1. She had dark hair, like mine.
2. She wasn’t very happy at the end.
Anna has always believed that her mother, Debbie, died 30 years ago on the night she disappeared.
But when her father gets a strange note, she realises that she’s never been told the full story of what happened that night on the cliff.
Confused and upset, Anna turns to her husband Jack – but when she finds a love letter from another woman in his wallet, she realises there’s no-one left to help her, least of all her family.
And then a body is found…
I'd like to thank Sabah at Avon Books for inviting me to be a part of this blog tour and sending me a copy of 11 Missed Calls to review.
All her life Anna has wondered about what happened to her mother Debbie who disappeared when she was a baby, especially now that she's a mother herself, and those silent questions she's been asking herself are only heightened when her stepmother receives a mysterious email claiming to be Debbie. Is she really alive and if so, why has she stayed away for so long?
11 Missed Calls is narrated in alternate chapters from the points of views of Debbie, starting with the prologue on the day of her disappearance in 1986 and then backtracks to the few weeks leading up to that fateful day, and Anna in the currently day. This dual timeline format worked really well to build the intrigue and tension and enables us to get into the heads of the two central characters and feel the anguish, pain and paranoia they were both feeling then and now. Even when it appears that the past and present are about to collide you're still second guessing along with Anna as to the hows and whys until everything is finally revealed.
Even though I'm not a mother I could totally relate to how Anna must have been feeling without her mum present in her life. I miss my mum every day but unlike Anna I had her in my life for almost 29 years so I can't even begin to imagine what it must be like never knowing your own mother, never having memories to share, without someone to nurture you and be by your side to show you how to be a mother to your own daughter, Sophie, as in Anna's case. The only reminders she had were photos and keepsakes in boxes that she had put away in storage so as to not upset her dad and stepmother Monica but in doing so she was causing herself so much suffering.
At its heart I would classify 11 Missed Calls as part psychological family drama, part mystery but above all it's a story highlighting mental health and shows how attitudes on the most part have changed for the better over the years with diagnosis and treatment.
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