Imran Mahmood is always an author I want to shout about whenever I'm given the opportunity, very much on the same page as Kia Abdullah for me - two very talented UK authors who deserve for their books to be much more hyped!

So here I am again with another fantastic book by Mahmood to tell you to go and buy! Because Finding Sophie is a complex and multi-layered thriller that is moving, gripping, and heart-achingly tense, there are many aspects that you'll want to discuss after reading.

Told in the alternating perspectives of Harry and Zara, and in a dual timeline between the weeks after Sophie’s disappearance and a year later in the middle of a murder trial, it does take some concentration to ensure that you are understanding the narratives correctly. I occasionally got mixed up with whose narrative I was reading, but I feel like the slightly hazy narrative in the first part is done on purpose, as you constantly feel on edge and desperate for answers, just like Sophie's parents. So, although I felt like I was constantly missing a piece to the puzzle, never fully knowing what was going on, I love the tension that this created.

What usually impresses me the most about Mahmood's books is the courtroom scenes, and although they aren't as in-depth this time around, they still pose some very important questions. Most importantly, it tackles the well-known saying that, “It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer."

And even when that part of the story comes to a close, there's still so much more we need to know, and the final scenes are very intense and emotional. Finding Sophie really does take you on a journey, and it's definitely one I won't forget soon.

Imran Mahmood is a great writer.

The story isn't fast paced but keeps you gripped and guessing from the beginning with loads of twists and turns.

a must read

WOW, Imran Mahmood has done it again. I gripping, engrossing read.

How far would you go if your 17 year old daughter went missing. Would you murder someone you thought had harmed her?

As the story opens we are in court in the Old Bailey, but as a reader we have-no idea who is on trial until later in the book. The story is told in short chapter from the points of view of Harry, the father, and Zara, the mother. At times it is heartbreaking to see them being pulled apart by their loss, the not knowing if she is still alive, or has the worst thing ever happened. Sophie was 17, no longer a child but not quite an adult she had been pushing her parents. Any parent will know how hard it can be with daughters at that age, they think they know it all.

Harry and gone to every house in the neighbourhood and everyone had filled in a questionnaire or answered questions as to if they had seen Sophie. That is everyone except the man in 210 with his high walls, and rarely being seen, Harry and Zara become fixated on him.

I had no idea how this story would end, and it was a shock when it did, i would never have guessed the conclusion it was so well done complete blinder.

This is a novel you need to lock yourself in a room to read so no one disturbs you give yourself a free day, because once you start you wont want to stop reading. Great believable characters. An emotional story that could relate to any parent with a young daughter. Another great read by this author i cant wait to see what comes next.

I have a hit and miss relationship with this author and I am pleased to say that with this book we have yo-yo'd back to a hit! Although I do have a few niggles, they are all relatively minor and didn't really mar my enjoyment. They definitely didn't take me "out" of the story as some have done in the past.
So... we start with Harry and Zara, and their 17 year old daughter Sophie who, one day, walked out of their house and never came back. Six weeks go by without a trace. Harry and Zara have little faith in the police (and who can blame them, understaffed and all that jazz but I don't want to get political!) so they also run their own investigation, talking to all her friends, all their neighbours - I say all, all apart from the man in 210, who has been very elusive. Is he just a recluse or does he have something to hide... But as time goes on, and he still refuses to talk to them, Harry and Zara decide that they need to go harder. Quite how far they go, we hear from Zara and Harry in turn. As well as going back and witnessing what happened in the lead up to Sophie going missing...
Meanwhile we also bear witness to a murder trial... the whos, whys and wherefores of which I will leave you to discover.
This book is very well plotted and that plot well executed. Although, and I know it's fiction, it did skirt reality a tad for me. OK so I've never been in that situation myself but surely some intervention would have happened before things got that far out of hand. I know the police are stretched and have to follow the letter of the law but I couldn't quite get my head around the credibility of it all (something I do suffer with from this author) but not enough to sack the book off, just roll my eyes, sit back and enjoy the wild ride it turned out to be. And I was rewarded by the shocking but satisfying end.
All in all, an interesting book that did make me think and definitely entertained. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

This was a story that starts off quite slow but soon leaves you wanting more with every chapter. A little more detail is added in each one, and you’re left wondering where the story is going and how will it end?

The book was written very well indeed, had me thinking one thing and then very quickly another within seconds.

The characters were portrayed well, poor Zara and Harry heartbroken, their daughter missing with no closure and their lives falling apart and also their marriage breaking down. I found the courtroom scenes to be really well written. So much so that I read the last part of the book really quickly!

A really good read for me that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this ebook in exchange for my honest review.

I have reviewed Finding Sophie by Imran Mahmood for book recommendation and selling site LoveReading.co.uk. I’ve chosen the novel as a LoveReading Star Book and Liz Pick of the month. Please see link for the full review. Thank you.

Oh my goodness me! I could not put this book down! It was compulsive reading, with twists and turns. The characters of Harry and Zara are so well drawn, their despair so well described when their daughter goes missing. There is nothing Harry will not do to try and trace their daughter. On top of that there is an uncomfortable feeling that their control over their 17 year old daughter is responsible for her disappearance.
Original and compelling.
Many thanks to Netgalley/Imram Mahmood/Bloomsbury Publishing for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

This is a well written and complex story, exploring the lengths a parent will go to, to find their missing teenager.

It’s every parent’s worst nightmare and I have read a lot of thrillers based around missing children, but nothing like this fabulous book.

Harry and Zara are taking things into their own hands, feeling frustrated at the lack of progress from the police. Having spoke to all of the residents in their neighbourhood, except one, they become obsessed with the man at 210 and it begins to consume them.

The story is told by both Harry and Zara’s POV and at the time of their search for Sophie and a year later, in the courtroom.

The author clearly has excellent knowledge of the justice system and that, combined with the emotional anguish Harry and Zara are dealing with, makes this a fascinating and gripping book.

4 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, Imran Mahmood and Bloomsbury for an ARC in return for an honest review.

Another exciting and involving novel from the consistent Imran Mahmood, part legal thriller and part detective story. Told from the points of view of both parents of a missing young woman, this tale describes vividly what happens to a couple when their life dramatically changes and the lengths they will go to to recover what is lost. Well written, cleverly plotted and with fascinating characters, this is a fine novel, but why the American spellings?

Powerful story of parents Harry and Zara whose daughter Sophie goes missing and what measures they go to find her and never giving up. When a neighbour is found murdered have they gone too far and if so which one murdered him to get answers about their daughter, what follows is a trial which has many turns and twists.
Loved the courtroom drama which keeps you guessing and the ending is unexpected.
Would highly recommend.
I received a ARC for a honest review.

Menace Laden..
Harry and Zara are in tatters. Their only daughter, Sophie, has gone missing. With no leads, no progress from the police, they become wholly obsessive and frenzied - they suspect everyone, including their neighbours and there is one neighbour in particular who has come to the fore in their suspicions. It soon becomes clear to them that they have absolutely no choice - they have to deal with this themselves. Edgy, tension fuelled and emotional suspense with a keenly observed cast, a beautifully written narrative and a propulsive, menace laden plot. Read with bated breath.

Sophie (17) has disappeared, and her parents are devastated by thoughts of why and where, and angry because the police don’t seem too concerned. Her parents, Harry and Zara, are both school teachers and were a bit over protective. She could be a simple runaway, trying to both expand her horizons and frighten them into acknowledging that she has a right to a personal life. But after six weeks with no clues Harry has decided to investigate on his own behalf, and has searched and canvassed the whole area. His first suspect is the landlord of the local pub, where Sofie had been offered a part-time job, which he and Zara had rejected, but he comes to believe that Herman, a near neighbour, knows something. This hunch is based on Herman refusing to open his door or in anyway communicate with Harry, whereas members of every other household have spoken to him and provided what information they could (not a lot). This idea become an obsession as Harry plots and plans how to get Herman to talk. Zara, while agreeing with Harry’s idea, is becoming increasingly withdrawn and detached from reality. And now one or more persons is on trial at the Old Bailey accused of murder.
This, then, is a courtroom drama crossed with a psychological mystery. The trial provides the central theme of the plot, and chapters on it are then interpolated with scenes centered on either Harry or Zara, during which we learn about Sophie, but we also follow Zara as she slowly disintegrates under the stress and Harry becomes increasingly obsessed as he contrives and executes his plan to discover what Herman knows about Sophie’s disappearance. It is well written although a bit heavy going and rather slow to begin with. I’m not totally convinced about any of the characters, and I think some of the plot twists (if they can be called that) are over contrived. The trial scenes are more convincing and the manipulation of the legal process is clever, but the author is a practicing barrister so that is too be expected. The final dénouement is satisfactory in that it resolves everything, but feels unlikely and some of the ‘tidying up’ is scrambled . In many ways it is an excellent book, but the plot has some flaws in the detail (not in the trial scenes).
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

For the last seventeen years, Harry and Zara King's lives have revolved around their only daughter, Sophie. One day, Sophie leaves the house and doesn't come home. Six weeks later, the police are no closer to finding Sophie than when they first started. Harry and Zara have questioned everyone who has ever had any connection to Sophie, to no avail. Except there's one house on the block - number 210, across the street - where the occupant refuses to break his silence. Someone knows what happened.

I was quickly invested in this story. It's so well-written you can feel the emotion through the pages. Harry and Zara question everyone they possibly can about Sophie's disappearance. But the man at 210 won't speak to them. This is a raw, tense, emotional, suspenseful and twisted read.

I would like to thank #NetGalley #BloomsburyPublishingPlc and the author #ImranMahmood for my ARC of #FindingSophie in exchange for an honest review.

Fair warning, the pace of this book is very slow for the majority… it has short chapters, alternating between the father and the mother’s past viewpoints after their teenage daughter goes missing, with occasional jumps to the present court case in the Old Bailey. It’s clear a lot of Mahmood’s legal knowledge went into the plotting of this book, and I did have my own theory about whodunnit - I wasn’t quite right on that score, but was on another one. The first 3/4 of the book is very slow pace, drip feeding you information to then keep you guessing in the final 1/4.

I would give this a solid 3 or 3.25 stars for the intricacy of the plot - I think what brought it down a little for me from 4 stars, was that as others have said, there wasn’t much distinction between Harry and Zara’s voices. Quite often I’d have to scroll back to the beginning of the chapter to see who it was, or wait for them to refer to the other person. And there was a lot of what I call poetical philosophising in the writing, about how they felt or on life. I felt this with another of Mahmood’s books I read, so I think it’s just his style.

Overall good, and if you’re a parent, then you may wonder how far you’d go for your child…

I received a free ARC copy of this via NetGalley and the publishers in return for an unbiased review.

Overall not a bad book but I failed to really identify with the characters. The parents have to deal with their daughter going missing and the book swaps between the two of them with very differing points of view, A little slow in places.

I hadn't read a book by this author before, but this was really cleverly written. partly covering the desperation and at times outrageous plight of her parents, and part legal drama. It was really thought provoking and made me wonder what I would have done differently at each point. I loved it and will be seeking out more of this authors books!

A slow burning unsettling, thought-provoking psychological thriller that doesn’t really catch alight until the last 100 pages.

Imran Mahmood writes very clever stories heavy on courtroom drama and he’s got a formula that works. In his new book, the story is of missing 17 year old Sophie, and her parents desperate attempts to find her.

Moody, gloomy and atmospheric storytelling plays out, and whilst being extremely slow it grips and holds on and you need to know what’s coming.

The finale was somewhat expected on my part, but it’s done well. A good read, thoroughly enjoyed from an author with a very devious imagination

Well, Mr Mahmood has done it again. This is a very clever thriller. It is part legal thriller, and part 'what happens on the way to becoming a legal thriller'. By that I mean that part of the story follows Harry and Zara as they try desperately to understand what happened to their daughter, Sophie, who has disappeared without a trace. The other part follows a court case in which a rather stark consequence of their quest for the truth is laid bare. Mostly ...

As a teenager, it is safe to say that Sophie's relationship with her parents was turbulent, especially in the weeks leading up to her disappearance, and this leads to many suspecting that she left of her own accord. And yet this is not something that Harry and Zara can accept, nor can they deny that their own actions may have lead to the situation they find themselves in. But what those actions were, we will have to wait to find out as the author leads us all on a merry dance in a story rife with misdirection and, rather shockingly for a Barrister who is perhaps more used to the concept of full disclosure when it comes to evidence, some rather telling omissions for some of the key facts of this case.

And this is where the book gets very clever, and the truth becomes a little less well defined. The day to day of Harry and Zara's search for Sophie follows the path you might expect. Frantic, occasionally bordering on the obsessive, especially when it comes to a rather reclusive and private neighbour who they suspect knows far more about Sophie than they are willing to share. The strain it places on their relationship, the breakdown in communication and closeness, all rings true, Imran Mahmood creating a portrayal of two devastated individuals both united in, and driven apart by, a grief than cannot be easily defined. I could feel their emotion, visceral as it was at times, and that is one of the author's key strengths - being able to place the reader in the character's shoes. Forcing us to confront how we might react in their situation. Challenging us to condemn their actions whilst questioning whether we might do exactly the same thing. No mean feat when faced with a reader who does no have children!

When it comes to the courtroom, scenes of which are laced in amongst the past events, that author plays a canny game. It is never quite sure what we are seeing. Clearly something very serious has happened, but the what, why and wherefore of it remain carefully concealed until the prime moment in the story. Even more importantly, there is one key aspect of any trial which remains in question for quite some time, and my perception of what was happening kept changing with each knew scene. When I finally realised the authors deception, it was with a combination of surprise and respect. The further into the story we move, the more the focus is upon the trial, with the 'before' adding context to evidence we are about to hear. It's got that same kind of uncertainty that I loved in You Don't Know Me, and that was the point at which I was truly drawn into the story.

And the ending? Do Harry and Zara, and readers, ever learn the truth? Well, in a very Imran Mahmood style cliffhanger ending, I'm not going to tell you. You'll just have to read for yourselves, won't you?

Clever, compelling and packed with mystery, suspense and a very well placed use of sleight of hand, both in style and narrative, I think fans of the author are going to love this one. Definitely recommended.

This was a very compelling, cleverly written book with plenty of twists. The book is written with a dual timeline as we follow Harry and Zara whose daughter Sophie has gone missing, in their desperate quest find her, whilst a year later there is an ongoing murder trial.

Whilst looking for Sophie, Harry and Zara become fixated on a neighbour who refuses to engage as they seek answers as to where their daughter has gone leading to them becoming increasingly frustrated and desperate.

The book was very well written, and tightly plotted and kept you guessing until the end. The dual timeline was effective in gradually revealing the truth, and whilst at times the pace was slower, overall the book was gripping with the momentum gathering pace, this led to a truly riveting conclusion. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read.

Harry and Zara's only child, Sophie, is missing. With their daughter still being just a teenager, the frantic parents are frustrated with the lack of leads that the police have managed to come up with, and are debating where options.

They are suspicious of the neighbour who refuses to allow them into the house and have reached the point where they are capable of breaking below themselves in order to track down their daughter.

Harry and Zara are both school teachers, but they have taken time off in order to search for Sophie - even as a year passes without any clarity wrt the mystery of where she has gone (or been taken). Now suspicion turns towards the parents.

The story is told from both Harry and Zara's perspectives, and anyone who has ever loved a child will be able to relate to their terrifying predicament. But there is more to this than meets the eye...

The story starts relatively slow-paced but quickly picks up speed. There are quite a few twists and at times it feels quite intense. Worth checking out. It gets 3.5 stars.