Never Seen Again by Paul Finch

Today it’s back to Mandie who is sharing her thoughts on Never Seen Again by Paul Finch. She was intrigued having heard about the book at a panel event at Harrogate organised by Orion. I love the author’s writing and this was another absolutely brilliant book. You can read my thoughts right here. Here’s what it’s all about:

About the Book

A message no one was supposed to hear.

Jodie Martindale‘s disappearance remains a mystery, unsolved to this day.

A message that will change everything.

David Kelman covered the story. But he made a huge mistake, which cost someone their life.

A message from the missing.

Now, he has evidence he shouldn’t have. It’s a message from Jodie – who has been missing for six years – but sent just two weeks ago…

Mandie’s Thoughts

After listening to the author at an event at the Theakston Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate earlier this year Never Seen Again quickly became an addition to my ever-increasingTBR pile. With the advice that I would love the book and with a bit of shuffling around I managed to push it to the top and I have to say that the recommendations were spot on.

The book opens with the kidnapping of Jodie Martindale and her partner and the only witness her younger brother Freddie getting shot. Journalist David Kelman is determined to get the best story he can and uses dubious methods to get what he wants. Unfortunately for him rather than enhancing his career it more or less ends it. Years later Freddie who has been unable to forget the events in the past dies in an apparent suicide and David Kelman is determined to get to the truth and try and make up for his previous actions.

David Kelman is certainly an interesting person. You can see that he really believes he can solve the mystery behind the kidnapping and Freddie’s death and give peace to the family but there are also character traits that keep surfacing that show the David of the past, the one who will do anything for the story and try to justify his actions in the process. What is evident is that his past actions had an impact on those who he used to work with, and they are both no longer in thejournalistic profession. It is his former friends and colleagues that he has the most work to do in order to show that he has changed and also get them to help with the investigations.

The Martingale family don’t seem that keen for the case to be reopened or for David to once again be poking around in their family business and I can’t say I blame them especially with his past behaviour, but they may also hold the key to some of the events. It would also seem that there are others that would prefer the kidnapping to stay in the past and unsolved and the more David digs the more he and his friends find themselves in danger.

There are so many twist and turns in this book that you often wonder if Kelman will ever get the truth he is so desperate to find and what a truth it is. This is one of those books that will keep you gripped to the end. If like me you have never read one of Paul Finch’s books before then this stand alone is a good place to start. I know I am now a fan.

About the Author

Paul Finch is an award-winning Sunday Times bestseller. He studied History at Goldsmiths before becoming a cop in the North-West of England and then followed a career in journalism, and screenwriting. He lives in Lancashire, UK, with his wife Cathy and their two four-legged companions, Buck and Buddy.