I enjoyed this book and it really grabbed my interest from the start. It was full of secrets and lies and I didn’t really know who to believe. My only issue was that I didn’t really like any of the characters and found them so annoying and unbelievable in their behaviours!

Great book , very well written hence the 4 stars . Only thing that let it down for me was the fact I guessed who’d done what . I’ve probably read too many psychological thrillers. I still love Jess Ryders books and will continue to read them in the future . I do recommend this book , well worth a read

A baby abduction? Unlikeable characters? Secrets and mystery? Fast paced thriller? Check, check, check, and check! Amber suffers from postpartum and her baby is abducted. Accusations and secrets run rampant:.. who took baby Mabel? Everything does tidy itself up, however unbelievable, it certainly won’t be what you expect! Great book!

This is the first book I’ve read by this author and it certainly did not disappoint. 
A fast paced book about the abduction of a little baby that had me hooked from the start. 
A few interesting characters in this book, although not many of them likeable but that didn’t affect my enjoyment. 
The book had me in suspense until the end, however the ending was a bit far fetched in my opinion.....but that’s the beauty of fiction, right? 
I will most definitely be reaching for this authors books again, a smashing little read.
Thank you to NetGalley, Jess Ryder and Bookouture for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Night Away by Jess Ryder
Mabel is Amber and George's seven-month-old daughter. Amber is suffering from postpartum depression, which is taking its toll on her and George's relationship. Hence, Ruby, Amber's sister, offers to babysit so the two of them can have some time away together, to instil some much-needed romance and balance back into their lives. 
Ruby takes Mabel to the park, unnoticed by Ruby they are being stalked. The following weekend George has to go away on a business trip, and Amber decides at the last minute to go to a yoga retreat, again leaving Ruby to babysit. The next morning, Mabel is gone, taken from her cot, Kidnapped. DI Benedict and the team investigate.
The story is told through the voices of Amber, Ruby and the kidnapper. The plot has manipulation, deception, dark secrets, and unexpected twists and turns;  a well written fast-paced psychological thriller. 
A recommended read, Don't miss it.
I want to thank NetGalley, Bookouture and author Jess Ryder for a pre-publication copy to review.

As a mother this made my heart stop! A great read, fast paced and suspenseful. The characters were well done and the story was unique and intriguing. This captured my attention from page one and held it till the very end. So many twists and turns. Will they ever get Mabel back? What will the cost be? And why was she taken? Read this book to find those answers. This one comes highly recommended!

Thanks to NetGalley and to the publisher for the ARC, which I received in exchange for my honest review. The Night Away, has a great premise. A young mother is being observed by an obsessed individual and her 7 month old daughter is stolen when she has a night away. The book is fast-paced and compelling. A very quick read, I finished the book in just a few hours because I was desperate to find out what happened to baby Mabel.

Despite the intriguing storyline, most of the characters are absolutely unlikeable. Some readers may be able to overlook the personalties of the main characters and be satisfied with the many twists and turns the author deftly delivers. For me, the interesting plot points were simply not enough to overcome the reprehensible behavior of the characters.

Clear your schedule because you are not going to be able to put this one down. This is a hard review to write because I don’t want to give anything away but…you will think you have it all figured out then something or someone changes and you go whirling on to the next twist and the next. This is a 5 Star domestic thriller!

Amber and George are discovering that life with a new baby can be grueling. Now that Mabel is 7 months old, Amber’s sister Ruby offers to babysit to give them a weekend away. George books a night at a 5 star hotel and spirits Amber, who is mired in postpartum depression, away for the night. Ruby, babysitting without her partner Lewis, is her usual disorganized self. She takes Mabel to the park but doesn’t notice that she is being watched. The next weekend George has a business trip and Amber makes a sudden decision to go on a yoga retreat. Ruby is again called to babysit. The next morning, Mabel is gone.

The story is told in three voices: Amber, Ruby and the stalker. They follow the police investigation, the intrusive press attention and their reactions as secrets they thought were hidden come to light. Amber and Ruby are very sympathetic characters and you feel the desperation as they try to help the police and avoid becoming suspects themselves. When you finally discover what happened and why, you’ll see how Jess Ryder skillfully dropped hints throughout the story. The Night Away is a chilling, satisfying read. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture and Jess Ryder for this ARC.

Thank You Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC! This review is based completely on my honest opinion.

Amber is dealing with being a mother to Mabel and her sister, Ruby, suggests that Amber and George go away on a romantic getaway to spend time with each other. But then one night, while Ruby is babysitting Mabel, a kidnapper who had been stalking Mabel and Amber for a while kidnaps Mabel from the cot. Then the drama begins.

At first, I really like the story. The story was quiet a page turner and there were some unexpected twists and turns that kept the reader at the edge of the seat. The author did a good job of bringing the reader into the story, making the reader hooked into the story. This book was also a fast paced thriller which was a good thing and what I would expect from a good thriller. There were so many secrets that Amber seems to be hiding and as a reader you want to know what those secrets are. And the abductor? You would want to know why this abductor targeted Mabel. However, except for Ruby and Mabel, I didn't really like the characters much, particularly Amber's and Ruby's mother. I also like to see the strained sisterly relationship between Amber and Ruby.

Overall, this book is a gripping thriller where you simply cannot put down and will keep you up all night reading the book! Worth four stars!

I love Jess Ryder books, so when I saw this new book of hers on Netgalley, I couldn’t resist.

What a roller coaster of twists and turns this book takes the reader on, making me guess what twists were coming next and not once seeing them coming. This was a real page turner, alternating between Amber (Mabels Mum), Ruby (Ambers sister and Mabels Aunty) and the kidnappers version of stories, cleverly leaving us with no idea if the kidnapper was even a male or female or how the police were going to get Mabel back.

The ending though, I felt it really let the story down. It’s like Jess simply ran out of steam and just tidied the story up in a chapter and epilogue. Extremely disappointed with the lack of follow through with the ending of the story, I felt we as readers were owed a more conclusive end to the hype.

A great 4 stars, with thanks to Bookouture and Netgally for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

‘The night away’ is a gripping read in the psychological fiction genre. It’s every parents worst nightmare - discovering their child has been abducted.  In the case of Amber and Geitge, whose daughter Mabel is stolen, the situation is made worse but a number of dark secrets and lies coming to light as a result of the abduction.

The story is cleverly narrated through Amber, her sister Ruby (who was looking after Mabel at the time of her abduction), and the abductor themselves, which adds to the credibility and intrigue of the story.  

I enjoyed this book and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to other fans if this genre. My thanks to Netgalley, author and publisher for the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an advance copy.

Amber is a mom who appears to have postpartum depression. She needs some time away from the life she always wanted. Her sister volunteers to watch baby Mabel. Mabel disappears from her crib while Ruby is sleeping. Accusations fly and secrets are revealed. Most of the characters where pretty unlikable but you still feel for Amber as the search for Mabel continues. It all comes together in the end , of course but it may not be what you think.

Thanks to netgalley and Bookouture for the arc

I’ve read most of Jess Ryders previous thrillers and dove headfirst into this new one and finished it almost as soon as I started.  My afternoon, and the book, flew passed me as together we searched for missing Mabel, the daughter of Awful Amy and poor George who are struggling to keep their relationship fresh and intact.  The family is really quite harrowing and full of nasty secrets and deceit.  Who wants Mabel more, Awful Amy or a mystery woman.  I know who I would choose but I was in for a fistful of family twists and turns.

An easy read psychological thriller which is quite dark and has lots of twist and turns.
It isn’t fast paced and was a little slow in the beginning however it did pick up in the second half.
An enjoyable read

I’d like to thank Bookouture and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘The Night Away’ by Jess Ryder in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Since the birth of Mabel seven months ago Amber has become depressed and in need of a night away with husband George.  Her younger sister Ruby is staying in their flat taking care of the little girl when the unthinkable happens and Mabel disappears from her cot during the night.  Members of the press appear on their doorstep hounding them and throwing accusations that they’ve murdered their own child.  All that Amber wants is to have her little girl returned safe and sound but she has a secret that she’s never told a soul and she has to decide whether it’s the reason Mabel’s been taken.

‘The Night Away’ is exciting and incredibly nail-biting with an intriguing plot and believable characters and it had me hooked from the very first page.  It’s a compelling thriller that contains bucketloads of suspense, drama, tension and twists and turns.  Towards the end I thought I’d guessed who’d taken Mabel but Ms Ryder gave us a final twist to the story that I would never have imagined possible, that took me completely by surprise and, as usual, proved my theory to be completely wrong.  This novel is compulsive reading and I can highly recommend it.

Strange story. The “bad guy” was hard to suss out. The characters in this story aren’t very likable and don’t feel organic. I liked the story well enough to keep reading it, but I did spend most of the story angry at the characters.

If you love a dark psychological thriller then this is the book for you. Absolutely impossible to put down it will have you wanting more and wondering how you didn’t see the twists coming.

It’s so hard to write a review about a mystery/thriller without giving too much away. 

Amber is a new mom but seems to be struggling from postpartum depression, although she doesn’t seem to be aware of that fact. Not wanting to engage with people and drifting away from her husband she finds herself in a situation of getting away from it all for a weekend but this is when her life really spirals out of control. 

What ensues is a twisty, mystery. The storyline is engaging and the writing is wonderfully done in a way that subtly intertwines all the characters and leads to an unexpected conclusion.

Lilac Park,Waltham Green, London is where the action is based in this latest psychological thriller from Jess Ryder. To be more precise, it is 74 William Morris Terrace that is the focus of attention, home to newish parents Amber and George and their seven month old baby Mabel (cute name!). As is often often the case when two become three, the dynamics in a relationship quickly change and Amber and George’s marriage is starting to flounder. The question is why? Can their relationship troubles be solely attributed to Amber’s fragile state of mind, with her husband and family assuming this normally capable woman is perhaps suffering from post natal depression? Or is this just an easy assumption to make, ignoring signs that Amber may well be anxious for other reasons she’s desperate to keep hidden? Given that there also is an unknown individual voicing their concerns over Amber’s suitability as a mother, keeping a watchful eye and unhealthy interest over the comings and goings at no.74, often from the park across the road,  you just know there are going to be a host of secrets to be uncovered that will almost certainly shatter lives for good.

It is Amber and George’s decision to have one night away from darling Mabel that proves to be the catalyst for the nightmare of events that follow. In an effort to inject some much needed romance into their relationship, Amber’s sister Ruby babysits for her niece and it is from that night on their lives will never be same again. Not long after this one night away, a weekend when  Ruby is babysitting again, Mabel is abducted from her home, snatched from her cot whilst the rest of the street is asleep and so begins a nightmare that no parent ever wants to experience. How can this happen right under Ruby’s nose? How can she fail be be alerted to an unwanted presence within the flat?  Where is Mabel, who has taken her and will she be found dead or alive?

There’s only a relatively small cast of characters in this thriller which makes interpreting hidden clues as to the culprit potentially easier. In any case of child abduction your immediate suspicions focus on the parents. Gorgeous George as he is nicknamed is not portrayed as the doting dad and loyal supporter of his wife that you’d maybe expect him to be. Frustrated with his wife’s personality change since the birth of their baby, her unwillingness to fully engage with motherhood and the outside world is obviously causing friction between the two of them.  A work commitment necessitating his attendance at a conference over the weekend Mabel is taken definitely aroused my suspicions as too did Amber’s reluctance to remain in sole charge of her baby. Almost terrified at the thought of being alone, booking a last minute yoga retreat and leaving Ruby in charge again you’d be forgiven for thinking Amber maybe has a secret lover or is contemplating abandoning her child for good or even something worse. Who is this Seth that she communicates with via text?  Why is Ruby’s boyfriend Lewis reluctant to keep her company whilst she’s immersed in babysitting duties? Plenty of questions abound in this storyline and that of course is what holds your interest. As always there are a number of figurative keys nestled within the pages ,ones that will unlock untold secrets if only you can find them! In this instance some are easy to spot whilst others may not be so obvious. 

For me the most chilling aspect of this thriller is the voice of the mystery stalker who finds anonymity within Lilac Park amongst the children and parents and grandparents, the dog walkers and the joggers. I felt chills down my spine imagining this person spying on Amber and Mabel, lurking in the shadows,watching and waiting for the perfect opportunity to carry out their audacious and unforgivable criminal act. As this individual continues along their path of what you can only assume is an act of revenge, with tension mounting,  I was desperate to know why Amber and Mabel are being targeted.  Whoever they are, male or female you want DI Benedict and team to apprehend them quickly and for Mabel to have come to no harm. 

It is the relationship between Amber and Ruby that I found intriguing throughout this storyline. Cast as the highly organised, capable, planning for every eventuality kind of woman, Amber as the older of the two is definitely mum Vicky’s favourite but is she likeable? Probably not! I felt sorry for Ruby who in contrast is a woman known for her disorganisation, her forgetfulness and her inability to remain focused, switching jobs with frequency and she simply doesn’t measure up to Amber who at least in Vicky’s eyes is perfection personified. Yet despite the fact it’s on her watch that Mabel is abducted, Ruby is by far the nicest character out of all of them. Her love for her niece is evident in her haphazard approach to caring for her and her palpable angst at Mabel’s disappearance. Will DI Benedict view Ruby is the same favourable light?

This is an easy, enjoyable read that I managed to devour in virtually one sitting. Unfortunately it won’t take a genius to correctly guess at some of the twists and turns but I’m happy to announce the conclusion to this fictional nightmare took me by surprise which is why I’ve given this book a 4 star rating. It’s the first book I’ve read by this author and whilst I was kept engaged and entertained and up to a point kept guessing, the storyline isn’t outstanding. There’s an awful lot of fiction written around the subject of missing children/child abduction and for me this didn’t offer anything original in terms of perspective or in terms of the style of writing. Yes, there are the obligatory red herrings with a degree of obfuscation that makes The Night Away a good, if average psychological thriller but nothing more.  My thanks as always to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read in exchange for an honest review.

This is the second book by Jess Ryder that I have read.   I really like her writing style.   This book is full of surprises and a nice twist at the end. The story starts out with George and Amber new parents who plan a night away.  Amber's sister babysits and all is good.   The following weekend George is away on a business trip and Amber decides to get away herself only to have her baby disappear under her sister's watch.   From this point on lots of speculation and secrets of each character unfold.   The ending is a shocker!   Don't miss it.