That aforementioned ebb and flow in timelines can lead to you going back a few pages every now and then, just to check the who, where, when and why of what just happened but the author’s clever manipulation of his reader is destined to keep you locked in to the bitter end. Tim Weaver ploughs this particular furrow well, with a panache that reminded me of Before She Disappeared by Lisa Gardner.

There is a large cast of brilliantly created characters and an intricately plotted, dark story, which is relentlessly tense. Weaver has leaned into that in his popular, long-running series starring missing persons expert David Raker. I would like to thank both Netgalley and Michael Joseph for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. In a narrative that goes back and forth in time, Raker begins his inquiries and soon finds himself slipping into shocking, surprising and more dangerous territory than he could possibly have imagined. However, I am delighted to report that my newfound enthusiasm has led me to acquire the first book in the series.

And this starts the sinister journey and dangerous findings exposing a deadly secret going back years.

The fallout from their previous encounters sets the stage for an enthralling adventure, one that never wanes in momentum. The story seamlessly moves between a variety of narrators, including a favourite of mine, Colm Healy. Tim Weaver is the Sunday Times bestselling author of thirteen novels, including No One Home, The Blackbird and The Last Goodbye, and a short story collection. He is also the host and producer of the chart-topping Missing podcast and is currently developing an original TV series with the team behind Line of Duty.This is a dark, intense, and brilliant crime read, beautifully plotted, with twists that you will not see coming and it is great to be reacquainted with a cast of established characters like Elizabeth Feeny. His novels have been selected for the Richard and Judy Book Club three times, and his work has been nominated for a National Book Award and the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger. Tom Brenner and his 9 year old son Leo disappear from a theme park and David Raker is contacted by Rebekah Murphy to help find her mother Fiona who disappeared nearly 40 years ago. Reading The Last Goodbye has made me want to go back and revisit the David Raker Series, which is surely what authors want to hear! Add that to the fact that the investigation takes him in to waters at least as dark as any previous ones and the stage is set for a very good read.

The Last Goodbye is the twelfth book in the David Raker series, but (in my opinion) it can easily be read as a standalone.

Now, haunted by years of unanswered questions, Rebekah asks missing investigator David Raker to find out what happened. Tim Weaver is the Sunday Times Top 3 bestselling author of the David Raker missing persons series, the standalone thriller, Missing Pieces, and the novella collection, The Shadow at the Door. It always amazes me how authors manage to not only invent new stories for long-running characters but also keep the books fresh, Tim Weaver is an artist at that! Now that I've seen this pattern in action, it was something I was looking out for in The Last Goodbye, and I was disappointed to see nothing has changed.

Reading the series is like seeing old friends after a time away, easy to pick up and carry on, catching up with where they are now. This latest missing person case is another nonstop thrill ride with a seamless plot which just keeps on giving in this highly engaging series, I highly recommend the whole series. This is my first read by author Tim Weaver and this is actually book 12 in a series " David Raker", which I did not realise at first. On his decision to have David Raker specialise in missing persons cases, Weaver has said: "I just became very interested in the idea of a person going missing in an age where we have CCTV on every street, 24-hour rolling news channels, and constant access to cameras through our phones. As an inadvertent latecomer to the series, beginning with the tenth book, I cannot help but feel a tinge of regret for not delving into David Raker's world sooner.

Tim Weaver is the Sunday Times bestselling author of thirteen novels, including No One Home and The Blackbird, and a short story collection. There are chapters told from various view points and time periods but they all come together at the end. Tim Weaver does an incredible job in not letting standards slip in his latest addition to his gripping specialist investigator David Raker series, a man who is willing to cross lines to find out what has happened to the missing people he looks for, even if it is the worst, so that his clients can find some sense of closure and perhaps peace. We meet David Raker who is a missing persons investigator, he is an interesting char Big Island, LA connects the dots between a heist gone wrong at a police shooting range and corporate greed and political corruption, leaving a former combat marine and an agoraphobic crime reporter to sort out the mystery.