When your child wants to walk home from school alone for the first time it's scary to let go, when Grace wants to her mum allows it but keeps an eye on her from a distance for the first week. It's the next week that's the problem when she goes missing out of a sweet shop that she was in with school friends. Where has she gone? her parents are bereft but family props them up and they can only hope she turns up. 25 years ago another child went missing and her grandmother has never got over it, she follows every missing child story just in case something look similar to her granddaughter Zoe. This is narrated by several characters including Grace who explains what is happening from her point of view. It did get a little slow in places but I am so glad I carried on reading as the outcome was worth it. I hae when people give away there is a twist as you are waiting for it but this book is full of them so stay on the rollercoaster and ride until the end.
Thank you to NetGalley for my copy of this book.

99 Red Balloons was a spur of the moment request and was a welcome break after my previous read. It was easy to read and enjoyable and I had finished it in a day.
Chapter one begins with a young girl talking to a stranger in a Newsagents. The man is telling her that her mum asked him to fetch her and take her to the bus station where she has a surprise for her for being such a good girl at school. At this point the alarm bells in my head were ringing.
Elisabeth Carpenter keeps a sense of suspense going throughout the book so I literally didn’t want to put my kindle down until I had finished every last bit. I wanted to know what happened to the characters long after the main twists had passed.
The man tells the young girl that he has some medicine for her take to stop her getting car sick. At this point if I had been watching the tv I would have been shouting at the girl not to drink it.
“After, I’ve drunk it, I give the plastic cup -lid back to him. I’m really tired. There are things I have to say to him, like, Mummy’s never mentioned anyone called George and, I never get car sick, but I can’t because my mouth doesn’t work anymore.”
The next chapter is written from the perspective of a woman called Stephanie who turns up at her sister Emma’s house to find out that her niece, Grace, is missing.
I felt as though 99 Red Balloons did an excellent job of capturing the sense of chaos, bewilderment and guilt that would surround the disappearance of a child.
Grace was walking home from school with her friends and disappeared when they went into the local news agents. Nobody has seen her since. As the evening continues Emma and Grace’s father Matt become increasingly concerned. Grace always comes straight home from school and nothing has happened to suggest she has run away.
Steph’s own son is much older than Grace but he is as upset as everyone else because she is like a sister to him.
Emma asks Steph to get hold of their mum but she is hard to track down and appears to be pretty flippant about the whole thing. This annoys Steph and serves to illustrate the difficult nature of their relationship.
“Mum only lives ten minutes away – traffic can’t be that bad. I don’t know how she stayed so calm. If it were my granddaughter, I’d run as fast as I could to get here.”
When the police come Steph feels a bit as though the whole family is being vilified and the suggestion is being made that it is all their fault.
“The detective scratches his forehead with his pen. Perhaps he’s thinking that a few minutes ago Grace was too young for a computer, and now she’s old enough to walk home on her own. It feels as though Emma and Matt will be judged on the decisions they made for her.”
The police ask if they family can think of anyone who might have a grudge against them or any reason to take the child. It soon becomes clear that Steph and Matt have a secret that they want to keep hidden but with Emma hiding a secret of her own who knows what the motive for taking Grace could be. All I know is it made for a suspenseful book.
My favourite character of 99 Red Ballloons is Maggie. The chapters from Maggie’s perspective provide the reader with the perspective of what can happen to a family who have lost their child and never found her. Maggie’s granddaughter, Zoe, was taken in 1986 and was never found. Now Maggie is the only one left to cherish her memory and to know the pain of not having her in her life.
Maggie’s past dominates every aspect of her life and haunts her constantly. If it wasn’t for her friendship with her husband’s friend Jim I think she would be in an even worse situation.
“I try not to think what she might have looked like if her picture had been taken every year after that. About how proud Sarah would have been of her. I try not to feel bitter every time I see her old school friends standing at the gates of the school down the road, adults now, waiting for children of their own. I simply let it stab me once, in the heart, before I bury it again. We used to talk about Zoe every day. I don’t get to talk about her anymore. No one else knows her now.”
Maggie’s chapters were harrowing and had the biggest impact of all the chapters.
The best thing about this book for me was that it mentioned several places I know and have been to and was set in my home county of Lincolnshire. It is very rare for me to come across a book set in Lincolnshire and even rarer to read one that mentions Lincoln.

99 Red Balloons was a great psychological thriller that kept me hooked from the first few pages. I loved it. This book focuses on the disappearance of Grace who's 8 years old 20 years after another little girl went missing. This book kept me guessing throughout and I loved the twists. Have a read you will not be disappointed.

What a rolllercoaster this book is. I managed to read it in one night due to the fact it was that good. There are plenty of twists and turns along the way, some things I sort of guessed but others I didn't. My heart was racing near the end because it was so tense. highly recommended.
Thanks to Netgalley for an advance copy in return for an honest review.

99 Red balloons was a brilliant thriller with an amazing storyline that had me gripped throughout, I would definitely recommend.

Bit too formulaic for me, with disjointed chapters and had to really try and work out who was telling the story. Not a great start either as when trying to backtrack an 8 year olds movements, her junior school would surely not lock the gates so early! There are usually staff/cleaners on the premises. Parts of the book also made me uncomfortable (in a good way), with good descriptions of family relationships. For that reason I would read her next novel.

An AMAZING debut novel. I would not have guessed that this was a debut novel and I am officially hooked on Elisabeth Carpenter. I couldn’t put this one down. The twists, the secrets, the development of the story… this novel is so clearly well written. I found myself to keep turning the pages anxious to know just what happened to Grace Harper and to uncover more of the secrets held by the characters within the book. Sooooooooooo good!! I highly recommend this twisty thriller and I look forward to Carpenter’s next book.

When eight-year-old Grace disappears from a sweet shop on her way home from school, her family starts to fall apart as days pass without any sightings. Elderly widow Maggie hears of the disappearance and is reminded of her own tragic past - her granddaughter Zoe was abducted years earlier and never found. Zoe's distraught mother Sarah, unable to cope with her loss, committed suicide. When Maggie sees a familiar face, she can hardly believe her eyes!

This is an excellent character-driven debut novel from author Elisabeth Carpenter. It's a story of love, loss and reconciliation; carefully and skillfully interwoven to create a wonderful and sometimes heart-wrenching tale of two families' lives similarly affected by the loss of a child. The writing is gritty and down-to-earth; it hasn't allowed 'Americanisms' to creep in, which is a huge bonus in my opinion. The reader is swept along as the plot takes a certain route.... but heck... wait a sec... no, no, that cannot be!

An absorbing and all-consuming read.

Thanks to Elisabeth Carpenter, Avon Books UK and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Started out with a lot of intrigue but then it took an almost boring turn. Thankfully the great reveal saved the day..Wouldn't read again but its OK for a one time read

There was a lot to get your teeth into in this book but I did find the way of writing a bit confusing at first with the first person narrative of various people. Once I get into it, I got a bit more used to it, but it felt uncomfortable to read such a novel in this way. Having said that the innocence of little Grace read really well and there wasn't the horror focus that other writers might have included but the observations of a little girl confused and unsure of what's going on.
A good thriller but I wasn't overwhelmed. It also had little to no sense of location so not a booktrail read.

I struggled with this one. Not necessarily because of the writing/plot, but because I've had a hard time picking up my iPad to read lately; I've just preferred to hold a real book in my hands. So it took me over a month to read. I was interested in the story, just not interested in my iPad. Combining that with the fact that this book just ended up being a mediocre thriller in my opinion resulted in my slow pace. I finally got to 70% today where the big reveal happens and everything really made sense. So of course I was invested and was excited that it finally picked up. But then I felt like everything was revealed all at once and then the last 25% was slow-going again. I'm having a hard time even reviewing this book because I'm torn between the times I was hooked and the times when I was asking myself "when is something else going to happen?" I know others that loved this book, but it just didn't quite meet my expectations for an amazing psychological thriller.

Really enjoyed this book, it had a powerful story line and great characters.

I very well written story. I just wish it had have had a slightly quicker pace

Very confident writing for a debut novel. Even though I knew there was a major twist I did not see it coming. Excellent book.

It is hard to believe this is a debut novel. It resonates with experience and confidence. Elisabeth Carpenter knows how to tell a tale.

The storyline could easily be based on a true story - that is what makes it so damn scary. The heartache of the families waiting for news...even when a lifetime has passed with family and friends moving on or passing on.

Is there a happy ending for anyone? I suppose that all depends on what happiness is to you.

A book worth reading by an author worth watching.

I was really shocked to find out that this is a debut novel as it is brilliant and Carpenter writes like this is her 10th book not 1st!

The book follows the story of 8 year old Grace who goes missing after school... 20 years after another little girl went missing in similar cicumstances.

The reader is taken on several story arcs - all of which converge towards a shocking conclussion. Carpenter weaves together the different strands so expertly that there are some totally unexpected twists.

Graces mum and dad, Emma and Mat, are devestated but are supported by Samantha, Emmas sister. However it soon becomes apparant that not everyone is being honest and cracks begin to appear in the tight family unit.

Elderly Maggie who has never recovered from when her granddaughter vanished 20 years ago and the subsequent suicide of her daughter is following Graces case with particular interest. Especially when she recognises a face in Graces family....

There are so many dimensions to this book - tragedy, suspense, action... all alongside well developed characters who appeal to the readers in so many ways.

This is a must read!

A kidnapping and a families living hell. Full of twists and turns this story will keep you guessing and waiting for the end.

I loved this psychological thriller. 99 Red Balloons is a clever, well-written debut novel that caught me up right from the very beginning. When asked to describe her novel in one sentence (by author/blogger Sam Carrington) author Elisabeth Carpenter says, ‘two girls go missing, decades apart, and family secrets are slowly revealed’. The story gallops effortlessly along with a large cast of very believable characters and great dialogue. Libby skilfully blends a number of different threads, each told from a different point of view. She led me totally astray – cleverly misleading me for most of the story. It’s a great ride – a skilful, suspenseful roller coaster of a book which left me breathless. Highly recommended if this is your genre.

Thank you to Avon and Netgalley for a copy of the eARC in exchange for a fair review.

This book is told with several different viewpoints, and an unnamed man, unnamed girl, Stephanie, and Maggie. The unnamed is a kidnapper, the unnamed girl has been kidnapped and Stephanie is the Aunt of a young girl that has just been kidnapped, and Maggie is the grandmother of young girl Zoe who was kidnapped in the 80s.

The story opens with the unnamed girl meeting a man outside a sweet shop and how he convinces her to go with him. It then switches to Stephanie who has just learned that her niece Grace has been kidnapped after walking home from school. Almost immediately you start to learn that Stephanie and her family have secrets.
Maggie begins to receive calls and flowers from an unknown person who tells her they have a surprise for her, but mainly she is shocked Grace has been kidnapped in the same manner as her granddaughter Zoe.

I can't tell you much more than that because it will spoil the story for you. I will say that I was a bit confused at first as to the alternative perspectives and who was who. For a longer time, I didn't understand why Stephanie had a part in this story, but I will say that this was engrossing and I was unable to put it down.

I had to know what was going to happen, and I was completely shocked when it was finally revealed who the unknown people were in those chapters. I guessed wrong several times as to who and how people fit into the story. I also must admit that I loved the inclusion of 99 Red Ballon, that is one of my favorite 80s songs and I love to hear it in German.

Before I started reading the book, I read that it had a major twist and I still didn't see it coming! That twist elevates it from a good read to a great read in my opinion.

Eight year old Grace gets abducted. Her family is understandably in pieces but while the police is searching for her, there soon appear cracks - why is her grandmother acting unusually and what is going on between Grace's parents or between her father Matt and her aunt Stephanie?

The story is narrated by aunt Stephanie, an older woman called Maggie, whose own granddaughter Zoe got abducted decades ago and a little girl. It's intriguing and you want to find out what happened to Grace and what is wrong with her family.

Once we know the plot twist I would have liked some more background on it. The book gives us enough for it all to make sense but we are left to piece it together ourselves. I also would have enjoyed a bit more detail at the end. Certainly worth a read though.