Her One Mistake by Heidi Perks

 

Genre: Adult Suspense/Thriller
Source: I purchased a copy



This was an excellent story. I started it last night and got up early this morning to finish it. The story is told from two points of view, Charlotte and Harriet; and from two time periods “then” and “Now”
The “Now” time period takes place in a police station and the “Then” takes place before the events that led them to the police station. This was one talented author to be able to write this way and keep it so organized I never felt confused.

Charlotte is the mother of three children and Harriet is the mother of one. They have been best friends since before Harriet had Alice. One day Harriet asks Charlotte to watch Alice while she takes an accounting class. She has never let Alice out of her sight. Charlotte is more than happy to watch Alice. She takes them to their school’s fair. She sits with her youngest daughter while her two older children go on the “Jungle Run” bouncy house with Alice, only two of them come off. They look everywhere for her then call the police. Everyone is wondering how you can go to the fair with four children and only return with your own three.

Things are not necessarily what people think. Charlotte feels guilty about losing her best friends child. At the same time a young boy who had gone missing a year before,  his body has just been found. This makes Charlotte feel even more guilty. What if the same monster who took this young boy took Alice?

As Angela, the officer liaison assigned to Harriet and Brian spends more time with them, she notices things are not what they appear. Harriet doesn’t want to see or speak with her best friend Charlotte. Brian has become convinced that his wife is becoming forgetful and in danger of hurting herself. What is really going on and who took little Alice? Most importantly, will they ever find her?

This was one of those books that you hate to put down. However, I knew I had to sleep so I could actually finish the book. I didn’t predict the outcome. This author does a great job of leading you where they want you to go and then says, wait here is a clue you need to follow this way. I was tense all the way through the reading. As I read this I thought of three cases where I knew the missing child or the family. In two of those cases their child was found murdered and in the other case the child, thirty-six years later, still has not been found. I manned phones taking down information and clues for one of those cases. I know the feeling of watching parents like this go through this terror. I think that was why I was so drawn into this storyline. I know it kept me on the edge of my seat. If you want a story that will keep you rooted to your seat from beginning to end, then this is the book for you.