I recently scored a Netgalley review copy for THE NURSE by Claire Allan.
Nell Sweeny has disappeared. She was a young woman just starting out: recently graduated from nursing school, working in the local hospital, rooming with her best friend, meeting new people, dating. She and her roommate worked different shifts, so Nell had already been missing a few days before anyone noticed. When the police become involved, they discover her cell phone and her credit cards haven’t been used since she left work, days before. Her friends and family insist that she is a responsible young woman and would not take off on holiday without telling someone.
Her mother Marian knows that something is deeply wrong. She can only wait. Her husband, Nell’s father, is with her. A family liaison is ever by her side. Detectives come and go. But Marian is alone as only a mother, who had once shared her body with her now missing only child, can be, waiting for the telephone call that her daughter has been found, one way or another.
Claire Allan, a former journalist, has a gift for writing point-of-view so precisely that the reader feels like she is in the room with the character, seeing everything, hearing everything, feeling the terror that envelops Marian, as Marian slowly detaches from the everyday life she had before Nell disappeared which now seems surreal and foreign. This story, something that could happen to anyone, is harrowing. It’s the kind of story that will stay with you long after you have closed the book.
5 stars
Keenan Powell
Author
While still in high school, she was one of the illustrators of the original Dungeons and Dragons. Art seemed an impractical pursuit – not an heiress, wouldn’t marry well, hated teaching – so she went to law school instead. When not writing or practicing law, Keenan can be found oil painting, studying the Irish language, or hanging out with her friends at mystery conventions.
6. Sales: Is the Publisher Selling Books?
Having once been a nurse, I am compelled to read this. But your review, Keenan, made me want to.
It’s not about nursing so much as a nurse. You were? How intriguing!
This sounds amazing. I can’t wait to read it.
Hope you enjoy it. I love her psych thrillers. She does rom com, as well, but I haven’t read any of that yet.