High praise for Mark Douglas-Home and this amazing mystery story focusing on two different women who went missing twenty-three years ago and the people left behind.

Set between the Dutch coastal town of Texel and Edinburgh in Scotland we are first introduced to self proclaimed sea detective and oceanographer Dr. Caladh McGill as he tries to work out just what happened to two different women who disappeared.

One, leaving behind a broken, alcoholic father and the other, two young daughters left to wonder just why they had supposedly been abandoned by a mother so desperate to help orphaned children.

Douglas-Home has managed to weave a fantastic tale of love, loss and desperation.

His ability to portray human emotion as well as plain indifference to people's suffering was well balanced, thought out and relatable to me as a reader.

In the beginning, I was unsure of where all the different threads would lead and there were moments that I thought a little predictable but I also loved the plot twists and hidden gems the author had managed to conceal right up until the grand finale where the truth was revealed.

I would definitely recommend this book for those who enjoy a good whodunnit and mystery story.

Thank you, NetGalley for allowing me to review this ARC prior to publication in exchange for my review.