Did You See Melody?

By Sophie Hannah Hodder & Stoughton, £12.99

With Did You See Melody?, Sophie Hannah takes a twisty plot, revs it up a gear with witty dialogue and delivers a taut psychological thriller. At first it seems a friendly tale of escapism, as pregnant protagonist Cara Burrows flees her crumbling family life for an outlandishly luxurious spa resort in Arizona. However, the novel quickly pivots once Cara glimpses Melody Chapa – a young girl who is believed to be dead and whose parents are currently behind bars charged with her murder. As Cara’s holiday spirals into danger, Hannah inserts long sections of TV manuscripts, blog posts and diary entries to provide details of the Melody Chapa case. These can feel convoluted at times; however, the tension builds steadily all the way to a last line which is guaranteed to plunge readers into uncertainty.