Nick and Grace have been together for the last seven years, and along with Grace's daughter Lottie, they're a happy little family unit. One night, to Grace’s surprise, Nick proposes, and she instantly accepts, seeing the kind of wonderful future for her and her daughter that she once didn't think would ever be possible. However when later that evening, Nick goes for a walk and doesn’t come home Grace is plunged into a living nightmare. Terrified, she goes to the Police for help finding him and quickly realises that the authorities, with the help of Nick’s family, seem to think that Nick has come to his senses and left her. No foul play. As the couple weren’t married, and they don’t really believe that Nick proposed to her before he ‘disappeared’, once he’s been missing a little while his family sudden wake up and decide they are taking legal action to claim ‘his’ home back, insisting that Grace and ‘her’ daughter have no claim to it and so will have to move out very soon. Grace discovers evidence that makes it seem as if Nick has been supporting his parents for some time, with large payments from his lucrative job going towards paying their mortgage – but why?

There’s an alternate chapter structure that switches from the current timeline in which Nick has gone missing to his teenage years, which, it starts to become clear, has a lot to do with the situation that is unfolding in the present day. The story starts off quite slowly, and you’re never quite sure what’s actually going on; where Nick is and what’s happening to him. At times it seems perfectly feasible that he's just got cold feet and done a runner, yet at others, it seems more likely that something awful has happened to him and he has no control over his disappearance. The Police continue to think he’s just upped and left and that Grace is deluded, ignoring the truth. However Grace just isn’t prepared to let this go. Even though she may uncover things she didn’t know, or want to know about her fiancé, she isn’t going to let him go without a fight. She’s feisty, understandably emotional, and volatile, and believe me - you absolutely would not want to come up against her in a fight of fists, or wills.

I really enjoyed the pace of this book - it’s a good, believable story and the main characters are likeable (with some notable exceptions). The slowness of the process is painful at times -I felt incredibly frustrated for Grace as it just felt like no-one was listening to her, or wanted to take her seriously when her world had completely fallen apart. If you’re paying attention you might see some of the reveal coming before it arrives, but there’s enough unsurety to keep you reading right to the end. It’s a gradual unravelling of what happened rather than a big single twist – something I enjoyed, and when you finally get there, you might need to sit down, and catch your breath.
In summary, I really enjoyed 'The Night You Left', it’s a really good thriller and I will be keeping my eye out for more from this author.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This is my honest and unbiased review.

I found this book to have too much padding. The basic plot is good and could have been even better without quite so many characters and information in minutiae on a day by day basis.

Talk about keeping you on the edge of your seat! The Night You Left was a thriller from start to finish. Fantastic plot twists that weren't predictable, a clever storyline and a satisfying conclusion.

The story begins with Nick going out for a walk and not returning after proposing to his girlfriend Grace. Emma Curtis tells the story from several of the characters perspectives and in this way we learn more about them and the secrets they've been hiding. The plot develops into a thrilling crescendo which will get the readers pulses racing. Unputdownable, racy, pacy and so cleverly written. A must read for fans of psychological thrillers.

The Night You Left is a really good thriller with some good twists along the way.
Nick has just proposed to Grace when we meet them, they live in a dream house and have Lottie, Grace’s daughter from her previous relationship. Life is good until later that evening when Nick says he needs some air and is popping out for a walk and never returns. Grace’s world is turned upside down, trying to keep things as normal as possible for her daughter and having to put up with Nick’s parents with Nicks dad trying to be overly nice and keep everyone happy to Nicks mum showing that she really dies despise Grace. The book has various timelines told from the different characters and this does work well, not leaving me confused at all as the timelines are so spread out.
I enjoyed this thriller and the ending was not what I would have guessed at all so that’s always a bonus.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, Black Swan for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

What a superb psychological thriller! This one is a real winner - a well-paced plot with realistic characters in which everyone has something to hide.

Grace's partner Nick (or rather fiance as he proposed the night before) suddenly goes missing leaving her with no clues, a teenage daughter to comfort and his truly awful parents who clearly hate her. She initially makes many mistakes, such as telling friends and colleagues that he's ill in bed, but is eventually forced to come clean as the days go by.

The story is interspersed with a slowly-revealed tale of a holiday, 18 years in the past, which led to the tragic drowning of a child and still has repercussions for several families.

The representation of a small community is done expertly - lots of gossip, true friends, fair-weather friends and power-play within the social circle of London suburbia.

The ending was great - I genuinely wasn't expecting that!

The book hooks you in with Nicks disappearance. What it fails to do is keep you hooked. I put it down a few times and had to make myself return to it. I am not a fan of a book with a lot of flashbacks which this did. Not a read for me.

Nick and Grace are a devoted couple, so when Nick disappears one evening Grace is confused and worried. The story moves from the present day (2018) back and forth to 2000. Grace and Nick have not been honest with each other and their secrets could be their undoing. Grace is not confident having been in a toxic relationship with Douglas, the father of Lottie. She struggles with who to trust and the characters are well portrayed and interesting.. There are many twists and turns as the story unfolds and it gathers pace as the book moves on.
Many thanks to Netgalley/Emma Curtis/Random House UK for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

Grace’s fiancé Nick disappears one evening after proposing to her.
Grace’s life is turned upside down Nick wouldn’t just walk out on her and her daughter he loved them. So where’s he gone ?
While looking for answers she finds out that Nick was involved in a tragedy when he was young. Has this got something to do with his disappearance ?
This book had me from the first page
Thanks Emma Curtis
Thanks NetGalley

This had me hooked from the outset, and I managed to read it in two days, picking it up at every opportunity. So many twists and turns that I didn’t expect. Probably my favourite book this year!

IT ONLY TAKES A MOMENT TO UNRAVEL A PERFECT LIFE . . .

When Grace’s fiancé vanishes without a trace the night after proposing, her life is turned upside down. But has Nick walked out on her, or is he in danger?

As Grace desperately searches for answers, it soon becomes clear that Nick wasn’t the uncomplicated man she thought she knew. And when she uncovers a hidden tragedy from his childhood, she realises an awful truth: that you can run from your past – but your secrets will always catch up with you . . .

Grace seems to have the perfect life. She has a great job, the perfect fiancé Nick, and a daughter Lottie. But Nick doesn't come home one night after a late night walk and she has no way of contacting him. In addition, he only proposed to her that day so she wonders whether that has anything to do with his disappearance.

The book cleverly begins with Nick's disappearance and then offers us flashbacks of his life, both as a boy and of his life with Grace, so we only get to know him after he has already disappeared. This allows us initially to focus on Grace and get to know her but it also adds to the suspense. Grace's narrative is also the only one to be written in the first person so we're encouraged to identify with her and her frustration. Grace is paranoid from the beginning, carefully monitoring Nick's and others' activity on a phone app that counts the number of steps each has taken and this paranoia is carried through the rest of the book.

As the book progresses, several other narratives are introduced. We find out about Nick's life as a teenager in flashbacks, particularly about an event one summer that affected many peoples' lives. This event was so monumental in Nick's life that we're left with no doubt that it has something to do with his sudden disappearance but we don't know how they are connected. The passages from Nick's past are perhaps the most atmospheric as several families come together for the summer. The relationships between the children are thoughtfully explored as are their relationships with the adults. A sense of tension pervades both the contemporary narrative and the past narrative.

There is suitable tension when Nick's parents, Tim and Cora, come to stay with Grace after his disappearance, which adds to our suspicions about them and about their involvement. Cora's coldness towards Grace is palpable and Grace soon hears rumours about Tim's past which she doesn't know whether to believe or not. We're also suspicious of Nick's boss who seems to react strangely at the news and Grace is also suspicious of Anna, a new mom in the area and questions how much Nick's knows her. Grace's ex-husband Douglas is also violent, controlling, and manipulative. This all culminates in a fast-paced thriller and, although there are multiple plots and characters, all are well developed and perfectly balanced.

This is Curtis' third novel following One Little Mistake (2017) and When I Find You (2018), both of which I thoroughly enjoyed. Curtis' psychological thrillers are located within an idyllic domestic setting amongst perfect looking families and recognisable protagonists. But something from the past always returns to disrupt these perfect lives and everything isn't always as it seems. Curtis' books never fail to impress whilst also be highly entertaining and readable.

The night you left is a psychological thriller, full of twists and turns. Grace and Nick seem to have a perfect life, which makes Nick’s sudden disappearance even more difficult to understand. The book mainly follows Grace’s story as she tries to unpick Nick’s final movements before he left, but it also moves back to 2000 when Nick was on a family holiday that ended in tragedy.
If you enjoy thrillers, this will be an enjoyable read. However, the story tended to be unnecessarily dragged out especially as I found it quite predictable.

My thanks to Random House U.K. Transworld Publishing/Black Swan for an eARC via NetGalley of Emma Curtis’ ‘The Night You Left’ in exchange for an honest review. As it was already published when I came to read it, I elected to purchase its very reasonably priced Kindle/Audible combination.

Grace and Nick have been together for seven years and Nick has been helping Grace to raise her daughter, Lottie. Earlier on ‘Day Zero’ (Saturday 14 April 2018) Nick had asked Grace to marry him and she had accepted. Yet that evening Nick went out for a walk and didn’t return. Grace had thought it was odd he hadn’t taken their dog, Toffee, with him. By the middle of the night she is becoming anxious....

I am going to not say anything more about its plot to avoid possible spoilers but will say that it is a rollercoaster of a domestic noir/psychological thriller with plenty of twists. It did start slowly but pretty soon I was completely hooked and couldn’t put it down. I was happy that I had a quiet Sunday to settle in and just enjoy the ride.

While this is my first experience of Emma Curtis’ writing, I plan to look into her previous novels and keep an eye out for her future books.

A decent enough thriller that kept me entertained. My only gripe was that the plot was fairly slow and I felt it repeated. That being said, Emma Curtis is a great author and I will read her future novels.

Although this book was a little slow at the beginning, it soon moved on and had you hooked. The characters were great as you got to learn more about them, they were believable. Some you liked others not so much. Grace despite having secrets herself was basically a nice person. Then you have Cora, Nicks mother who had never felt that Cora was good enough for her son. Grace’s ex Douglas who is a total control freak. Tim, Nicks father who has a murky past.

Nick proposes to Grace one night and has disappeared the following day, Grace goes over everything in her mind, they have been together for seven years, the police say that Nick has just left her, but Grace knows Nick better than that, or does she? Nick has been keeping secrets from his past. So how well does Grace really know Nick? Grace is determined to find out the truth, no matter how hard, or how dangerous it could be.

The story is told from multiple characters points of view, from when Nick is missing, Grace going over things from the previous two days, then into the present time. With alternate chapters being flashbacks to Nicks teenage years, and a tragedy, which is what has basically shaped him.

This is one of those books you can’t put down, it is so well written, and it does keep you guessing, despite there not being many of the usual plot twists you get with psychological thrillers, it wasn’t easy to figure the story out. Which is a good thing, but it wasn’t one of those books that drags out either, it’s just well written.

I would highly recommend this book by Emma Curtis and will be looking out for more books in the future.

I would like to thank netgalley and Transworld Digital Publishers for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

The Night You Left Emma Curtis
This is just my sort of book and it really draws you in. The main character is Grace a single mother with a daughter. She lives with her daughter, Lottie and her partner, Nick until he disappears one evening. Up until then Grace has everything she could want. A really interesting job, a lovely house and a wonderful home life living with the two people she loves most. Everything gets blown apart when Nick goes out for a walk and doesn’t return. At that point Grace’s life gets more complicated, particularly by other people who pop up in the story, including Nick’s parents, who clearly disapprove of Nick’s choice of partner. Grace feels she knows Nick and that he would never walk out and leave, which is what the police believe, but both Nick and Grace have kept so many secrets from each other and there were so many important things they didn’t know about each other that she didn’t know him as well as she thought she did.
There is another storyline running through the book which involves Nick’s childhood and friends. Set on holiday in the countryside in the summer of 2000 where a number of families including Nicks are spending a week together. A tragedy occurs which has repercussions for all the families and affects all their lives, both children and adults. The storylines link nicely back together towards the end and the plot is clever and well told. It is easy to warm to Grace and her predicament and other characters are believable, if not likeable. Nick’s parents, Tim and Cora, are particularly unpleasant and their attitude towards Nick’s absence is unsympathetic. This is the first book I have read by Emma Curtis but won’t be the last. Her descriptions bring everything to life and the twists and turns that reveal themselves as you read the book keep you totally involved.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

A gripping page-turner with a clever twist

Grace and Nick live in suburban bliss in an affluent part of London. Grace works in property management, and Nick in finance and their lives are happy and contented. Grace shares custody of her daughter Lottie with her ex Douglas, and he is the only negative factor in their blissful lives.

Douglas is still trying to control Grace, even though they are no longer a couple and she is wary of making him angry, so she pussyfoots around him to keep the peace, much to Nick's annoyance, although he does not show it. Grace is over the moon when Nick proposes to her one weekend, and she puts nervousness down to Nick's odd behaviour in the days preceding the proposal.

But when Nick goes out on Sunday evening and does not return, her peaceful life is thrown into turmoil. At first, she lies to Lottie and her friends about Nick's disappearance, and she even calls into his work, pretending that he has taken ill. She is at a complete loss as to where he is, and his phone is switched off.

Grace descends into a nightmare of doubt and anxiety as the days tick by. Nick has seemingly vanished off the face of the earth. His boss pops around to check on him, and Grace has to keep up the pretence that Nick is too ill to speak to anyone or answer calls or emails. Her world collapses in a few short days, and she finally has to come clean with Nick's parents. They insist on moving back into the house to wait for updates. Her already strained relationship with Nick's mother is stretched to breaking point, and when Nick does not respond to his work messages, he is fired from the company and Grace has financial worries heaped onto her pile of stress.

The police seem lacklustre about his disappearance and seem to believe that Nick has walked out on Grace. Her friends seem to share this theory. This adds to her distress. She cannot reconcile this with the fact that Nick had proposed the day before he left and she is sure that he has not left off his own accord.

The story flips between Nick's teenage hood and Grace's previous life, and the reader starts to see a very different picture emerge. All is not what it seems, and the past has a way of coming back to haunt.

All in all an excellent read and I look forward to more from Emma Curtis. I admit to feeling a little jaded with the genre, but this book has restored my faith in excellent storytelling and clever plots. The author has a way of engrossing the reader in the lives of the various characters to the extent that the reader really roots for Grace, Nick and Lottie. I thoroughly enjoyed the book.

Gillian

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review

Lots of twists and turns. Unfortunately at one stage there were so many characters on the go at once, I felt I needed a spreadsheet to keep up with them. This really slowed down the smooth flow of the story and made it tricky for me to follow.

Grace's partner Nick has disappeared and she has no idea where he is or why. She soon comes to learn he may have a darker past than she knew which is coming back to haunt him. She finds herself dealing with his parents, her ex and trying to find out what happened to him. Can she learn the truth and figure out exactly what's going on?

This is a story filled with many twists and turns. It was a really good thriller that kept me gripped from start to finish. The plot build slowly to a dramatic climax. I had different theories as the story went on but many of the twists came as a surprise which I really liked. The ending was brilliant and finished the book off perfectly. A great thriller with some clever twists.

This is the second book by Emma Curtis that I’ve read and I really enjoyed this one too. She has a really engaging writing style and I find it easy to read. The different time jumps kept me intrigued and there was a twist in the tale. Nicks parents were utterly odious like particularly his mother. Thanks to Netgalley, the author and Black Swan for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

The Night You Left I felt was a slow start that seemed very similar to other books I had read.
Then it drew me right in with its mystery and intrigue.
What starts out as a idilic love story when Nick proposes to Grace then disapears without a word the following day?
Is he having an affair Grace is confident Nick would not do that she thought she knew Nick but they both have hidden secrets from each other that come home to roost
The book is in sections by person so so you see things from all the characters involvement the twists and turns keep you guessing right up to the end.