The Missing by C.L. Taylor has been a hugely and hotly anticipated read for me this year, the wait has been what has felt like a long one (only because I was desperate to read it) but it was of course more than worth the wait. I had read C.L. Taylor's previous book The Lie last year and had been completely blown away by it. It was hands down my favourite thriller of 2015, beating The Girl on the Train. The Missing therefore did have quite a lot to live up to.

I got straight into this as it was though I had never been away from the author's writing. I love a thriller that can instantly hook you and suck you in so completely that you become oblivious to your surroundings and that's exactly what C.L. Taylor manages to do.

The concept of missing children is not a plot line that I am unfamiliar with, but The Missing still felt like a whole new story whilst reading. I also preferred that the detective side of things wasn't the main focus and we instead got completely swept up in what the family was going through and from the viewpoint of main protagonist Claire.

What always makes C.L. Taylor's books so good, is the incredible hidden depths that each of her characters has. It never fails to impress me how she shows what lies beneath the surface of each of us that we don't show even show to our families; it shows that you can't always take a person on face value.

As with any thriller, you always find yourself trying to second guess who could be responsible and I think I went through every possible angle and I still got it completely wrong. The ending was absolutely top notch. I could instantly tell that this had been well thought out and put together, just brilliant and immensely satisfying. It was brilliantly twisty and dark in places and I had quite a late night as I could not tear myself away from this utterly suspenseful story.

This really was such a gripping, unputdownable read that keeps you guessing right up until the end.

It goes without saying that C.L Taylor is and remains my all time favourite thriller author. I really hope she has more in store for us.