I LOVED this book! I can’t wait to read more from this author. I found it exciting and loved the plots twists and turns. Highly recommended. Five stars from me.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Christian White for the advanced copy of this book. I agreed to give my unbiased opinion voluntarily.

Can you imagine if, as an adult you found out you weren’t the person you thought you were. Your parents aren’t the folks you thought they were and your sister might not be your sister at all. This is the premise for Christian White’s debut novel, AND ITS AWESOME! It’s 0439 and I have just finished - yep it’s that good. Just be careful where you start this novel ie don’t start it on the bus on your way to work because you will be throwing a sickie and sitting in a bus stop/park/coffee shop until you finish. I predict this book will be HUGE! Buy it, loan it, steal it (please don’t - The Light Within would not approve), just get your hands on a copy and lose yourself for a few hours. It’s the book that book lovers dream of, the book, every budding author wished they’d written - it grabs you from the opening lines and your reality fades away as you are immersed in the unfolding story, it’s characters and the twists and turns of a superbly delivered plot. Yes, I loved it, can you tell?

Note to Author: Christian, you had me at the first paragraph and you kept me guessing right to the end. Oh and I loved your author note at the end (Completer, Finisher, like your wife), it felt very personal and was great to have insight into your world. After you have basked in the glory of this book, do the world a favour and get back to writing. I for one, can’t wait to see what you come up with next.

Thrilling, tense, exciting. This is no normal abduction story - there are many layers which go to making a great & readable tale. I didn’t guess the ending & barely stopping reading until I got there. Highly recommended.

This was clever, and believable. I like thrillers where the plot actually fits well, and this is one that works without too much fudging and deus ex machina. The characters were relatable and the writing solid. I ripped through it at speed - it's a great holiday read.

A Compelling Debut Read:
One day Kim Leamy is approached by a stranger who tells her she is his sister. Twenty years earlier, apparently, she was abducted in Mason, Kentucky and taken to Australia. He provides proof what he's telling her is true: DNA doesn't lie. Immediately Kim's life is turned upside down.
Overnight her close-knit family might no longer be blood relatives. Relationships she's taken for granted over the years instantly change in nature. Was the devoted mother, recently laid to rest, party to Kim's abduction? Her abduction made headlines in America but despite every police effort she was never found. Until now.
That is the premise behind this highly readable debut thriller by Christian White. Very gradually the circumstances leading to the abduction of Kim are unveiled. Piece by piece the saga unfolds. Christian White deftly leads the reader on a trail of discovery. However, as the events of twenty years earlier unfurl, Kim finds that her reappearance poses a threat of discovery to those party to the abduction but still alive.
There are twists and turns galore, red herrings for good measure and even when I thought I had the plot sussed I hadn't.
This novel boasts an original and distinctive plot. Part who-dun-it and part how-did-it-happen. Once started the novel makes for compelling reading.

Suddenly Australian photography teacher Kimberley has her life turned upside down. An American accountant turns up and tells her she is, Sammy Went, a two-year old girl vanished from her home in Kentucky twenty six years ago.

It is hard to believe that this is a debut novel. It is a brilliantly written, is full of twists, turns and surprises, yet perfectly paced. Through the back story, we learn about attitudes in small town America, about the issues dealt with by Jack, Sammy's Dad, and how her mother retreated into the local church with its almost cult appearance, including the use of snakes. The reader is dragged along at speed as the story unfolds. KImberley herself is now threatened by the very background she was kidnapped from.

Definitely recommended - and worthy of its Victoria prize, Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for a review copy.

Unfortunately I started this book one evening, and soon realised I would be going to bed very late as I wouldn't sleep without knowing who Kim really was!
An amazing debut and refreshing to read a book with a plotline that I can't recall having read before. The author paced it well and managed to create believable characters and a satisfying number of twists along the way, whilst also contemplating the deeper subjects of religion, memory and belonging. Can't wait for his next one.
Thank you to netgalley and Harper Collins for an advance copy of this book.

I was gripped by the first page when a stranger approaches Kim and tells her he believes she is his sister Sammy Went who went missing 20+ years ago when she was two years old and he shows her a photograph of the child.
The story goes onto look into to the lives of the Went family member who are a colourful lot.
The story unfolds to reveal the truth which I would never have guessed.
I have given this book five stars as it was a really good read and and kept me turning the pages ever faster.

What an entertaining read! I really enjoyed this debut novel by a talented author that has to be watched in future. Imagine finding out that your whole life is a lie, and then you get to face it....
Recommended!!

Quite simply brilliant, strongly told story which kept me guessing till the end.
There should be more thrillers like this!

Thank you to Net galley for my ARC.This book is a debut psychological thriller. I found the characters well described and the story is as twisty as you would want in a psychological thriller! Ended up reading for 4 hours straight in the night as it is a great story! Will look out for more books by him now.

Brilliant read with lots of twists, I really enjoyed this one and could barely put it down! This is a really well constructed novel, with believable characters and a thrilling idea of what if you discovered you may be a kidnapped child..

Found it hard going all the switching too and fro. Must admit have up quite quickly. Possibly just not my normal type of book. Didn’t grab my attention from the start.

This is an enjoyable read. It is sad in places and bittersweet. Kim finds out so much about her life. This is religion at its worst.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

Thank you to NetGalley for a chance to review this book in exchange for an honest review.

Kim Leamey was living a quiet life in Melbourne Australia when a man approaches her claiming she is his missing sister Sammy Went who went missing 28years ago. Suddenly her whole life is a lie, she travels to the USA to find out more about her life and how she came to be living in Australia under a false name. The book covers the 2 times lines; then and now, as we discover what really happened to Sammy.

This is a powerful and very enjoyable debut that will keep you reading long after you wanted to go to sleep I am looking forward to reading more from Christian.

This was an enjoyable read by an author new to me. The plot was good and kept me interested pretty much from the start. Would recommend to others 100%

The Nowhere Child is a tense read, telling of Kim tracing her identity after her birth brother contacted her. At times, a wee bit far fetched and, at times, really quite suspenseful. Given the context of kidnap in childhood, I’d have expected to feel a bit more emotion but I didn’t really connect with the main character. I enjoyed it and learned a lot about unconventional religiouns and the lengths people will go to to support them.

What a great debut novel. It really excites me when new authors can come out with such great stories! Christian White, you definitely gave me a story worth my time :).

Now for the mystery of Sammy Went. The story is relayed as we continuously jump between the present and the past, a narrative that is carried out seamlessly and with great precision. Characters, motives and relationships all reveal themselves as the timelines head towards a point of what I suppose we could refer to as enlightenment. Not only is the mystery in itself a great journey, but we as the reader we also get to ask ourselves about what actually makes a family, is there some fluidity about right and wrong, and can bad choices be reconciled if the reasons and outcomes are likely admirable?

This is definitely one of those books that you want to keep talking about way after finishing that last page.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins for a Review Copy.

Thank you netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book. This book is absolutely brilliant. I took my time reading this one as I was hooked after chapter one, so I didn’t want to rush it. The storyline is fantastic, the characters all gelled together well. A very well thought out story. A sad story with a great ending. Some good twists, but at the same time the closer to the end of the book the more you realise the actions of the people, their reasons for doing such things and what’s going to happen. 5 stars from me. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone.

Fast paced and immediately engaging. Imagine everything you thought you knew about yourself slipped between your fingers with the visit of a stranger. There is no reason why in everyway ordinary photography teacher Kim Leamy should believe the stranger but curiosity gets the better of her and she is quickly drawn into the nightmare world of small-town Kentucky twenty years past.

It doesn't feel like a debut novel and I'm sure Christian White has a few more to come. As another reviewer has said the language was unnecessarily coarse at times and the homosexual affair, while adding to the nightmare, also added an awkwardness to the story: oddly, of all the unfolding madness, the way this storyline unfolded seemed least believable.