Thank you Fabre and Fabre and NetGalley for this ebook to review

I really wanted to like this book, but just felt it was far to drawn out and long winded so that all the really good parts of the story ended up being lost.

We follow Carmel and Beth through Carmel being abducted as an 8 year old by a faith healing preacher and how Beth moves through her guilt and never stops searching for her daughter. It just seems really strange in 6 years that Carmel never managed to run away or speak to anyone about being kidnapped

The image of the young girl lost wearing a red coat was so strong throughout the book that it will remain in my memory for a long time . Her mothers constant searching with. hope raised every time some red clothing was seen or a potential sighting was reported by the public was heartbreaking and so real .
I found the story of the girl herself an interesting read although I was never fully clear in my own mind what her kidnapper's motives really were , perhaps we discover this in the next book which I will look forward to .
The book is an easy read and despite the topic I didn't find it as traumatic a read as I expected
There were a few moments when I didn't know where the scenes were set as they jumped from UK to USA with no travel scene . I found this element a little unbelievable as it is such a long journey
The story ends in a satisfactory way
I read a copy on Netgalley uk where the book was available prior to the release of a sequel in 2023

A very sad story, focussing on the abduction of a little girl. The story is told from two view points - the little girl and her mother. it is a little odd in places, but you are willing throughout for them to be reunited.

An absolutely fantastic read! I couldn't stop reading and cannot wait to read the next in the series

The Girl in the Red Coat by Kate Hamer
Rating ****. 3.9/5
A young 8 year old girl, Carmel goes missing. Her mother Beth and estranged husband Paul are frantic as is his new wife, Lucy. However, Carmel is perceived to have the special gift of healing which has been noticed by “Grandps”.
What follows is the heartbreaking story of a mother trying to cope without a child and a child who has lost her family. Her visit to the hospital is quite shocking as she can’t/won’t heal the patient.
I found the novel slightly long and not sure about Carmel’s journey abroad but it is a good story and worth reading.
I would like to thank Kate Hamer, Fabre and Fabre and NetGalley for giving me the opportunities to read The Girl in the Red Coat. In return I have written and honest and unbiased review.

The Girl in the Red Coat is a mystery/thriller where an 8-year old child, Carmel, is abducted at a festival. I'm not a parent myself, so I don't think I can fully grasp the sheer terror of losing your child but reading from the Beth's perspective, Carmel's mother, evoked such a tense fear inside of me. I completely sympathised with her and the guilt and blame she put on herself.
More so, I enjoyed Carmel's chapters and seeing the world through her eyes. I had already read The Doll Funeral by Kate Hamer, and similar to this book, I just really enjoy how Hamer writes from a child's perspective - full of imagination. She does it well in comparison to other authors that have attempted this viewpoint.
The majority of the plot is religious, with Carmel believed to have the gift from God to heal. I personally am not religious and didn't enjoy these scenes. However, I think there was enough content aside from this to not bother me too much.
I thought the book was well-paced up to the ending which was so abrupt and rushed, leaving a lot of loose threads. For instance the stories of the side characters and their significance to the plot - I think I was left with a lot of unanswered questions at the end. However, there is a sequel, The Lost Girls, which is due to be published in February 2023 which I am fortunate to have received an ARC for.
This book had me crying at the end, and I know it takes a great book to have me in tears. This is the best Kate Hamer book I've read so far and I'm looking forward to reading the sequel.
Thank you to NetGalley for sending me this book to review.
4/5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Review posted to Goodreads and Twitter.

This book was released in 2015
The lost girl is the sequel to this due 2023
This is the story of mother and daughter after she is abducted
It is written from two view points Beth and Carmel their emotions and fears
I thought the flow with the writing was a nice pace
You can feel the emotion flow through

Thank you netgalley, Kate Hamer along with Faber & Faber Ltd.

Beth and her daughter, Carmel, live in the family home and they are very close. Paul, Beth’s husband, has left them to live with his new girlfriend Lucy. Beth is struggling with Paul’s leaving and money is tight. Carmel is a little bit different to her friends, old headed and at times goes in what Beth calls fugues. She also has a knack for disappearing, which scares her mother.

This is an intriguing book, with the story being told from two POV. Multi layered with interesting and well developed characters, the plot, even though far fetched at times, held interest throughout. I did think the ending was a little abrupt and unfinished.

A good read.

Thank you NetGalley.

The plot is as deep and dark as it gets, multi-layered with 'who knew what when?' as the strands come together and the finer details get filled in. This is an absolutely compelling, gripping book full of mystery and suspense. Only a few authors can write deeply involving psychological drama of the very highest quality.

The E-Book could be improved and more user-friendly, such as links to the chapters, no significant gaps between words some text written has been typed in red and a cover for the book would be better. It is very document-like instead of a book. A star has been deducted because of this.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

Carmel and eight year old girl is taken from a festival by a man who claims to be her grandfather. He tells her that her mother has had an accident and he will take her to the hospital to see her.
A story about a young girl who tries to keep her true identity when she is being told that she is someone else and a mother who tries not to lose faith that she will get her daughter back.
Thank you to NetGalley and Faber & Faber for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

Eight year old Carmel gets lost and her 'Gramps' is there to take her to safety, after it is revealed that her mother has been seriously hurt in an accident. Alarm bells begin to ring, when this is a reality that is so very far from the truth. As other reviewers have mentioned, I too, thought that this was more of a crime novel, and at times, the story felt very slow, but I did keep reading as I wanted to find out whether mother and daughter were actually reunited. Once I got to about halfway in the book, I realised that I had read this before, way back upon it's release in 2015! I still read it to the end though. Looking forward to reading her next novel, The Lost Girls soon.

The Girl in the Red Coat is a beautifully written, heart breaking debut by Kate Hamer.
In short, it’s the gut wrenching story of a young girl who is abducted. We follow the narrative of both the mother and daughter during their vivid journey through one of the toughest situations, a chilling, desperately lonely and bewildering time a child could take and the relentless despair and guilt of a mother…it’s an emotional powerhouse of a read.
It’s an exquisitely written page turner although the ending did seem a bit rushed. I’m looking forward to reading the sequel.
Big thanks to Kate Hamer, Faber and Faber and NetGalley for this eARC which I chose to read in return for my honest review.

Kept me hooked throughout with hopes that Carmel would be reunited with her mother. Really loved the way that Carmel developed throughout.

Totally unconvincing. After a while I started skipping just to get to the end only to discover that was unconvincing too. There was some potential at the beginning, I felt. Eight year old Carmel becomes separated from her mother at a children’s festival and is taken away by a man claiming to be her grandfather and who promises to take her to her mother who has had “an accident”. Who wouldn’t empathise with the distraught mother who loses her child and who wouldn’t empathise with a child whose whole world is tuned upside down in a second? Well, me actually. Of course the mother’s anguish is palpable, but the child’s reaction is curiously accepting of her changed circumstances. And I couldn’t suspend my disbelief enough to go along with the bizarre “plot” about Carmel’s “special powers” and healing ability and it all got a bit silly. Implausible all round – not least as the “grandfather” manages to take the child into the United States. Hard enough for legitimate travellers to get in….
Waste of reading time.