by Sherryl Clark
Publisher: HQ Fiction, 2024
Publisher’s blurb
Gutsy new PI Lou Alcott takes charge in this brilliantly crafted thriller. Twisty, gritty and unputdownable, in this story the underdog is fighting back. Perfect for readers of Sarah Bailey and Jane Caro’s The Mother.
She’s the one to turn to when you need saving. But first she has to save herself…
Lou Alcott is turning over a new leaf as a private investigator. Formerly police, she was forced to resign when she attacked a domestic violence perpetrator. She’s always vowed to be nothing like her grandfather Hamish, Melbourne’s biggest crime boss, delivering an eye for an eye, but this guy had it coming.
On her first day she draws two cases helping at-risk women. First there’s Diane Paterson, who has apparently left her husband without a word. Who should Lou believe? The charmingly distraught husband, Diane’s suspicious parents, or the freezer full of lovingly prepared food left behind?
Then a house security check for an isolated young woman who is convinced her abusive ex is stalking her again turns worrisome when she fails to show up for their meeting. Lou reports Melinda’s odd disappearance to the police but with no signs of a struggle she fears they’re not able to act quickly enough.
With her protective radar pinging, Lou keeps digging until she unearths chilling evidence that puts her in the hot seat. Suddenly Lou is embroiled in a cat-and-mouse-game where there will only be one survivor… Will Lou’s first case be her last?
Review
by Carol Woeltjes
For many women the idea of going for a run after dark would be a hard no, secluded paths and poorly lit streets, just not worth the risk, but that’s exactly where we find Lou Alcott. It’s 2am and she’s running by a river, alone, just the way she likes it.
Lou, an ex-police officer, the daughter of a high-ranking police officer, and the granddaughter of Melbourne’s biggest crime boss, is a woman with a troubled past and a complex personal story. After leaving the police force on less than glittering terms Lou struggles to find her feet. He grandfather offers work in the family business, but she half-heartedly waits tables instead, that is until she gets a job as a private investigator.
Her first cases both involve violence against women, a subject Lou finds particularly hard to deal with and one that stirs up her personal and professional past. To find the women Lou needs to keep her emotions in check, something she struggles with. This struggle and the overlapping anger and despair familiar to many when we read of another woman harmed by a man is what, for me, turned Lou from just a character into a person, someone I found compelling and familiar.
Character development is an obvious skill of Sherryl Clark and I found myself having strong reactions to most of the people who walked onto the page. I felt their exasperation and fear, knew their frustration and disbelief at yet another woman going missing, another woman not being taken seriously when they spoke of their abuse.
For me the prescient nature of Woman, Missing is why the tension builds so quickly and why I cared so much for characters who don’t get to have their own voice. Much of the novel involves being watchful and ever-ready to respond to danger, an urge that begins with the run and doesn’t end until well after you’ve finished the final pages—your home, your bed, your car—nowhere is as safe as you thought it was, well for Lou anyway.
No spoilers, so I will not elaborate, but there is a factual error that occurs late in the novel, for many it will go unnoticed, but for some it could draw them out of the action at a critical time.
That said, I thoroughly enjoyed Woman, Missing, it made me feel part of its community of characters, their responses mirrored my own and I desperately want to know what’s next for them. So, if P.I. Lou Alcott finds herself in another book I will be reading it.