Happy day at the Roussel’s! K. L. Slater is back!!!

Title: Finding Grace
Author: K.L. Slater
Publisher: Bookouture
Date of publication: 2019
Format: e-copy
Number of pages: 253

This morning, my daughter sat right here, munching her breakfast, too excited to finish it. Now, she is missing.

The day after her ninth birthday, Lucie and Blake Sullivan agree, for the very first time, to let their daughter, Grace, make the four-minute walk back home alone from a friend’s house just down the street.

They joke with friends about hiding behind bushes to ensure she is safe. But the joke turns sour when Grace does not appear.

Despite the best efforts of the police and local community, Grace seems to have vanished into thin air. With hope fading fast, Lucie knows she can rely on her husband to support her through such dark times. That is until the day she makes a shocking discovery, hidden in Blake’s desk, and suddenly she begins to doubt everything she knew about the man she married.

But Lucie harbours a terrible secret of her own. One that she has never shared with anyone, even Blake …

And as the search for Grace reaches fever pitch, Lucie receives a terrifying message. If she is ever to see Grace again, Lucie has no choice but to face the past she tried hard to bury forever. And she must do it alone.

The most gripping psychological thriller you’ll read this year from the bestselling author K.L. Slater. If you love The Wife Between Us or Gone Girl, you’ll be totally hooked on Finding Grace.

Some names make you jump from your seat when their latest work comes out and get their book right away. K. L. Slater is on my go-to authors when I need a getaway read, a novel that will transport me in a parallel world just one second out of sync with ours, in authentic lives led by the most realistic characters. I don’t need horror stories because K. L. Slater brings our nightmares to life in the most stunning way.

How safe are children? How young is too young to allow them the freedom they’re seeking (and will regret when adulthood knocks at the door)? Grace only wanted to walk down her street from her best friend’s house to hers. What’s the harm in this? With a seemingly safe plan from the parents: each side supposed to watch for little Grace until she reaches the other’s sight, nothing should have gone wrong. But that was underestimating karma.

In one split second, Lucie’s sky opens up and all hell comes crashing down on her. How could her girl disappear from a close-knit street with adults looking out for her? Grace seems to have vanished into thin air in the blink of an eye and from there, time stretches and cuts both Lucie and Blake’s heart with each passing hour. From the panic and shock of the news to the excruciating wait, the author had my thoughts running in circles, leaving me going through all kinds of scenarios about what could have happened to Grace. K.L. Slater totally nails it again, highlighting the pressure of parenthood, the smallest decisions coming back to you when things go wrong. I can’t get into details but those tiny things we say we’ll do and then don’t, 99% of the time, it’s okay. But that day, Blake falls into the 1% and I simply loved how the author handled the couple’s reaction to their daughter’s disappearance. A gap opened – a crack in the wall that have destroyed so many love stories, enabling feelings to slip through and invade the house, the street, and the neighborhood.

Lucie’s loneliness, the hole in her heart left by Grace, was almost visible, dancing in front of my eyes, sometimes shadowed by an uneasy feeling, an undercurrent I first didn’t understand. When I thought things couldn’t get worse, Lucie makes a discovery that shakes the remains of her world, her marriage and even friendships. As if it weren’t enough, the shadows of the past slowly appear. Lucie hasn’t always had the perfect little life. Who can say they have? But some pasts weigh more than others and the secrets they carry can be fatal.

Could Grace be in danger because of a secret her mother has kept for years? Could a husband’s own secret have anything to do with a little girl’s innocence being taken away? I didn’t know who to trust, who could be blamed, who was hiding what… It’s the kind of dark rooms I enjoy most!!!

With her back on the wall, Lucie must face her nightmares in order to save Grace, at any cost. If I started the book being worried, the tension made my heartbeat keep going faster and faster and I swear my GP would have had an attack just seeing the numbers had he taken my pulse by the end of the novel!!!

Finding Grace perfectly walks the line between a character-driven emotional novel and a thrilling, anxious thriller. Another must-read from the Twists Queen!

Buy links here! Treat yourself!