However, the story is so intricately plotted and there are twists upon twists, which made for a dark, suspenseful read. I found myself on the edge of my seat with Joanna’s anxiety and her fear about being responsible for Lily’s death.

Her newest book, All Her Fault, will be published by Transworld | Penguin Random House in July 2021. Even though there is a smattering of males, the perspectives are all from female points-of-view, which makes sense in the context of traditional roles in the communities being portrayed. Andrea Mara is an amazing storyteller and weaves a thoroughly enjoyable tale where you think you know what’s happening and then BAM! Hide And Seek is a book that surprised me, I thought I knew where this was going after the first couple of chapters but boy I was wrong.

Joanna is curious, has some time on her hands, and draws somewhat tenuous links to her own childhood. I suspected everyone at one point or another, but could not have predicted the culprit or the situation around Lily's disappearance. Panic ensues and then turns more sinister as the dark history of the house is revealed - three year old Lily Murphy went missing from the same home during a game of Hide and Seek in 1985. The only problem now is I’ll have to wait for Mara’s next release but the good news is she’s signed a deal with Transworld for two more books! Joanna is determined to find out more about Lily and the circumstances of her disappearance, not least because Joanna is harbouring secrets of her own that may have some bearing on the unsolved case.

Wow, I absolutely bloody loved this extremely well-written, cleverly plotted mystery/thriller that had me hooked in and captivated from the spine-chilling opening sentence right through to the satisfying concluding dash of poetic justice.All strings were tied up by the end but we're left to decide about one particular plot point, in a deliciously wicked way. Usually the children look after their own so it was surprising when things started to come out that maybe that wasn’t the case here! When Joanna Stedman moves into a house in Rowanbrook, the neighborhood her husband grew up in, she is surprised to learn that they have bought the house of three year old Lily Murphy that went missing in 1985. They say females experience heart attacks differently to men and honestly I wonder at times if reading an Andrea Mara book is in a way a similar experience.