Bring Me Back by B.A. Paris

"...love makes us behave out of character...it drives us to do things we never thought we'd do."

Finn McQuaid and his girlfriend, Layla, are driving back home to St. Mary's (in Devon) after skiing in Megeve when they pulled off the motorway into a picnic area at Fonches. It's not a service station, its main appeal is that it has a toilet. When Finn returns to the car after using the facilities, Layla is gone. Over the next 12 years he exhausts various methods looking for her, but never finds a trace. Was she kidnapped, is she dead? Finn has no clue.

Though she was the love of his life, he has finally managed to move on and has become involved in a serious relationship -- with Layla's sister, Ellen. They are to be married and Finn is happy enough. Soon after the wedding announcement, Finn starts to receive some creepy indications that perhaps Layla is still alive. Or is someone just messing with his head not wanting him to finally have some happiness. Has she finally come back to him and what in the world is he to do about Ellen?

Creepy is a good word to describe this novel of psychological drama. It will become clear to the reader quite quickly that something weird is going on here, but NO SPOILERS. There are many clues and the astute reader will see where it's leading fairly quickly though the author makes a valiant effort to throw in many red herrings to divert away to other conclusions. It was hard to really get into the true nature of the characters and I didn't find myself identifying with any of them except I could feel the tension and frustration that Finn experienced. The believablity factor also comes into play so you have to allow for the fact that you'd probably do things a bit differently to Finn as events spiral out of control. The writing was good and the pacing was appropriate to the story. I think I can say that the overall feeling I came away with was just sadness.

I've read both other novels and still think that Behind Closed Doors was the best of the 3, but I enjoyed this one. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the e-book ARC to read and review. B.A. Paris is still on my "to-read" list.