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After Anna

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After Anna

By: Alex Lake
Narrated by: Antonia Beamish
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About this listen

The No. 1 ebook bestseller, Sunday Times Top 10 bestseller and USA Today bestseller

The real nightmare starts when her daughter is returned…

A girl is missing. Five years old, taken from outside her school. She has vanished, traceless.

The police are at a loss; her parents are beyond grief. Their daughter is lost forever, perhaps dead, perhaps enslaved.

But the biggest mystery is yet to come: one week after she was abducted, their daughter is returned.

She has no memory of where she has been. And this, for her mother, is just the beginning of the nightmare.

Perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell, C. L. Taylor and Lucy Foley

©2015 Alex Lake (P)2015 HarperCollins Publishers Limited Action & Adventure Mystery Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Police Procedural Psychological Suspense Thriller & Suspense Fiction

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Critic reviews

‘A nail-biting psychological thriller … maintains high suspense to the very end’ Publishers Weekly

‘Superbly crafted … will keep you up all night’ LizLovesBooks.com

‘A novel that had me gripped from its opening paragraph … It certainly had me wanting more … An excellent novel’ TheWelshLibrarian.blogspot.com

‘A story that will grab your attention from the start … It will certainly appeal to any fans of psychological thrillers’ ByTheLetterBookReviews.co.uk
All stars
Most relevant
At the point of writing I am about an hour in to this book and I already know waht I'm going to say. The plot is good. The grammar as per usual is pathetic. Brian said, Julia said, D.I. Wynn said and so on and so forth. It's not as if the author, you can't call her a writer, doesn't know the words she might use. She just can't be bothered to use them even when the alternative is obvious to the word 'said'. So I cannot give it five stars no matter how good it gets. The style is awful though it might yet redeem itself slightly. Already i see holes in it though. the phone is remarkably well charged for having only plugged in for twenty minutes and why didn't she take ehr car? Where did it go? Is it still parked alongside that of ehr husband even though he picked ehr up? Has anyone tried sprinting in high heels? I wonder. I'll finish it but I don't expect it to improve much. Would i buy another book by the same author. I think not. In fact, no way.

said, said, said oh and just for a change said.

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Julia - you know who the bad guy is surely?? It’s clear from very early on. Still was a tense and chilling listening and I enjoyed it. Not the best from this author but still worth a listen if you like his other work.

Good story but one to shout at!

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I was so glad this book was released in audio. I loved how the book pulled me one way, didn't see that twist coming, would highly recommend!

Never saw the twist coming

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For God's sake don't read this if you've ever lost a child! The mother in this story onsessively TORTURES herself with every appalling possibility when her adored 5 year old daughter is kidnapped by a psycho. It'll tear you to bits. It's actually a bit over laboured, grinding it in over and over till it feels unbearable. The darkest side of human nature is highlighted, as the media and social networks close in to rip the poor mother apart through no fault of her own, and even after little Anna is returned, it only gets even worse.
The whole story is filled with agonizing amounts of drama and suspense, often interspersed with chit-chatty trivial details just put there at the most crucial moments to fill me with more suspense as I shouted, "shut up for God's sake and get on with the story!!" Plenty of twists and turns, it's a real switchback ride.... Until realisation slowly dawns about who the (incredibly obvious once I saw all the clues) completely psychotic perpetrator is. After that I began to feel a bit underestimated, as the poor mother only realises who it is, hours after I did (is she stupid or what? ) I suppose for the main characters, the mother and father, it's the last person they'd expect, but for the reader, once we see what sort of person it is and see how the character is revealed, it's the only possible suspect. I won't give it away here, but you'll soon discover it yourself. The tone of voice is the big giveaway. And the narrator is absolutely excellent at that, reading every character like a professional actress. An amazing performance. And apart from the obvious giveaway, it has plenty of interest and excitement which kept going right up till the last line.

Very troubling story

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What three words best describe Antonia Beamish’s performance?

Enjoyed the narrator

Any additional comments?

do not like writing much as do not want to spoil story for others

Predictable

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