The Shut Eye

London, 2000:  Anna Buck’s young son Daniel has been missing for several months, after walking out of the door of their home which was accidentally left open by his father James. 

Every day Anna slips further away from sanity, obsessively polishing the five footprints left in the concrete of the garage forecourt where James works, where Daniel stepped in the wet concrete before vanishing, desperately holding onto them as the only remaining link she has to her son.  Driven to desperation Anna goes to visit a spiritualist church, hoping the psychic (the ‘shut eye’ of the title) can tell her what happened to her son.

Meanwhile, Detective Chief Inspector John Marvel believes there is a connection between Daniel’s disappearance and that of another missing child – twelve-year-old Edie Evans, who vanished riding her bike nearly a year ago.  The bike was found, but Edie was not.  DCI Marvel is not yet ready to stop looking for her.  Even if everyone else has.

The Shut Eye is not a straight crime novel.  It has unreliable narrators, a supernatural leaning, and a somewhat unsatisfactory ending.  But its study of grief is sensitively portrayed, and the flawed characters are realistic.

An original and gripping thriller, this one is well-worth a read.