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    After Anna
    After Anna
    After Anna
    Audiobook11 hours

    After Anna

    Written by Alex Lake

    Narrated by Antonia Beamish

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    The No. 1 ebook bestseller, Sunday Times Top 10 bestseller and USA Today bestseller

    The real nightmare starts when her daughter is returned…

    A girl is missing. Five years old, taken from outside her school. She has vanished, traceless.

    The police are at a loss; her parents are beyond grief. Their daughter is lost forever, perhaps dead, perhaps enslaved.

    But the biggest mystery is yet to come: one week after she was abducted, their daughter is returned.

    She has no memory of where she has been. And this, for her mother, is just the beginning of the nightmare.

    Perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell, C. L. Taylor and Lucy Foley

    Praise for Alex Lake

    ‘Relentlessly fast paced, a compelling plot and anxiety inducing finale. A cracking read’ John Marrs, bestselling author of The One

    ‘Opens with a nightmare scenario and races to a gripping, horribly tense ending – I think I actually stopped breathing several times. Loved it!’ Jackie Kabler, bestselling author of The Perfect Couple

    'With an unrelenting sense of urgency, this brilliant book will get under your skin. Great hook, fast-paced, fully engrossing. Don't miss out – read it now!' Sam Carrington, author of The Missing Wife

    ‘This is creepy storytelling of the highest order: spine-chilling and difficult to put down’ Daily Mail

    ‘A superb read for suspense fans, this taut thriller will have you racing for the finish’ Heat

    ‘A gripping page turner’ Closer

    ‘The emotional rawness will take you to dark depths, but the journey towards that last flicker of hope is one you can’t pull back from’ Woman & Home

    ‘Evocative writing and emotional rawness’ Woman’s Weekly

    ‘A thoroughly entertaining, gripping read’ Cass Green, bestselling author of In a Cottage In a Wood

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateNov 19, 2015
    ISBN9780008170813
    After Anna
    Author

    Alex Lake

    Alex Lake is a British novelist who was born in the North West of England. After Anna the author’s first novel written under this pseudonym, was a No.1 bestselling ebook sensation and a top ten Sunday Times bestseller. The author now lives in the North East of the US.

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    Reviews for After Anna

    4/5

    213 ratings19 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 2/5
      Hmmmm book was average, plot thin, obvious and unbelievable. Too easy to guess who the bad guy was. Didn’t like the writing style either. Verbose is ironically the only word I’d use :) all that said, I still listened to the end, so it had something!

      2 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Great book, full of suspense. Really makes you think about the complexity of human nature and relationships.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Well written fast paced, brilliant twist??
      Definitely would recommend this book.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Enjoyable book, good twists -sometimes too long spent on Julia’s thoughts. A good storyline, I recommend this book

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I found this book very interesting in the beginning but the last 10 chapters or so were slow and tedious. I wish the protagonist was more likeable and definitely more intelligent. Over all I enjoyed the book. The reader did a superb job.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Although it was easy enough to figure out who did it by the middle of the book, it was an enjoyable, easy read.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Not as gripping as his other books, but still interesting and quite fast paced. I liked it.
    • 2/5
      Every plot twist was there to be seen. Some of it read like a bad screen play. It was a great idea that wasn't handled that well.
    • 3/5
      Some parts were so good and others dragged out .. too many times the segments and thoughts of the characters were dragged out and had no relevance. Over all the book was good . Performance was good .
    • 3/5
      Saw most of it coming. I was not overly impressed.
    • 4/5
      Although it was easy enough to figure out who did it by the middle of the book, it was an enjoyable, easy read.
    • 3/5
      Good listen, a little predictable, but had one of the best "love to hate them" characters I've read in a while.
    • 2/5
      Couldn't finish this one. It's predictable and the 5 year old is more intelligent than her mum.
    • 3/5
      Meh. Maybe it was just me but I guessed the Who in the Who Done It a few chapters in. I kept listening bc I didn't want to give up and miss the chance of a plot twist. Plot twist didn't come.
    • 3/5
      Nicely narrated with all the intonations, but quite implausible and predictable.
    • 3/5
      The story was a bit simple, the characters underdeveloped. I didn't love the narrator. She spoke as if she was speaking to kinder-gardeners. Overall, I wouldn't recommend this read.
    • 4/5
      Well narrated, some surprises, just loved the little plot twists.
    • 4/5
      Enjoyable. I guessed early on who most likely was the kidnapper, but it was still fun to get to the answer. I know there have been comments from people not liking the way the kidnapper speaks in 3rd person, but I found it to be an interesting difference.
    • 4/5
      After Anna by Alex Lake was a Sunday Times bestseller in Britain last year. I picked it up based on the publisher's description: "A bone-chilling psychological thriller that will suit fans of Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn, Daughter, by Jane Shemilt, and The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins."Julia is running late to pick up her five year old daughter Anna from school - and her phone is dead. She hopes the school will understand - again. But when she finally arrives......Anna is not there. She's vanished without a trace.The first half of the book details the search for Anna and the guilt and blame Julia is subjected to - by herself, the public, her husband Brian and his mother Edna. The actual police investigation is a bit thin - the focus seems to be on the three main characters and their dysfunctional relationships. Despite what has happened, I found it hard to like Julia and empathize with her. She's mercurial, all over the map with what she wants from life, from her marriage and belatedly - from motherhood. There's no question about Brian and his mother however. Edna is quite opinionated and Brian is happy to agree with her. Negative social media coverage provides a realistic look at how the media influences opinions and public judgement.Cut into the narrative are the kidnapper's thoughts...."It was easier than you had expected. The girl came without complaint. You spotted her as she left the school, alone, looking around, clearly bereft of a parent to pick her up. Who would do that? Who would be so negligent as to leave a five-year-old in so vulnerable a position? It was appalling, it really was. But it was good for you."This is not a spoiler - it figures prominently into the publisher's description. In part two Anna is returned unharmed. Where was she? Why was she taken? And why is the kidnapper still interested in this family? I think this plot turn would have been better if the reader could have discovered it themselves, rather than having it already laid out. It certainly detracted from the search for Anna in part one as we know she is going to be found.There is a paucity of suspects and I found the whodunit fairly easy to suss out, despite the large red herring in the room. After Anna didn't quite live up to the comparison to Gone Girl, but I found the book entertaining for a lazy day's reading.