It was meant to be your daughter’s first sleepover.
Now it’s an abduction.
Lucia Blix went home from school for a playdate with her new friend Josie. Later that evening, Lucia’s mother Elisa dropped her overnight things round and kissed her little girl goodnight.
That was the last time she saw her daughter.
The next morning, when Lucia’s dad arrived to pick her up, the house was empty. No furniture, no family, no Lucia.
In Playdate, Alex Dahl puts a microscope on a seemingly average, seemingly happy family plunged into a life-altering situation. Who has taken their daughter, and why?
Chilling & Thrilling! 
Creepy, chilling and so scary because this is an everyday situation most of us could find ourselves in!
Elisa Blix agrees to her daughter Lucia heading over to her friend Josie’s house after school for a playdate; when it turns into a sleepover she drops off her nightwear and has a glass of wine with Josie’s mother. When Elisa returns home from work the next day however, it is to find her husband panicking as Lucia is now missing and Josie’s family has disappeared.
Missing children is usually a topic I avoid but I chose to read this one having heard great things about the author’s work. The start of the story is very exciting and heart-wrenching but then the pace eases off and I freely admit to struggling to keep going. The ending was totally shocking and stunned me coming completely out of the blue. I had no idea where it was heading but I did lose focus several times through the main body of the book. I’m not sure I would go for another novel featuring missing children – perhaps that’s my nemesis, but that doesn’t take away from this author’s skill at producing a thrilling and heart-stopping conclusion. For me, this is a four star read.
My thanks to the publisher for my copy via NetGalley and to Vicky Joss for my spot on this tour; this is – as always – my honest, original and unbiased review.
Tags: psychological thriller
- Format: ebook, paperback, hardcover, audiobook
- Size: 464 pages
- Publisher: Head of Zeus
- Publication Date: 9 July 2020
- Link: Goodreads
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Author Bio
Alex Dahl is a half-American, half-Norwegian author. Born in Oslo, she studied Russian and German linguistics with international studies, then went on to complete an MA in creative writing at Bath Spa University and an MSc in business management at Bath University. A committed Francophile, Alex loves to travel and has so far lived in Moscoe, Paris, Stuttgart, Sandefjord, Switzerland, Bath and London. Her first thriller, The Boy at the Door, was a Sunday Times Crime Club star pick and was shortlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger.
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