Little girl gone, but not forgotten

MY NAME IS ANNA by Lizzy Barber (Century €18.20)

THIS is a very sensitive evocation of how losing a child can destroy a family.

It is a superbly executed story about two sisters: Emily, who was abducted aged three from an English family on holiday in Florida, and her younger sibling, Rosie, who returned to London with the family.

Rosie was forced to live in the shadow of her sister’s disappearance, which has blighted their lives.

The novel opens on the 15th anniversary of Emily’s disappearance and the inevitable TV interview with Rosie and her parents, reliving that day at the Astroland theme park in Florida.

Meanwhile, Emily, who has been brought up by a deeply religious mother in a small town and renamed Anna, celebrates her 18th birthday with a secret visit to the theme park with her boyfriend.

The trip stirs long-hidden memories and she starts to question who she really is, as a mysterious letter arrives.

Enthralling, and often deeply moving, it is a brilliant debut.

THE HUNTING PARTY by Lucy Foley (Harper-Collins, €15.99)

A COMPELLING locked-room mystery set during a snow storm in a remote corner of the Scottish Highlands marks the first outing into crime for historical novelist Foley.

Elegantly drawn, it tells the tale of nine friends from Oxford University on a New Year break. They stay in an isolated lodge, looked after by its manager Heather and dour former Royal Marine gamekeeper Doug.

The only other guests are two Icelanders, who say they hitched a ride on a fishing trawler to a local port.

These are classic Agatha Christie ingredients — a guest is found dead and, as no one has been able to get in or out of the lodge due to the atrocious weather, someone staying there must have committed the murder.

But who? Everyone has a secret, but who has a motive? Clever, twisty and sleek, it has ‘hit’ written all over it.

THE FIFTH TO DIE by J.D. Barker (HQ €8.99)

I DESCRIBED J.D. Barker’s first story about Chicago detective Sam Porter and his hunt for serial killer Anson Bishop, entitled The Fourth Monkey, as bearing comparison with Thomas Harris’s creation of Hannibal Lecter. This sequel confirms my view: it is a superbly paced, beautifully constructed evocation of evil.

The body of a teenage girl is found under a frozen lake in Chicago. She disappeared three weeks earlier — but the lake has been frozen over for three months. So how did she get there?

As other girls go missing, Porter becomes convinced that Bishop is at work again.

Genuinely frightening, and with a terrific villain, it underlines just how good Barker is.