I’m a fan of Tim Weaver and was keen to read this standalone. I’m slightly mixed in opinion; overall I enjoyed it, but it’s not flawless and at times, seemed almost contrived and rather drawn out.

The title kind of sums up the way it reads; it’s quite difficult to follow, but bit by bit, the numerous threads start to come together and overall, irs an intriguing story. I was less keen on the long descriptive passages about the rugged landscape. I think the scene was well set and some of it felt like padding which added little to the story and interrupted the flow. The characters are likeable enough, but I didn’t really feel any great emotional connection and although I wanted to know how it all panned out, I wasn’t totally gripped.

My thanks to the publisher for a review copy via Netgalley.

Rebekah knows too much. But she doesn't know what it is she knows. But someone knows she might work out what she does know. So she has to die....but Rebekah has no idea why because she doesn't know what she knows. Confused? You will be if you read this book!

Rebekah is stranded on island only occupied in the summer. No phones, no electric. Its months until the next ferry comes back. But when it does she knows the men who left her there for dead will be back, expecting to find her body...

Meanwhile Detective Frank Travis is days away from retirement. He has one case he'd like to solve before he does, the disappearance of Louise Mason...

Honestly I had no idea if I was coming or going with this book. Everything seems so disconnected....but then the 'missing pieces' start to come together. And I was still confused! But this is very good as you're kept guessing throughout. The only issue I had with this book is it's just a bit too long. The island scenes drag a little but by the end it's all worth it. A great read.

An edge of your seat book in places.
It’s full of suspense.
Missing pieces is exactly as the the book is titled.
The story threads together very slowly throughout the book.
Not in a negative way. In a way that has you wanting to read in and discover more.
But.... you cannot guess the ending until you’re told, well at least I couldn’t.

This book had me reading as fast as I could to see what happens next.

The only criticism I have is that there were a couple of lose ends not tied up for me. ( Did Mr Travis and Rebecca get together?).
What happened with Rebecca and her ex partner? Did the children recover?). Maybe it was me that just missed this info out though?

I would recommend this book.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin UK for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Bek accompanies her brother Johnny to a remote island 101 miles from Long Island for a meeting with a man in relation to a book Johnny wants to write. Soon things go wrong as two men attempt to murder Bek and Johnny, Johnny is presumed dead and Bek can't escape the island is cause the the next ferry won't come until spring, several months away.

This book was too LONG and too SLOW. There were endless pages of survival on the island. In my opinion it added nothing to the story and I had to start skimming this content. There were flashbacks to Bek's life before the island and those would go right I to current day with no transition, making it hard to follow. There were lots of details about Bek's past life and the only reason I kept going was that I thought they would come together in some really clever way to tell us why Bek was being targeted but I was disappointed in the explanation for that as well. I am giving it a 3 star because I reserve 1 & 2 stars for truly awful books, which this was not, but this was not good. I read one previous book by this author and while I enjoyed the story, I didn't read another one for years because that one had also been too long. I don't think I have an adequate attention span for this author's work.

A complex and intricately detailed multiple character viewpoint mystery. This story is told by Beka who is stranded on an island which only opens for summer touristy and Frank who begins searching for her several months after she goes missing and one week before he retires. The plot is so compelling and I felt really frustrated and concerned for Beka - why was no one looking for her? It made no sense...until it did! Such a cleverly written novel with no loose threads despite multiple strands appearing throughout the story.

This is story plays out like a never-ending nightmare, tinged with fantasy, horror.

Rebekah is marooned on an inhospitable, remote island. Can she survive? Why is she there? The reader experiences her ordeal intimately as the storyline, past and present, immerses you in her claustrophobic and sinister world. Frank is a cop about to retire, but he needs to solve one last missing person's case. These two seemingly unconnected stories are full of clues and misinformation as somewhere within are the missing pieces to both mysteries.

The dual timelines from Rebekah's viewpoint are complex and initially confusing. This is intentional to let the reader experience Rebekah's disorientation and sense of hopelessness. The plot keeps its secrets and uses spurious information to keep the reader guessing. Rebekah is a flawed and unreliable protagonist, but despite this, she evokes empathy from the reader.

The mystery is well-plotted and largely plausible, the characters are relatable, and the suspense building is addictive.

I received a copy of this book from Penguin Books UK - Michael Joseph via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

A complex story full of suspense.
I must admit I didn't into it as quickly as his other books, not because it's a standalone but more because I found it quite disjointed. I don't mind dual timelines but this book zipped about all over the place which affected the flow of the book. It took me a while to get used to the style but once I did I was intrigued with the story.
The title is apt as it was rather like doing a jigsaw. You completed a bit of the story here and a bit there, some pieces you couldn't find so you filled in a different area until slowly the bigger picture began to take shape.
At the time I was frustrated with the many different timelines but looking back I can see it as a cleverly constructed complex mystery.
I must also admit I had no clue as to how it would end which is always a plus.


Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC for an honest review.

My thanks to Netgalley for my copy of Missing Pieces, I have long been a fan of Tim Weaver and if you are too, I can assure you that you will love his latest book.

Sometimes the tension within the story line were almost more than I could bear, I struggled to keep my heart rate under control. Solving the mystery of why Rebekah has to die is impossible for the reader because although there is a time lapse narrative, nothing concrete is given away.

The conclusion is a relief, maybe a tiny bit weak, but at least you get answers. I know it will be a while before Beks and indeed Travis are no longer in my thoughts.

Sadly I gave up on this book after about a third of the way through. I found it difficult for follow and I lost the plot so I gave up. Disappointed.

Missing pieces by Tim Waver is a wonderful suspenseful book. I haven’t read any of the author’s books before and this one made me look up some of his back catalogue because the writing and plot twists just kept me intrigued throughout the story.
Told in two timelines, before and now, the chapters alternate between Rebekah’s life and her brother’s before traveling to the isolated island and while she is trying to survive the hunting. There are so many moments where I really felt her fear but also her strength for caring on to go back home safe and be with her daughters.
With unpredictable turns and great twists, the story is a must read for every suspenseful books lovers.

Stranded on a run down island, trying to avoid the clutches of a murderer, Rebekah is determined to survive to get back to her daughters. She’s drastically out of her depth, dangerously low on valuable resources and the all in important reason why she’s been targeted. But she has time, time to piece things together and to prepare an escape plan if she survives til the island reopens again she might have the missing piece of a case that has got under the skin of a retired detective.

It took me a while to get fully invested in this story which made the first half feel like a trudge through treacle. I think that was partially due to the character of Rebekah as I didn’t really warm to her and the shifting time periods sometimes felt confusing and jarring. I really liked the character of Frank though, and I wish there had been more of him. Overall, I found the wider mystery interesting so I will bump my rating up to a 3 out of 5, but the structure was flawed and the main character took too long for me to care about.

I have read several of Tim Weaver’s David Raker books and was excited to delve into this standalone.

The action packed start sets the tone for the book, dark, desperate, mysterious, action-packed and fearful. I was intrigued from the start, wanting to know what was going on, had gone on that led us here!

‘Missing Pieces’ is such an appropriate title for this book as we read dual timelines of ‘before’ and ‘now’. We gradually find out the back-story for Rebekah Murphy, part of a tight-knit family living in New York. Married to Gareth with two precious daughters, who drive her determination to survive this bleak and terrifying island, one hundred and one miles of ocean from the mainland.

The main setting, Crow Island, shut down for five long months with horrifically harsh conditions, clearly reflects Bek’s desperation and isolation. Her survival instincts running closely alongside her fear and unknowing.

I totally understand the need for the majority of the book to be set here, to reflect the tough and long journey and the the reflections about how this came to be the situation, although at times I felt it was a bit too lengthy and the story’s hold on me drifted slightly.

The dual timelines helped, gradually filling in Bek’s back-story and raising many possible theories in my mind, along with empathising with her attempts at puzzling out the mystery of why her? Why here? And there are plenty of blind alleys and red herrings thrown in.

The introduction of an additional POV, from Frank Travis, a soon-to-be retired NYPD detective, helped increase the pace, alongside my involvement trying to put the missing pieces together. The book regained its grip on my imagination.

I found the book to be tense and atmospheric with a cleverly thought-out, multi-layered plot, which I wanted very much to solve. The ending was very satisfying, all the pieces dropping into place, helping to finally sort out the red herrings and piece it all together.

A taut, compelling standalone thriller that kept me turning the pages. Atmospheric and intriguing. Recommended! Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this ARC

This thriller was set at a fast pace but some of the bits On the island were slow, and it fast forwarded ahead. There were some unanswered endings, and other aspects were quickly covered and was a bit complex with the twists. Overall, it is a decent read.

Missing Pieces is the first gripping standalone thriller from bestseller Tim Weaver and revolves around a woman trapped on an island with a killer on her trail and a detective with one last case to solve who will have to risk everything to get to the truth in this brilliantly twisty novel. Rebekah Murphy was the product of an American father, Henry Murphy, and a British mother, Fiona Camberwell, who have been separated since she was knee-high to a grasshopper. Her parents had a whirlwind romance and married after a mere four months when he was stationed at the US Air Base at RAF Lakenheath, Cambridge. After an honourable discharge he now works as a police officer. She also has two siblings Mike and Johnny. Over the years she has been both surprised and disappointed by just how little her mother has attempted to make contact. Henry moves back home to New York and Rebekah makes the tough decision to stay behind in London and take up a fully paid athletics scholarship at a prestigious private school. After six years apart from her family, only seeing them in the holidays when Henry could afford to fly her out, Rebekah decided she’d been away from her dad and her brothers too long and applied to American universities. At eighteen, she completed her A levels and bought a one-way ticket to New York. But now, all these years later, Rebekah is working as a doctor, having graduated from NYU School of Medicine and has two young daughters by estranged husband, Gareth, named Kyra and Chloe. With both Mike and her father now deceased, she feels that she should spend some time with Johnny, a writer who hopes to get published at some point. She leaves her daughters with a friend to accompany Johnny on a day trip to meet a researcher on the picturesque, remote and uninhabited Crow island and find themselves at the mercy of ruthless killers.

It appears Johnny is likely dead and she has been left for dead and stranded on the densely forested island, hunted for the knowledge she supposedly holds. With no help to survive she doesn't know if she'll make it but cannot stop thinking of her children. Stuck on a piece of land with no residents and no hope of any visitors until the island reopens for tourism after the harsh, frigid winter months are over. But what's waiting at home is even more chilling and surviving the island may have been the easy part. Back in NY, Detective Frank Travis is about to retire but is good for one last job; he's desperate to find the location of missing artist, 35-year-old Louise Mason. He dicovers videos of her discussing her trendy artworks, he tries to learn anything that'll help in his search. But instead of lessening his workload he ends up with two other missing person’s cases to solve. What links Rebekah and Louise? This is nothing short of a thoroughly riveting, enthralling and compulsively readable thriller weaving a scintillating story of survival, family and retribution that hits exactly the right spot. The mysterious nightmare surrounding Rebekah’s perilous situation grabs you by the throat and as both she and the reader have no idea why she's being hunted, it immerses and engrosses you from the outset. I love Weaver’s Raker series and am pleased it will continue but it's refreshing to see him branch out a little even if it contains a cameo from the eponymous detective. That said, this is by far his best and most ambitious crime thriller to date featuring the unearthing of dark secrets, a narrative that unravels at speed and all the drama, intensity, red herrings, twists and turns to satisfy. A disturbing, atmospheric and masterfully plotted thriller which is complex, multilayered and endlessly suspenseful. Highly recommended.

My thanks to NetGalley and publisher Penguin Michael Joseph UK for the ARC.

I'm really not sure about this book. On the one hand it is extremely atmospheric with excellent descriptions which transport the reader to the settings, on the other, well, I felt it was really drawn-out and the various plot strands were very disjointed.

Dr Rebekah Murphy is married to Gareth and has 2 young children. Her brother Johnny is an aspiring writer and gets Rebekah to accompany him for the day to Crow Island, 101 miles of the coast in the Atlantic, where he wants to meet with an archaeologist. They travel on which should be the last day of the season before the Island's population abandons the place for 5 months.
Through "now" narrative, where Rebekah finds herself alone on this forested and inhospitable island - running for her life from 2 men who mean to kill her, and flashbacks of her thoughts to try and piece together what had, and what is happening to her and where her missing brother is, we follow her heroic efforts of survival. Slowly, though, some things start to fall into place - but nothing could prepare her for the real truth.

As Rebekah and Johnny head for the Island, Detective Frank Travis is one week away from retirement from the missing persons' bureau. He still has an outstanding case - Louise Mason disappeared from a hotel reception and was never seen again.

Eventually Rebekah and Frank coincide and a conspiracy is indeed revealed, though nothing that could have been imagined.

Still not sure about this story, but by all means make your own mind up..

This is a very high, octane book and it made me feel like I was on a non-stop roller coaster. Their is so much content my head was spinning in a good way. It's rather a long book but I must admit it's a really really great read. Rebekah the protagonist, is a ballsy, clever character and she takes no crap including from her sop of a husband who I thought was quite wet and loved himself too much. The plot is exciting and it flows at a fast pace but it's quite difficult to stop reading. I had a huge lump in my throat at the end because Rebekah finally discovers what happened to her brother Johnny. This is the first book I have read by Tim Weaver and after reading the end of this I am going to have to buy his other books because he ends with Rebekah meeting David Raker and he sounds like a character I must get to know. All in all this is a fantastic read with a brilliant mixed bag of characters and twist which I weren't expecting. I would highly recommend if you like fast paced thrillers and twists.

I was looking forward to this book but I actually found it quite hard to get into. The story jumped about and I struggled to click with the characters. Having said that, I’m pleased I carried on and finished the book as it did improve as it went on

A great beginning and ending but after the first chapter the story goes from past to present so often it makes you dizzy, confused and disjointed.
Detective Travis was a great character would like to see more of him.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review

I never repeat the blurb. I found it hard to engage with the characters until 1/3 of the way through the book. The flashbacks were a little confusing but I eventually enjoyed the story.