This book was tricky to get into, difficult to continue with an easy to give up on, which is what I did.

This was a really interesting domestic drama with a whole host of interesting characters (some more likeable than others!) and storylines. It was quite cleverly done because your feelings towards Sophie change dramatically throughout the book.

I don't often read books like this, my usuals are thrillers, dark and twisted types of books, but I really enjoyed getting drawn into something a bit different and it still had plenty of plot twists in store for me.

I would 100% read something else from this author as I really enjoyed the writing style, characters and plot!

This book is written from various points of view but where this can often be quite confusing, Ber Carroll has done an excellent job of keeping things crystal clear as to who the reader is hearing from.

Sophie McCarthy takes no messing; her father has instilled in her from an early age that she can achieve anything she wants, and to do so she must put her head above the parapet and show that she deserves the plaudits. What he didn't tell her was that this often comes at a price.
Aidan Ryan is an army officer with very exacting standards. The military lifestyle has instilled in him the importance of doing the right thing no matter how uncomfortable it is on a personal level. It is this keen sense of values which has brought him and Sophie together following a road traffic accident which left Sophie a shadow of her former self.

The first section of the book is a slow burn but is essential to understand the depth of the personality traits of each of the main characters and how they affect those close to them. The story covers many areas, some could be flagged as needing trigger warnings I suppose however the way all the various aspects combine to create the perfect storm I feel it would water down the whole concept considerably if we were on the lookout for those triggers from the start.

The story touches on issues such as bullying, guilt, remorse, PTSD, chronic pain, and a shed load of associated emotional effects and had me considering whether I personally would be able to cope in the various situations which the different characters found themselves. It's most definitely a book which you take with you while not physically reading the pages. The characters are all well drawn and believable if not particularly likeable in some cases, my particular favourites were the youngsters and in particular their football coach, Davey.

Overall, a flowing story with interesting moral dilemmas at its heart which I enjoyed as a whole.

This was a very good read. Well written, with complex characters and a plot with satisfying twisty turns.

Oh my word this book was fantastic. I started it not sure what to expect and after a few chapters I was totally hooked. I couldn’t turn the pages quickly enough to find out what was going to happen next. Loved it.

Oh this was such a great book.
It’s 400 pages but it seemed half that amount because of the pace it kept up. I turned my pages with “just another chapter” before I knew it.......

Sophie has injuries that’s for sure and from the beginning you don’t know how or why but you suspect.
I had full on sympathy for her and empathy until........


This is not just one plot twist it’s several.

So good.
So very good.

It is a bit dull, nothing really happens. Sophie is a vile character with no redeeming factors. I get it that is the point but I really didn't enjoy it, which was a shame because the premise and the beginning of the novel were promising it just never really went anywhere.

Thanks to Penguin Books UK & Netgalley for sending me this in exchange for an open and honest review.

⭐⭐

Thanks to netgalley for the ARC of this entertaining book. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and couldn't wait to finish it. Riveting, gripping and thrilling until the end. Recommended.

After initially been distracted by trying to figure out where this was set (for some odd reason I thought it was Ireland then dollars were mentioned...confused doesn't cover it) I fell totally into this world. What initially seems like a domestic drama quickly turns much darker. The thing is I'm not much interested in domestic drama however even before it became something else I was sucked in. The writer has created sympathetic and realistic characters who I felt it easy to invest in. This is the first time I've read anything by this author but it won't be the last.

I did enjoy this book very much and I warmed to nearly all the characters except sophie she really was an awful person and to be honest I didn’t feel sorry for her one bit..... selfish came to mind.
Enjoyed the twist towards the end..very unexpected.

Wow what a book. It is wrote from many points of view, which I liked. The main character is Sophie who is involved in a car crash caused by another character. The story is over a year with other characters coming in. However I couldn’t like Sophie, she irritated me with her high demands and her expectations!. Well written book. Thanks to netgalley for this copy of the book.

This is one roller coaster of a read and a must read to anyone who likes a suspenseful thriller. If the synopsis intrigues you then this is a must read

This was a book where you weren’t sure where it was going but you definitely wanted to follow. Sophie was in an accident caused by Aidan and they are now in a relationship. The story follows the all the people involved in their world an who were impacted by the aftermath of the accident.
You feel sorry for Sophie and how her life has changed but as the story continues you’re not sure what you should be feeling about her.
The conclusion was just fantastic. Will be looking out for the authors next book!
Thanks to Penguin and NetGally for an ARC.
#TheMissingPiecesOfSophieMcCarthy #NetGalley

This is the first of B. M. Carroll’s books that I have had the pleasure of reading and reviewing. The synopsis intrigued me and without further ado I dived straight in. After having finished the book, all I can say is ‘bloody hell what a read this is’. I absolutely loved reading ‘The Missing Pieces Of Sophie McCarthy’ but more about that in a bit.
Whilst I was reading this book, my opinions of Sophie McCarthy kept changing throughout. To start with I really did feel for her because she was hurt during an incident and life is never going to be the same again. I guess I empathised with her a fair amount too because like her, I suffer with chronic pain and I have a fair idea about the impact it has on all areas of your life. That said Sophie does become a tad obsessional about her pain and her obsession rang little alarm bells for me. Sophie initially comes across as an okay sort of person but she is depressed because of what happened (& still is happening) to her. I could even understand why she might lash out at her nearest and dearest because the frustration at her limitations boils over. What I couldn’t understand is the way in which she treats her work colleagues. She is an absolute cowbag to them. She thinks nothing of dishing out reprimands in public, she speaks to them like they are dirt on her shoe and she really cracks the whip hard and piles the pressure onto her underlings and other colleagues. Honestly I could’ve slapped her around the chops a few dozen times with a wet fish for the way that she behaved. Overall I feel for her because of the pain that she claims to be in but on the other hand, her pain does not excuse her behaviour. People give her a certain amount of leeway but she uses that and abuses it.
Oh my goodness gracious me, ‘The Missing Pieces Of Sophie McCarthy’ is one hell of an addictive and reasonably fast paced psychological thriller. The story starts off reasonably slow but I found that ok because it was setting the scene as it were. The story gathers pace and momentum fairly quickly. I was hooked on the book from the moment I began to read. The suspicious part of me thought that there was more to Sophie’s story than she was initially letting on and so it proved to be. I just suspect everybody and believe nobody. Reading this book became seriously addictive. I found it nigh on impossible to put the book down. The book wasn’t exactly glued to my hand but it might as well have been because it came everywhere with me. If I did have to put the book down for any reason, then I would count down the time until I could pick the book back up and get my next fix. I had to keep reading to see just what the truth about Sophie McCarthy was.
For me, ‘The Missing Pieces Of Sophie McCarthy’ is superbly written. The author grabs your attention from the word go and she keeps you interested all the way through. The different chapters are written from the different points of views of the characters within the book. These chapters show the impact that Sophie and her actions have had on their own lives. Their chapters also explain how they fit into the overall story and describe the resentments and differences that are simmering away beneath the surface as it were.
In short, I absolutely loved reading ‘The Missing Pieces Of Sophie McCarthy’ and I would definitely recommend it to other readers. For me ;The Missing Pieces Of Sophie McCarthy’ has a bit of everything within its pages- there are twists and turns aplenty and there’s oodles of drama, intrigue, suspense, betrayal and romance . Believe you, me you will not regret picking the book up for yourselves. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board just has to be 5* out of 5*.

Enjoyed this book. It was very well written and a really good story, but I really struggled with the main character. I could not connect with her at all.

The Missing Pieces of Sophie McCarthy, Bam Carroll's eighth novel and the first to be written under her pen name B M Carroll, is a classic work of women's fiction with a plot built around some tried and tested tropes. Themes that often heavily feature in these type of family drama or domestic noir titles are present here, including secrets, lies, deceit, duplicity, revenge, and betrayal, and what this novel does do, it does with reasonable success. This toxic atmosphere runs throughout the entire length of the story and keeps you reading. With a concoction of secrets and lies, this results in an explosive cocktail of the Molotov variety.

Carroll's writing manages to pull you in very early on and keeps you in its grasp, hanging on her every word. The characters are complex, multi-faceted and true to life, and the plot turns out to be darker than I initially expected. Fans of Liane Moriarty will find a lot to like here as not only does it pack an emotional punch but it has some delicious psychological components to it too. An intriguing multi-narrative helps to build an intricate, suspenseful plot that will appeal to fans of women's fiction/chick lit, psychological thrillers and family/domestic drama alike.

Many thanks to Penguin for an ARC.

What an extraordinary novel. Fate and its consequences. The characterisation is so impressive and there are so many thought-provoking issues. Sophie is an ambitious woman despite her accident and she drives her workforce with a whip. It's not easy at the top of your game and there appears to be a fine line between ruthless ambition and bullying. Where the red line stands for me is the out-of-hours requests that Sophie makes to her staff. She may appear an exacting, diligent Boss and a victim of petty office conflicts. I suppose it depends on which side of the fence you are on - Boss or employee, but she has a flagrant disregard for her employees. There's a superb analysis of her and like the character, Hannah, I wasn't always sure what to make of her or Aidan. What they all think of each other and their interaction is remarkably well-executed. There are a lot of issues too, including mental health, cringeworthy relationships, betrayal, loss, IVF and some messy, fractured families. Chloe broke my heart mostly and her dignity in the face of such adversity. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin UK.

Sophie McCarthy is the most unlikeable character I have come across in recent times, if ever. Usually you're rooting for the central character - in this case, I wanted her to get her comeuppance. Sophie has been a victim of a bad accident. She is now in a relationship with Aidan, the perpetrator. The book is told in different voices - Sophie, Aidan, Chloe (Aidan's estranged wife), Jasmine, his daughter, Richard, (Sophie's dad with whom she has a very strange relationship), Hannah (widowed mum of twins, who becomes friendly with Chloe, and also works for, and was at school with, Sophie), and Dee (Sophie's mum). It works at that level, and there's no confusion over whose story we are reading. The stories do come together, but I felt too conveniently, and the big climax of the story just didn't work that well for me. I did enjoy the story, but I felt too much was glossed over. There is a story to be told about Harry, Hannah's husband, but it was a couple of pages about his suicide. I got the impression that was meant to be a shock, but it had been obvious all through. Anyway, a good read, I did want to know what happened, I was hoping Aidan would finally see through Sophie and get back with Chloe, and that Sophie would get her comeuppance.

With thanks to Netgalley and Penguin for this ARC in exchange for an open and honest review.

If you are a fan of Liane Moriarty or Sally Hepworth you will enjoy The Missing pieces of Sophie McCarthy..

Sophie McCarthy was driving to work when the car driven by Captain Aiden Ryan ploughed in to her. Sophie was left with serious injuries which needed multiple surgeries and months in hospital.

Aiden was guilt stricken about Sophie`s injuries and visited her in hospital and helped care for her at home. Aiden fell in love with Sophie and left his wife Chloe and nine year old daughter Jasmine to be with her.

Jasmin had trouble sleeping and was often awake for hours leaving Chloe exhausted. This left Aiden feeling guilty about leaving Jasmine when she was so vulnerable.

Meanwhile Sophie`s father Richard could not understand why she had fallen in love with Aiden. Richard was upset about Sophie`s injuries and wanted him punished.

I enjoyed this story, the plot flowed smoothly and I read the whole book in a matter of hours. I liked Sophie initially and I could emphasize with her pain. I know that being in pain can make you short tempered but Sophie was a nasty character to begin with and the pain was just a secondary factor.

I liked Aiden but I found it frustrating he wrecked his marriage to Clara because he felt guilt over Sophie`s accident.

The most interesting dynamic was between Richard and Sophie. Richard put Sophie on a pedestal from a child telling her wonderful and clever she was. Maybe if he had been different she would nog of turned into a bully.

I enjoyed this book and I was definitely not expecting what happened to Jasmine. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys family dramas.

At the beginning, we are introduced to Sophie who is in a considerable amount of pain, we know the injuries are caused by her partner Aidan but not how.

Loved how you can’t help but feel sorry for poor Sophie, who finds everyday life a struggle with her injuries. She is intelligent, ambitious and resilient, but as we get to know her better, we discover she is not such a nice person after all. My sympathy’s soon waned!!

Sophie’s partner Aidan had left his wife Chloe and daughter Jazmin to be with Sophie, is it out of guilt or love for Sophie?

A book that keeps you gripped, loved how each chapter was a different character, this was a very clever way to slowly reveal the plot and to keep the tension building up!!

A must read book that will not disappoint. Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review.