Gone Again by Doug Johnstone

Book Description:

‘It’s just to say that no-one has come to pick Nathan up from school, and we were wondering if there was a problem of some kind?’ As Mark Douglas photographs a pod of whales stranded in the waters off Edinburgh’s Portobello Beach, he is called by his son’s school: his wife, Lauren, hasn’t turned up to collect their son. Calm at first, Mark collects Nathan and takes him home but as the hours slowly crawl by he increasingly starts to worry. With brilliantly controlled reveals, we learn some of the painful secrets of the couple’s shared past, not least that it isn’t the first time Lauren has disappeared. And as Mark struggles to care for his son and shield him from the truth of what’s going on, the police seem dangerously short of leads. That is, until a shocking discovery…

My Thoughts:

I came across this author after reading another of his books, Hit & Run, which I really enjoyed and very much looked forward to reading more by him.

Mark is very much your average type of guy. Married, a father to Nathan as well as a working man. On the day he gets the phone call to tell him that no one has picked Nathan up from school, he has no idea what a roller coaster of a ride his life is about to take.

You can very much feel Mark’s frustration that no one seems to be taking the disappearance of his wife, Lauren, seriously. He is sick with worry but is trying to go on as normal for the sake of his son, Nathan. Nathan is a very bright little boy though and he knows that something isn’t quite right where his mother is concerned.

Mark is trying his best to keep it together but as time goes on he starts to fall apart.

Mark very much trusts his own instincts as to who is behind his wife’s disappearance and more than once takes the law into his own hands and does some investigating of his own. This causes some dire consequences.

Gone Again is a gripping read that I flew through in no time. I can’t say that the story line holds any shocks or surprises but it certainly makes for a tense and enjoyable read and I can’t wait to read more.

Goodreads rating 4/5 stars.

Gone Again is available to purchase from Amazon.