No One Saw a Thing

No One Saw A Thing by Andrea Mara* is the upcoming new release from Ireland’s premier thriller writer. Two little girls board a crowded tube in London, the doors close behind them, leaving their mother on the platform. Sive races to the next stop but, only her two year old Bea is waiting. Faye is gone and no one can tell her anything. As the day wears on and fears grow, Sive and her high flying barrister husband Aaron retrace their steps, and those of his life in London decades before, to try and find Faye. What unravels is a fast-paced, twisted thriller where those closest to you seem to have the most to hide. I read this in two days and I think it may be my favourite Mara book yet? Out 11/5 - get your pre orders in (super important to authors to encourage booksellers to stock it!) you won’t regret it!

This book was just sheer perfection in every single way! Where to even start?! The book has such a good pace throughout, it is always kept pushing forward and there's always things happening so there are absolutely no filler chapters. It's not too wordy and just full of pointless description that being's nothing to the plot, every paragraph is relevant and you won't actually realise how relevant until you finish and it all clicks into place. The author leads you on a very well crafter journey, leaving little hints and clues throughout but that you don't appreciate the relevance of until its explained to you. Its one of the 1st books I've read, and I read a lot, where there is this perfect arc of the story being told and also the answers being revealed. There are no plot holes, nothing is rushed, it's all just so perfectly timed out and explained to the reader and its actually the most satisfying thing I've ever encountered. I flew through this and the second I'd finished, I was online downloading the back catalogue. I dont even need them to be as good as this one, even half as good will still be amazing stories! Anyways back to the review, the characters are all so individual and their personalities are brought to life so vividly and clearly. There are 2 timilines but it never gets blurry or muddy, and both are very relevant and compliment each other perfectly. And the twists.... sheer genius! I can already day with confidence that this will be one of the best thrillers I read in 2023! And it's only 15 days in. The overall premise is also just so elevated. I've read so many "reunion turned into murder" thrillers and I actually have grown to hate them and they bore me stupid now because it's so overdone and their always the same but this one? Worlds apart! The writing style, the plot the secrets revealed, its just better than any of the other reunion books I've ever read. Plus there's no stupid decisions purely to enable to plot to play out or any almost impossible events going on every 2 minutes just so that the book would have a plot. In this one, it's all quite possible and relatable really. You can understand the dilemmas and the situations these people have found themselves in because they are things that we do see play in our lives or out friends.... just this time, they take a turn for the worst. Its an amazing book and recommend to anyone

Andrea Mara is an auto-buy author for me, meaning I'll not even bother reading the blurb before I buy a copy (which I have done here, despite being lucky enough to have a proof copy).

However, when I saw No One Saw a Thing centred on a missing child, my heart sank a small bit - how many books can one author write on missing children? I needn’t have worried! Andrea, you've done it again with another 5-star, fast-paced thriller with multiple curve balls to keep you guessing until the final few pages.

High flier, criminal defence lawyer Aaron is back in London from Dublin for a reunion on the anniversary of the death of one of their old friends. They're an eclectic mix, to say the least, and the oneupmanship between them is intense. Aaron’s wife, Sive, is the outsider, the only new one in the group.

Sive and Aaron's six-year-old daughter Faye goes missing on the London Underground, and no one saw a thing. Sure, that's every parent's worst nightmare, but to make matters worse, It quickly becomes clear this isn't just an ordinary missing child case.

Andrea, with her splendid character development, effortlessly pulls you into the storytelling and keeps you fully invested, heart in your mouth as you, like the parents, become desperate for the safe return of Faye.

The story is told in multiple timelines - the present time and past events, both only a few days ago and several years back. This allows for getting different parts of different stories and many points of view as we try to piece this mystery together.

There are quite a few plots to keep track of, red herrings and a lot of shared history to pick at. Everyone has a secret, and everybody is a suspect, but there's no smoke without fire, is there?

Early Monday morning, Sive’s day goes horribly wrong when six year old Faye and two year old Bea board a tube train, the doors close and Sive is stranded on the other side with baby Toby in his pushchair. The terror, the nausea, then thankfully, she gets Bea back at the next stop but sadly not Faye. The police, her husband Aaron, the questions, the frantic awful panic overwhelms her and all Bea says is ‘Chase’, ‘Chase on the train’. Her daughter has disappeared in a city of eight million people, no one sees a thing and inevitably there are a million ‘what ifs’ in Sive’s brain and still no sign ........ The novel backtracks to three days earlier to the family’s arrival from Dublin for Aaron’s reunion with friends Dave, Scott, Maggie and Nita, alternating between that and the Monday that Faye goes missing.

Wow, wow, wow. This is another belter from the talented Andrea Mara who effortlessly pulls you in to the storytelling and keeps you there 💯 invested through the character of Sive and like her you become desperate for the safe return of Faye. The plot is multilayered, it’s clever and intriguing as it starts in one scary place and then you see a chasm opening which becomes a deep abyss as it deepens and thickens. It’s a gigantic puzzle, pieces of information come at you - what’s relevant, what’s a blind alley, what’s a red herring? It’s so hard to put down as you’re so keen to get to the truth. It’s scary, fear inducing and a tense emotional heart string puller and your suspicion antenna twitches like a mad thing! What adds to this is the perfectly paced dual timelines, the pace before Faye is missing is slower but the dynamics are utterly fascinating which is juxtaposed to the life tipped upside down intensity of the present day. You also get a sense of Faye, a very endearing child which is so compelling. The characterisation is exemplary, you do a 180 on some for the worse and some surprise you in a good way. As situations escalate, lies are revealed, there are some terrific twists and your eyes pop and gasps are inhaled as it hurtles to a very good ending and yes, Ms Mara ain’t finished until the final words!

Highly recommended if you like psychological thrillers or want to read something that is very well written.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Random House UK, Transworld for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

This is a fantastic read it starts with every parents worse nightmare you lose your child in a place where you don’t know and nobody saw a thing.It is full of twists and turns. I thought I had worked it out but was in for a big surprise at the end. Will definitely be recommending this to all.

This was my first Andrea Mara book and I was very impressed.

The book begins with every parents' worst nightmare. You are getting on the underground and suddenly the doors close with your children on the other side of the doors....you watch as the train leaves the station whilst you are still on the platform with your newborn son...you finally get on the next train and get off to see your children waiting for you....however only one child is waiting and she can't tell you what happened to her sister.....

There starts this novel and it does not let up. What I loved so much about this book was the complexity of the story, you are pushed and pulled in multiple different directions and the number of red herrings and false starts will leave equally frustrated and enthralled - just when you think you have it sussed, you don't!

It all leads to a thrilling conclusion which will not disappoint.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, Bantam Press, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Wow this was a fantastic thriller with so many secrets and mixed up relationships told over a short time frame but with a lot of history too. Sive is in London with her husband and their three children for a reunion weekend with his former flat mates when she finds herself in a nightmare situation on the underground when she’s alone with the children and struggles to get through the crowd with the pram whilst her daughters go on ahead and end up leaving without her. At the next stop only one of her daughters is there and a nightmare day begins for Sive. There’s so much to this story I don’t want to give away any spoilers however I devoured this and had to force myself to put it down come bedtime!

Andrea Mara is an auto-buy author for me. I've read all her previous books and loved them, so when I found out that No One Saw A Thing was available to request on Netgalley of course I jumped at the opportunity to read it.

Sive and her three children are standing on a crowded tube platform waiting to board. Her two eldest daughters jump on the train but as she tries to wangle the buggy with he youngest, the doors close and the trains takes off. Sive rushes to the next stop telling herself that things will be okay but when she reaches the next platform, only one of her daughters is there.

A fast paced psychological thriller that had me on the edge of my seat. Unnerving and unsettling to read as a parent but utterly unputdownable - I was gripped from the very start. One of the things I love about Andrea's stories is that there's an authenticity and realness about the scenarios her characters find themselves in (this one in particular was based on a real life event that happened to her and her sister when they were children). She plays on a parents biggest fear and turns it into a tense and compelling read with plenty of twists and turns that make it impossible to put down. I won't say anything about the plot as I don't want to give a thing away but I think this is up there as one of my favourites from Andrea to date!

Unfortunately No One Saw A Thing isn't published until May 11th 2023 (I've my physical copy on preorder!), but I promise it's worth the wait!

Huge thanks to @andreamaraauthor and @netgalley for this advanced copy. As always this is an honest review.

No One Saw A Thing by Andrea Mara

It's every parent's worst nightmare. You're busy, distracted, trying to wrangle three children through a busy train station. Your two little girls run ahead of you and end up on the train. Moving away. Without you. You race to the next station. There's only one child there. Where is your daughter? And..... why is everyone lying?

I could not deal with the level of anxiety I felt from the very first chapter of this book. As soon as the two children got onto that train without their mother, I just felt that sick feeling in my stomach, and it didn't go away. Andrea Mara knows how to tap into your deepest fears and creates such a feeling of suspense throughout this novel that you'll stay up long past your bedtime to finish it.

Thanks to @netgalley @penguinrandomhouse for the opportunity to read and review this book.

'No One Saw A Thing' will be published on the 11th of May 2023.
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#noonesawathing

I've really enjoyed the previous novels I've read by the author so was looking forward to reading No One Saw a Thing. The author throws the reader straight into the action when at a busy tube station Sive's children- 6 year old Faye and 2 year old Bea- get onto a train without her, Bea is soon found but Faye is missing. Sive and her husband Aaron are visiting London from Dublin for a reunion with his old friends and the novel moves from the hours after Faye's disappearance to the days before and then back in time to when Aaron and his friends house shared and the death of his ex girlfriend Yasmin.
There are a lot of different strands to the plot and initially I wondered about the relevance of all the characters and how the novel would come together. However, Andrea Mara skilfully brings all the plotlines together and this is a compelling and fast paced psychological thriller. Apart from Sive, the characters are mostly unlikeable but I enjoyed discovering their secrets which contributed to the twists and turns of the plot and the various red herrings.
Another enjoyable thriller from the author. Recommended.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.