harbouring of her own is suddenly in danger of being revealed and the case gets all too personal for her and those she’s protecting.

�� it is dark, morally compromising thrillers like these which place the nature of motherhood in sharp display and in turn, prompt the question of what-would-you-do. we read julia’s morally abject actions with a mixture of dread, empathy and a sort of fierce condescension at times. for we would never acquit ourselves in such an unscrupulous fashion�� would we? and yet, in having julia be otherwise such an upstanding, morally inflexible and by the book character, it does compel a re-examination of ourselves. it is in some self-contained way a defensible path which julia embarks upon - an arguably moral one - for her motivation is simply to protect her daughter, genevieve, and sacrifices, even those of our our own ethics, are an expedient of motherhood. flecked with these razor-edged examinations of goodness and rightness, every minute in which the case remains unsolved is weighted down with a sense of foreboding for julia’s soul.

�� a slow-burn whydunnit potholed with a plethora of misdirections and red-herrings which will cleverly trip the reader up, the final reveal swept the rug out from beneath me. leading us down blind-alley turns in a plot plagued by outwardly disparate puzzle pieces which obstinately rebuff any attempts to solve them, mcallister succeeds in pulling a fast one on seasoned mystery enthusiasts with a jaw-dropping conclusion.

�� conclusion :
as a mother goes against the grain to save the future of her child every trickle of sand slipping down the hourglass counts in the one-of-a-kind just another missing person - and the inevitable downfall yanks us in as collateral.

thank you netgalley for the arc !