Today’s book review is of Nicci French’s new novel, Has anyone seen Charlotte Salter? Read on to find out what I thought…
Title: Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter?
Series: Maud O’Connor #1
Author: Nicci French
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Synopsis:
She’s loved by all who meet her. But someone wants her gone . . .
1990
When beautiful and vivacious Charlotte Salter fails to turn up to her husband Alec’s 50th birthday party, her kids are worried, but Alec is not. As the days pass and there’s still no word from Charlie, her daughter, Etty, and her sons, Niall, Paul and Ollie, all struggle to come to terms with her disappearance.
How can anyone just vanish without a trace?
Left with no answers and in limbo, the Salter children try and go on with their lives, all the while thinking that their mother’s killer is potentially very close to home.Now
After years away, Etty returns home to the small East Anglian village where she grew up to help move her father into a care home. Now in his eighties, Alec has dementia and often mistakes his daughter for her mother.
Etty is a changed woman from the trouble-free girl she was when Charlie was still around – all the Salter children have spent decades running and hiding from their mother’s disappearance.
But when their childhood friends, Greg and Morgen Ackerley, decide to do a podcast about Charlotte’s disappearance, it seems like the town’s buried secrets – and the Salters’ – might finally come to light.After all this time, will they finally find out what really happened to Charlotte Salter?
My review:
This is exactly the kind of mystery I always enjoy – a missing person, who disappeared years ago seemingly into thin air, with a family trying to come to terms with it over the subsequent years. Add into that a new podcast and a great Detective, both investigating a new death which may be linked, and you have a winner!
Writing duo Nicci French have written some brilliant novels, and Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter? is no exception. I really enjoyed the twisty, mysterious plot, the setting (a small village in the 90s and then back to that setting 30 years later), and the great characters including the introduction of Maude who is a strong, likeable female lead who I would happily read more about – so I’m glad this is the start of a new series!
The end is satisfying, with a surprising solution and plenty of suspense, and the characters develop well over the novel. I’d highly recommend Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter? and look forward to future releases in this series!
My rating: 4.5/5
Many thanks to the publisher for providing a copy of this book on which I chose to write an honest review.