I am so pleased to be today's stop on the Do Not Become Alarmed blog tour
Published by Penguin Random House on 6 July 2017
When Liv and Nora decide to take their husbands and children on a holiday cruise, everyone is thrilled. The ship's comforts and possibilities seem infinite. But when they all go ashore in beautiful Central America, a series of minor mishaps lead the families further from the ship's safety.
One minute the children are there, and the next they're gone.
What follows is a heart-racing story told from the perspectives of the adults and the children, as the distraught parents - now turning on one another and blaming themselves - try to recover their children and their shattered lives.
One minute the children are there, and the next they're gone.
What follows is a heart-racing story told from the perspectives of the adults and the children, as the distraught parents - now turning on one another and blaming themselves - try to recover their children and their shattered lives.
The sun is shining.
The sea is blue.
The children have disappeared...
Do Not Become Alarmed
Do Not Become Alarmed starts off very quaint as the two families begin their holiday on board ship, the trip was Liv's idea as her cousin Nora's mother had recently died and she thought it would be a lovely way for them all to relax and forget their problems.
And at the beginning it was perfect, everyone was getting along, the children loved being on board and all was wonderful in their world.
But, after a day trip to another country in Central America by the wives and the children, somehow they take their eyes off them and the next thing they know they have disappeared.
What follows next becomes quite a dark read as the reader knows exactly what's happened to the children and where they are and sometimes it makes for uncomfortable but absolutely riveting reading.
Meanwhile, at the same time, the parents don't have any idea where they are and are panicking and picking fights with each other, blaming each other, feeling guilty and wondering if they've kept them isolated too much and protected them too much from the real world. We see the changing situation through each of their eyes in turn, which I though worked really well. The way in which the children coped with the situation they were in was particularly interesting to watch.
I really enjoyed reading this clever, taut, unpredictable and, in some parts, scary novel.
Special Thanks to Penguin Random House for giving me the opportunity to read this and join the blog tour.
Available from Amazon UK - Amazon US - BookDepository
Meet the Author
Maile Meloy is the author of the novels Liars and Saints (which was shortlisted for the Orange Prize and chosen for the Richard and Judy book club) and A Family Daughter, the short-story collections Half in Love and Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It, and the award-winning Apothecary trilogy for young readers. She has received the PEN/Malamud Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship, and was chosen as one of Granta's Best Young American Novelists. She lives in Los Angeles.
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