Now You See Me by Chris McGeorge #BlogTour #BookReview

Today I’m thrilled to share my review of Now You See Me by Chris McGeorge with you. Huge thanks to Tracy Fenton for the blogtour invite and publisher Orion Books for the free e-copy of this thrilling novel.

Six people went in. Only one came out…

Introducing Standedge Tunnel: the longest canal tunnel in England.

Last year six students went in, and two and a half hours later, the boat reappeared on the other side with only one of the students, unconscious, and the dog.

The case of the Standedge Six was largely kept from the national media. The police investigation concluded that the only remaining student, Matthew, killed his friends, hid the bodies on the boat and returned later to move them to an undisclosed location.

Matthew is in prison . . . but maintains he is innocent.

Robert Ferringham is grieving for his missing wife, Sam. So when Matthew contacts him for help with his case, promising information on Sam, Robert has no choice but to help. But can he trust Matthew?

And how will he solve the insolvable case?

 

Oww yes, the whole idea of Now You See Me is so finger-licking good! Six went in, one came out… Abracadabra! Can it get any more intriguing than that? Why yes, believe it or not, it totally can. The start of the novel alone is filled with enough riddles and unexplained references to make your head spin. After the first two chapters I already had a million questions and I knew I was in for quite an adventure.

The main character is Robin, an author (woo!) who wrote a novel about his missing wife Sam(antha). He’s left behind with many questions but then he receives a phone call from a total stranger who claims that Sam called him. Robin doesn’t know why she would do that, or who the man is, but he doesn’t doubt that she did. It’s his only chance to find out more about his missing wife so he grabs the opportunity with both hands and sets out to meet the man at prison who promised to give him info about Sam if he helps to prove his innocence. I can’t tell you which mystery is the most intriguing, both turn out to be very challenging.

I’m a real sucker for locked room mysteries and I found ‘Guess Who’ one of the best novels in the genre (you can read my review here, I also listed it in my favorites 2018). I was more than excited to read Now You See Me and he really didn’t disappoint with his second novel. The author used an original variation on the theme this time, it’s not a locked room but a canal, and it works brilliantly too. It had the same feel for me and I was really on board too, I could easily imagine that dark, menacing tunnel and found my detective skills seriously lacking.

I try very hard not to compare Now You See Me to the author’s debut novel but I think I still prefer the first one ever so slightly because the background story in that one touched me just a little bit more. I did feel a strong emotion at one point in this novel too, shock and horror more precisely, but overall I was more occupied following Robin’s investigation than I was feeling things. It really was a baffling mystery and it was explained so well and so convincingly that there really didn’t seem any possibilities left. And yet, there is ;-). I was quite dumbstruck in the end, not only when I found out how they disappeared but especially the big lead-up to their disappearance.

The author took his time for the big reveal and took me down a long and twisty road which took a while, but then it all became so exciting that I read through the final 30% of the novel in a big rush! Everything was tied together, it all suddenly made sense and it was sooo good!

Chris McGeorge has the title of a Mission Impossible-author from now on for me. I can’t wait to see which new and exciting conundrum he will cook up in his next novel. I’m a fan!

I received a free e-copy of this novel from the publisher via Netgalley. This is my honest opinion.