Local Girl Missing

Sophie Collier, the victim in British author Douglas’s absorbing second novel (after 2016’s The Sisters), vanished from a decrepit pier at Oldcliffe-on-Sea in 1997 at age 21 and is presumed dead. In 2016, Sophie’s brother, Daniel, calls her best friend, Francesca “Frankie” Howe Bloom—now a successful hotelier in London—and says his sister’s remains have been discovered. Suspecting murder, he persuades Frankie, despite her initial reluctance, to return to Oldcliffe and help him reconstruct Sophie’s last night, when she fled from a local nightclub after a fight with her boyfriend. Back in the seaside town, Frankie becomes increasingly fearful when she keeps seeing a woman who resembles Sophie and comes across notes referencing a dark secret the two friends once shared. The suspense grows as Frankie in the present and Sophie in the past alternate sometimes conflicting first-person narratives. Only a problematic portrayal of mental illness undercuts this atmospheric, twist-filled thriller. Agent: Juliet Mushens, Agency Group (U.K.). (July)