Name of Book: The Missing Child
Author: A.J. Carter
Book Style: Kindle Unlimited
Dates Read: 30th June – 1st July
Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5)
My Review No Spoilers Promise
Right… I promised myself this would be my last AJ Carter book for a while because my TBR pile is starting to look less like a pile and more like a health and safety hazard.
But here’s the problem…
Every time I finish one of his books on my Kindle, Amazon very helpfully recommends the next AJ Carter that I haven’t read yet. Five seconds later I’ve convinced myself it’ll “only be one more” and before I know it, it’s downloaded.
It’s a vicious cycle.
I am pleased to report, however, that before I finished this one I actually downloaded a completely different book.
A non-AJ Carter book.
Progress.
The story follows Tess, a young woman who takes a job as housekeeper for a family still grieving the disappearance of their ten-year-old daughter fifteen years earlier. As soon as she arrives, it becomes clear that her resemblance to the missing child is impossible to ignore. The longer she stays, the more buried secrets begin to surface, and before long she’s caught up in a mystery that becomes more dangerous with every chapter.
This was classic AJ Carter.
The story grabbed me almost immediately and kept me guessing throughout. I loved how the mystery slowly unfolded, revealing little snippets of information that constantly made me rethink my theories. Every time I felt confident I’d worked it out, another twist came along and reminded me why I keep coming back to his books.
The pacing was spot on as always. The chapters are short, the writing flows effortlessly and it’s one of those books where you look at the clock thinking you’ve read for twenty minutes… only to realise it’s somehow been two hours.
The emotional side of the story was really well done too. The idea of a family living with unanswered questions for so many years adds an extra layer to the mystery, making you genuinely invested in finding out what really happened.
And, because this is AJ Carter, there were plenty of moments that had me questioning absolutely everybody.
Final verdict
Another brilliant psychological thriller and another well-deserved five stars for Mr Carter. This is exactly why I keep finding myself accidentally downloading “just one more” of his books.
Now… I have officially moved on.
My next book is not AJ Carter.
(We’ll see how long that lasts.)
Let’s be friends on Goodreads
AJ Carter, if you’re reading this… please stop writing so many addictive books. My TBR pile and my kindle account need a chance to recover. 📚😂
The Anxious Book Worm 
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