The 8th David Raker book has the investigator attempting to discover the past of a man who has lost his memory and can not remember anything including his name. The search takes David half way around the world and puts him in danger whilst attempting to solve the puzzle. A well written book with depth of character and an intriguing plot line.. I recommend this book

If you haven't read any of this series before - and I hadn't - you need to know that David Raker is an investigator looking into missing people cases. I was really fascinated by the concept that the person missing in this book wasn't really missing at all. What was missing was his entire memory of who he actually was and this was the challenge for Raker - discover who 'Richard' really was and why no-one seemed to know him when appeals were in the media. The idea that without a fixed identity you really were no-one was really interesting to me. With no proof of who he was Richard couldn't get a National Insurance number and therefore couldn't work, couldn't access the NHS, couldn't get a passport - so many things that we take for granted. When Raker started investigating, the book took so many really dark twists that I couldn't possibly have imagined!

I loved this book. The idea of someone being 'missing' even though they are physically present was an innovative twist. Richard has lost his memory and goes to a private investigator to see if he can find out who he is, where he comes from etc. The story unfolds at a good pace and introduced me to the Empress Islands, a British colony, which I've never heard of before. The author cleverly manages to weave two story lines which eventually link and answer lots of questions which are raised. I couldn't stop reading this book.

Wow. I loved this book and read it in larger chunks than normal as I so wanted to know 'what next'. A great concept to begin with....someone who has lost themselves. It was a surprise to me that the plot became more of a crime novel. In truth I was somewhat disappointed to find a rather gruesome reason for the locked down section of the island instead of a true mystery, however the twists and turns to discover who Richard really was made a great read.

Somewhere near Christchurch, Dorset a man who calls himself Richard Kite is in search of his identity. He knows nothing about himself except that he thinks he was born near the coast and that Richard is really his name, and he knows he is a good swimmer. He has dissociative amnesia.

Nine months beforehand, he woke up on a beach near the lifeboat station and the police tried to find out who he was, with no success. He can't get a National Insurance number and so is denied a passport, driving licence and bank account. He is forced to work for cash outside the system. He was The Lost Man, but now he's yesterday’s news and he finally calls David Straker to try to help him find himself.

Straker speaks to Kite's psychologist in London, who is cool and unhelpful. He finds that she is attached to a private school and wants to find out what she does there. His search leads him down all sorts of paths and along the way, he encounters duplicity, murder and many false turns. Will he ever find out who Richard Kite really is?

This is the 8th David Straker book, but my first Tim Weaver. I found the book interesting to start with but my interest soon waned. Weaver introduces a completely unconnected storyline halfway through one of the early chapters and it was only one-third of the way through the book that I realised the connection to the main storyline.

I found Straker's actions and exploits stretched my credulity to breaking point. The escapades he got himself into, and out of, came along with astonishing rapidity. James Bond, Indiana Jones, even Sherlock Holmes had nothing on our Mr Straker. It might have helped if I'd had a previous history of this character, but surely the book should be able to stand up on its own? For me, it didn't.

This was very nearly a 2-star book, but it did keep me reading until the end and did have a very surprising climax, which nudged it into a 3 star.

Mr Bumblebee

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

Another David Raker adventure that keeps you fully engrossed from start to finish and if like me you think you know what happens in the end, think again! Tim Weaver has a talent of leading the reader in one direction and just when you are convinced you’ve got everything sussed he pulls the rug from under your feet and you’re left sitting on the floor in awe!

A very very quick read, I am Missing is a very different kind of missing person case – the person – Richard Kyte in this example – isn’t really missing, his memory is. David Raker has to discover his past and put everything back together, the problem is he starts with nothing but a beach and a love of bananas – figure that one out Sherlock!

The storyline is clever and the characters infectious, there’s never a dull moment and the pace is contagious so much so that you’ll struggle to put the book down late at night, I know I did!

David Raker is on top form once again, we don’t delve too deeply in his past this time around and the help he receives from his contacts is minimal, he’s really on his own in this case in more ways than one. The imagery of the South Atlantic made me want to visit, but only for a few hours! Eerie, bleak and windswept the island had very little going for it – who could possibly live without strong 3G and Fibre Optic broadband – it’s Neanderthal!

As I mentioned earlier I was convinced I knew what would happen towards the end but I only managed to get a couple of things right! A great read with an imaginative case, I can’t wait for the next one.

Brilliant. Tim Weaver is one of favourite authors and his books are always excellent. I loved this book. It had captivated from the first page. It is so well put together with so many twists and surprises. The characters are written about so well I got totally caught up in the story and wanted to know who Richard was. Really looking forward to reading this book again and really looking forward to the next book.

3.5 stars - but I'm rounding up to 4 because I liked more than I disliked.

My first impression of this book, before I even picked it up was this: oh no. Firstly, Netgalley is pretty useless at telling you when a book is part way through a series, so I didn't initially realise this was the EIGHTH book in a series, secondly this is over 500 pages. I often find mystery thrillers over 400 pages are dragged out and could really be around 300 pages long with some good editing. But... I was pleasantly surprised.

This is my first taste of the David Raker series, as mentioned above, but it was so easy going into this one with no background information about him as a character. The book got straight on with the storyline of The Lost Man and didn't dwell too often on his life or characters he had a past with. I think when you get so deep into a series as to have 8 books, the new ones you come out with do need to be as close to a standalone as possible.

As for the 500+ page issue, I do think there could have been some bits cut out to make it a little shorter. There was quite a bit of repetition of what had happened just previously, like at the beginning of a new TV episode where is does a short re-cap. I also found some of the conversation tedious and skimmed them. There was a lot of...

"And so then what happened?" I asked. He didn't move.

"Tell me what happened," I pushed to get an answer, but he kept his head down and didn't say anything.

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" I wanted to force an answer out of him but I didn't want to rush him. This time he moved slightly to look at me, but still he didn't say anything.

... which, as you can imagine, gets a bit annoying when you come across several conversations like this. Other than these few little issues with the writing, I thought the rest of it was very good and that Weaver is a talented writer!

When it comes to the story, my feelings are really conflicted. What initially drew me to this book was the idea that a man is missing himself - he has no memory of where he comes from or of who he is - so he hires a PI to "find" him. What we get from that is a twisty, journey into the history of this man's life and how that led him to be washed up on UK shores.

Admittedly, this is one hell of a ride. It's fast paced and exciting, but it's also quite convoluted and towards the end where the big reveals are coming thick and fast, it gets a little ridiculous.

I liked this one but I couldn't quite believe it, and so couldn't get myself into it as much as I would have liked to. It starts off very chilling and intriguing but it gradually gets into "let's make this as crazy as we can".

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin - Michael Joseph for giving me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

I Am Missing

I haven't read any of Tim Weaver's books and was intrigued by the unusual premise of this novel, I Am Missing. David Raker is an investigator who traces missing persons. But the tables are turned when Richard Kite turns up, asking for help. Kite has amnesia and no personal history. He was found washed up on a beach and after 10 months, has no idea who he really is.

This novel is certainly thought provoking. Having read a few Oliver Sachs books which examine brain disorders, the insight here into dissociative amnesia feels very real. Kite is a man with no anchor; nowhere to pin his life and that's a truly frightening thought. I enjoyed the exploration of what it really means to have no past and the practical difficulties this raises.

It's well paced and very well written although I found Weaver rather dispassionate. I'm certainly interested to know more about him and will look at earlier stories in this series. Weaver really excels at setting locations and creating atmosphere and this turns into a very rewarding thriller. The final section is chilling and I was kept guessing throughout.

My thanks to Penguin for a review copy via Netgalley.

I Am Missing is the first of this series that I've read and I'm now keen to read the rest. The plot is very inventive and the story well-written, with an excellent, realistic ending.

Wowser! What a great book and a good storyline of which I'd never come across before. A guy wakes up beaten and battered on a beach with no idea of who he is or where he came from or what happened. This is the story that tries to figure it all out by linking people and places together, though not without a few people meddling trying to prevent that from happening!!! I enjoyed the book immensely and will defo read more from this author. I enjoyed the ending and all the bits in between, read in two sittings and did not want to budge from that sofa!
A great book and a must read for all.

I loved this book, was intrigued from the beginning to the end. Great characters and fabulous plot

Really unusual read. This books has an unique plot that will keep you guessing. Hurtles along to a finish that will really surprise you. Cracking good read

I really did like the opening of this book the 8th in the David Raker series. I have read all but one of them (and that is on the bookshelf!). Writing about people who go missing has proved a good formula so far however the change here is that Raker is "looking" for someone who is in front of him when he Is asked to take on the investigation. The man - currently called Richard - has "lost" his life as he is suffering from dissociative amnesia. Despite an extensive media campaign and police investigations he does not know who he is.

Not for the first time the investigation leads Raker into some danger. There are twists and turns almost from the start as he tries to find out anything at all he can about Richard's past. Excellent writing means that the settings for the story are effective and often bleakly moody.

I found the characters drawn out in this story credible, good and often excellent. Tim Weaver's writing is so good it makes reading both simple and compelling. I found the last 25% or so of the book very hard indeed to put down.

To be clear I am a real fan of Tim Weaver's writing. I think he is one of the best thriller writers in the UK currently. This story has a feel of some of the older Raker books at times. For me there were some parts of this that were not as gripping as others. However the standard set by Tim Weaver is so high that I found this a highly enjoyable gripping thriller all the same. I'd suggest reading then in order if you are new to these (although the first book I found less good than subsequent ones) in part to get the background however mostly because they are extremely good stories. If you are already a fan you will want to read this and I'm fairly sure you will enjoy it.

Firstly may I say that I am HUGE Tim Weaver/David Raker fan, I relish each and every book and wait impatiently for the next instalment to appear. However, with a sorry sigh I have to say that this was my least favourite of all the Raker books. There just wasn't enough about Richard Kite to make you feel empathy for him, his personality seemed to be defined by his constant apologies for not remembering anything suggested to him. He never felt like a whole person. Further down the line, I started to get slightly bored with the length of the intervening chapters featuring Penny and Beth when they were younger, going off on their night time adventures. It was such a contrast to Raker's investigation that it felt almost like an interference, although you knew it would have some significance eventually. These episodes could have been shorter. I loved the chapters that took place on the Empress Cruise Liner. The fact that Beth had been living on the vessel for many months as a stowaway was pure genius, I just wish more time could have been spent on this aspect of the story, she was there then gone again. She was such a plucky young lady that I felt she warranted a lot more time in the book. Similarly, the menacing Marek seemed to inhabit only a very small part, yet again I felt his character should have been more involved rather than letting himself be exterminated so easily. I din't find the whole ethos of The Brink and the cabin, the monster etc menacing at all, Having said all that I literally couldn't put this book down until I had finished it. Tim's writing style and Raker himself make it impossible to stop, you have to know what happens next. So from that point of view it's another winner.

I had not read any of this author's work so I was interested to try one. I really loved this book, it was different and held my attention all the way. There had been a lot of research to produce the book and this was apparent in the detail in the story.
Look forward to more Tim Weaver books, thank you.

Wow, such an amazing book. So well written and kept me in suspense as to what was going on at The Brink.
Twists and turns throughout the book but the one at The Brink when David was up there really got me............. such a ohhhhhh wow, I didn't see that coming.

I am now on the lookout for more of Tim Weaver's books!

Richard Kite has Dissociative Amnesia when he asks David Raker to find out about his past as he can't remember how he got there? Who he is and where is he from? The only thing that he remembers that he lived near a beach and that he remembers a children's TV show. While investigating he founds out that he is linked to a woman who was murdered 2 years ago. The case leads him to a place called Sofia in the Empress islands.

I enjoyed this book, it was expertly written and it had a good original plot. Although it's the 8th in series for David Raker you can read it as a stand alone book. There was alot of twists and turns that will keep you guessing throughout the story.

This book was a little more than your regular thriller. The notion of waking up on a beach with no memories is an intriguing one and it was well managed by the author. At points, however, the plot did feel a little 'engineered' around the concept.

By the second half of the novel I was completely gripped and whizzed through to the denouement, which was satisfying.

Thanks Tim Weaver - a great read!

Gritty and tough story. I had no idea where it was going. Good characters and interactions .