Bring Me Back

Starred review from April 30, 2018
Investment manager Finn McQuaid, the unreliable narrator of this outstanding Hitchcockian thriller from British author Paris (Behind Closed Doors), has settled into a comfortable routine in the small English community of Simonbridge, bolstered by financial success after landing a big client for his equities firm. But his tranquility is shattered when a friend phones to tell him that his old girlfriend, Layla Gray, who vanished 12 years earlier while the two were on holiday, has been spotted near the cottage they shared in France. Then his wife, Ellen, who’s Layla’s sister, discovers outside their home a Russian doll that she believes Layla stole from her when they were children. Finn, who has kept the actual circumstances of Layla’s disappearance a secret from Ellen, starts finding Russian dolls himself. The stakes rise when he begins getting emails purportedly from Layla. Paris plays fair with the reader as she builds to a satisfying resolution. Fans of intelligent psychological suspense will be richly rewarded. 400,000-copy announced first printing. Agent: Camilla Wray, Darley Anderson Agency (U.K.).