Finding Sophie by Imran Mahmood #BookReview

 

Sophie King is missing.

Her parents, Harry and Zara, are distraught; for the last seventeen years, they've done everything for their beloved only daughter and now she's gone.

The police have no leads, and Harry and Zara are growing increasingly frantic, although they are both dealing with it in very different ways. Increasingly obsessed with their highly suspicious neighbour who won't open the door or answer any questions, they are both coming to the same conclusion. If they want answers, they're going to have to take the matter into their own hands.

But just how far are they both prepared to go for the love of their daughter?

I'm delighted to be sharing my review of Finding Sophie by Imran Mahmood today. Many thanks to Bloomsbury Raven for my advance copy of the book, received through Netgalley.

I know I'm guaranteed a book of the highest calibre whenever I read something by Imran Mahmood but Finding Sophie affected me particularly deeply. I felt such a connection to it, perhaps partly because I have three daughters and the youngest is 16, but I think mostly because it is just so beautifully written. This is an intense, gripping psychological thriller but it's also a searing exploration of heartrending uncertainty and grief.

Sophie is already missing at the start of the book, which opens in Courtroom Three of the Old Bailey. We don't know who is facing trial or why but as their barrister advises them on how to act, their sense of fearful disbelief is obvious. The identity of this character is kept from us until later, which means the impact upon finally realising who the first-person narrator is becomes so much more affecting. The pacing, structure and perceptive, penetrating characterisation  is superb throughout the novel, as the narrative, which is told from the alternating perspectives of Sophie's parents, Harry and Zara, gradually lays bare the devastation wrought on them in the months following her disappearance. 

To lose a child is obviously agonising but to not know whether they are alive or dead is unspeakably heartbreaking. From Harry's inability to even say his daughter's name to himself, to Zara's physical deterioration a reflection of her psychological anguish, Imran Mahmood's portrait of a couple who, in losing their daughter, have also lost themselves and each other, is movingly compassionate yet acutely honest. As their marriage crumbles and haunted by the mistakes they made as parents, they are obsessed with trying to discover what happened to Sophie, but unable to truly communicate or to seek solace with one another. Finding Sophie feels so viscerally believable because they are such complicated, flawed characters and as frustrating or extreme as their behaviour becomes at times, they are so utterly convincing. Who wouldn't do everything in their power to locate their child? Who wouldn't attempt to knock on every door or question every person who might hold the key to uncovering the truth?

It's the mystery behind one of their neighbour's doors which goads Harry and Zara to the point of insanity as Imran Mahmood heightens the sense of tension to almost unbearable levels at times. Meanwhile, Harry is also driven to seek help from an unlikely source and Zara strives to find out the unvarnished truth about their teenage daughter from her friends, amidst unsettling revelations about their own tumultuous relationship with her.  As their secrets cause this small family to become more like strangers, the multi-layered, complex storyline is by turns shocking, suspenseful and profoundly harrowing. 

The truth is eventually revealed but not before the later courtroom scenes which are, of course, ingrained with authenticity thanks to Imran Mahmood's own experience as a barrister. While obviously a work of fiction, the convincing portrayal of a puzzling, sensitive case is mesmerising. Although a decision is eventually reached, the thought-provoking exploration of justice juxtaposed against questions of guilt and culpability is fascinating.

Compulsively twisty, beautifully empathetic and an achingly raw mystery; reading Finding Sophie means being put through an emotional wringer but it is absolutely worth it – what an exceptional book this is!

Finding Sophie is published in the UK by Bloomsbury Raven. It can be purchased from the publisher's website and from bookshop.org, Hive, Waterstones, Kobo, Amazon or your local independent bookshop.

About the Author

About the Author

Imran Mahmood is a practicing barrister with thirty years’ experience fighting cases in courtrooms across the country. His previous novels have been highly critically acclaimed: You Don’t Know Me was a BBC Radio 2 Book Club choice, Goldsboro Book of the Month and was shortlisted for the Glass Bell Award; both this and I Know What I Saw were longlisted for Theakston Crime Novel of the Year and the CWA Gold Dagger. You Don’t Know Me was also made into a hugely successful BBC1 adaptation in association with Netflix. When not in court or writing novels or screenplays he can sometimes be found on the Red Hot Chilli Writers’ podcast as one of their regular contributors. He hails from Liverpool but now lives in London with his wife and daughters.

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