Last Seen

Wow!! This book was amazing. Yet another piece of writing brilliance from the immensely talented Lucy Clarke. Each book she writes, she gets better and better, and it just adds more and more to her wonderful collection of amazing stories. This story will sweep you away and take you on a journey of mystery, intrigue, suspense, drama and mind bending emotions. Sarah and Isla are best friends, they have been friends for years, with their lives connected in so many different ways, which as the book goes on we discover more and more. All of the characters in this book are wonderfully developed and interlinked. With all of the characters hiding secrets, lies and surprises, there is a constant sense of wonder and intrigue. The book is written in a dual POV, from both Sarah and Isla's perspectives. This works wonderfully, with the past and present flashbacks and writing, really adds to the suspense and overall flow of the story. There are twists aplenty in this superbly written, fast-paced novel, which will have you turning those pages, just wanting to get to the bottom of the mystery that unfolds. There are so many twists to this story, and some parts that had me shocked!! I felt all the emotions whilst reading this book and even shed a tear or two. The setting of this book is simply spot on perfection! Living on the South Coast of the UK myself, I can see exactly where so much of the inspiration of this story was taken from and could really imagine myself there, with the characters, immersed in the story. Bring on the next book from Lucy Clarke - she is one of my TOP MUST-READ authors when it comes to this genre of book!

I was racing through this, swept along on its current, thinking I would give it five stars. However, about three-quarters of the way through I changed my mind. Like many books, it's too long. It could have easily lost 100 pages. But it was more a general feeling of dissatisfaction and confusion at the end. Jacob's note implies he and Isla had sex ("last night was amazing"), but Isla says they didn't. I found their relationship to be the most interesting in the book. I wanted them to be lovers. I could have understood that. If Isla is telling the truth I am disappointed. But, whether or not they had sex, why does Jacob slope off in the morning leaving his T shirt behind? There are a couple of things I simply do not believe. Firstly, how could Isla return to the beach and not be seen by the residents or the police? It has already been stated everyone is poking into each other's business. Sarah gave Nick false results from the IVF clinic? How? He'd have had a letter addressed to him, or they'd have been called in to discuss the results and what could happen next. The whole Sarah and Isaac/ Nick and Isla thing is just too complicated and over-gilded. One possible - or real - affair would have been enough. Which brings me on to a comment made by Nick about his wife and "another woman" in bed with their breasts out being a fantasy of his. Isla isn't just any old woman. About 12 months before this comment was made she was the love of his life. Would he really be so crass? Especially married to Sarah who is so jealous and ghastly. And what's the point of her stealing habits? What is the relevance of that? One of the first things that occurred to me was that Marley died on Jacob's birthday. Surely, for Jacob and his family, this would be a huge thing. Yet everyone simply refers to it as "the anniversary". Suddenly, about half way through, Jacob's birthday comes into it, as though the author just remembered this so had to lay it on with a trowel. Sarah walks all night with bare feet. I think she'd have more than mud on them by morning, yet she does not even use the showers! I have a theory. Caz says Jacob got her pregnant. But Jacob's parents find condoms in his room. Yes, yes, I know they don't always work, but it shows that he was being relatively careful. Incidentally, why are fictional parents always so screwed up to find condoms? I'd be much more relieved if my daughters were using condoms, than if they weren't. But I digress. In her author's note, Lucy Clarke says the final two chapters came to her at the end. It reads like this. She has heaped complication on top of complication, so that I could hardly remember who said what had happened, and then she puts in Jacob's version. It's all become choppy and messy by now. The most interesting people by far are Jacob and Isla, and a book about their relationship would have been good (Marley's death etc included). All the narrators are unreliable. I don't know if Isla and Jacob did have sex. They obviously both fancy each other, and are in bed together so, unless they are too drunk for it, I would imagine they did. This reads like I have a lot of complaints. I don't really. The writing style is easy to read. The chapters are the right length. Although some of the characters are hideous, they kind of work well. There are no gross errors like I so often find (people changing names or appearance through the book). I am giving it a four star rating because there were a few faults, and things I did not believe in. However, I did enjoy it and read it in a couple of sittings.

I absolutely loved this book. I'm currently suffering from some fairly brutal postnatal anxiety and happened to mention to my husband that I'd very much like to read Lucy's latest novel, but that it is currently only available on kindle. Cue my (rather lovely) husband digging out my old, original kindle from the darkest depths of our basement, hunting down a compatible charger and engaging in a rather long call to the Amazon help centre to update its ancient software. He then set me up on our garden swing with an array of pillows to help cocoon our 8 week old, whilst I gently swung and immersed myself happily in the book with my feet in the sunshine. It was totally worth the palaver. I adore Lucy's writing style. It's fluid and emotive and sensitive. I'm in awe of how in this novel she creates deeply flawed characters who have done some truly awful things, yet my heart reached out to each and every one of them. I loved how panic, isolation, nostalgia, insecurity, friendship, loss and loyalty were all brought to life so beautifully. In Lucy's previous novels I've guessed a few of her plot twists and I would have said that perhaps she gives away too many clues - not this time! In Last Seen she was always a step ahead of me and the plot twists were brilliant. If I had to think of anything to hopefully be constructive, I would say that maybe one of the plot twists went a touch too far for me, but I don't want to give away any spoilers so won't say anymore. Also, sometimes the images Lucy paints are repeated, for example there were two paragraphs which were very similar and included references to briny/dark/blackened lobster pots/lobsters snapping and clacking/starlings hopping/chattering. Although rare occurrences, these similarities can sometimes break the spell Lucy casts, as repetition always consciously reminds me that I'm actually reading. This book let me escape to another world when I very much needed it and I would highly recommend it. It is my favourite of Lucy's novels to date. I keep thinking about it which is always a sign of a great read. It was a total treat and I'm already looking forward to Book Five!

Sarah und Isla lernen sich an einem Tag am Strand kennen, als sie zwölf sind. Von da an sind sie unzertrennliche beste Freundinnen, deren Leben ineinander verwoben ist und parallel zueinander verläuft. Da ist Nick, erst der Freund von Isla, dann, nachdem Isla sich auf eine Rucksack-Weltreise begibt, der Freund und spätere Ehemann von Sarah. Beide Frauen werden, knapp über zwanzig, schwanger und bringen in nur drei Wochen Abstand jeweils einen Sohn zur Welt. Zehn Jahre lang verbringen Nick, Sarah und Isla jeden Sommer gemeinsam in zwei Strandhütten auf einer der südenglischen Küste vorgelagterten schmalen Sandbank, nur um einen Armbreit voneinander entfernt. Die beiden Kinder, Islas Sohn Marley und Sarahs Sohn Jacob, sind dicke Freunde wie ihre Mütter, verbringen jede Minute dieser Sommer gemeinsam am Strand. Dann geschieht das Unfasssbare: von einem Badeausflug der beiden Jungen kehrt nur Jacob zurück. Marley ertrinkt. Sarah versucht, ihre Freundin aufzufangen, so gut sie es vermag, aber von diesem schrecklichen Tag an ist sie die Frau mit Sohn und Mann, Isla die, die alles verloren hat. Bis dann, auf den Tag genau sieben Jahre nachdem Marley verunglückte, ihr Sohn Jacob an seinem siebzehnten Geburtstag nach einer Party verschwindet und vermisst bleibt. Äußerst geschickt bedient Lucy Clarke sich in ihrem Roman des Perspektivenwechsels, indem sie Sarah, die verzweifelte Mutter eines kürzlich verschwundenen Teenagers, im Stunden- und Tagesrhythmus aus der Gegenwart erzählen lässt, Isla hingegen aus der Perspektive der Frau, die mit Verlust und Trauer bereits zu leben gelernt hat, die Vergangenheit allmählich aufrollen lässt. Dies ist kein Thriller im Sinne einer actiongeladenen Suche nach einem vermissten Jungen. Es ist das nicht minder nervenaufreibende Psychogramm zweier Frauen, die sich Zeit ihres Lebens symbiotisch nah, viel zu nah, standen. Mit dem Ende jedes Kapitels wird ein weiterer kleiner Mosaikstein in Islas und Sarahs Beziehung zueinander enthüllt, jedes Kapitel endet mit einem Cliffhanger, der den Leser dazu treibt, weiter lesen zu wollen, obwohl an sich andere Dinge zu erledigen wären. Dazu liefert Lucy Clark mit der auf den ersten Blick anheimelnden Szenerie einer winzigen Ferienkolonie mit ein paar Dutzend bewohnbarer Strandhütten, in der jeder jeden seit Jahren kennt, das perkekte klaustrophobische setting für ihren Roman. Die atmosphärische Dichte trägt sicherlich zum Lesegenuss bei. Man hat das Gefühl, man müsse sich den Sand von den Fußsohlen klopfen, und man möchte irgendwie auch so eine Strandhütte (die in dieser Art offenbar eine Spezialität der englischen Südküste ist?). Und dann aber auch lieber nicht. Dieser Roman ist eine klare Empfehlung, aber nicht als entspannende Strandlektüre, die man auch bei dreißig Grad im Schatten noch lesen könnte. Eine Empfehlung, obwohl das Thema "verschwundenes Kind /Teenager" nicht gerade selten auf dem Buchmarkt erscheint.

This is the last published book by Lucy Clarke that I read, To me the best ones were The Castaways and I Let You In. All of her books but this one had endings that satisfied the story, except this one. What I took from the ending was that a very heavy life situation was about to get a lot heavier and I hope that I am wrong about it. Of course we will never know. All of her books are so unique in their story lines and characters and her writing is beyond beautiful and perfect. Hope she keeps it up!

No enfrentar las cosas te puede llevar a consecuencias terribles. Un libro lleno de misterio que se va acalorando como lo hace la vida misma, no hay finales felices.

I really enjoyed reading this book as I found the story enthralling and I never managed to guess the ending!

Habe das Buch in einer Nacht durchgelesen. Super Story. Hat mir gut gefallen.