Do Not Become Alarmed Maile Meloy Viking €9.99

Cousins and best friends Liv and Nora think they’ve hit on the perfect way to dodge Christmas when they set off on a cruise with their husbands and children. Onboard, they’re pampered and meet a wealthy Argentinian couple, who also have two children. Then the children vanish. All six of them. It’s a surefire way of hooking the reader, especially when one is a diabetic and another has already begun attracting inappropriate looks from men. Some of what ensues feels lazy and all the nastier for it but no character will emerge unscathed as Meloy ratchets up the tension. Hephzibah Anderson