The Phantom Child by AJ Willis
Is her child really missing? Or did he never exist at all?
With cracks beginning to show in her marriage, Karina thinks a short break to a luxury villa in Turkey with her husband, Ronan, and their four-year-old son, Jacob, is just what the family needs.
It’ll be a chance to relax, enjoy some good food, and more importantly to reconnect with the people she loves the most.
But on their first morning, Karina is startled to discover she’s slept in late and not been woken by Jacob.
He’s an early riser who always comes into their bed pestering them to make him breakfast.
So where is he? A needle of fear spikes through Karina’s veins.
She rushes to his room, but his bed is empty and he’s nowhere to be found in the villa.
But when she wakes Ronan, frantic with worry, and tells him their son is missing, he stares at her blankly.
He says he has no idea what she’s talking about and that they don’t have any children.
He’s certainly never heard of a boy called Jacob…
About the author
AJ Wills writes standalone psychological thrillers with twisty plots.
He’s a former journalist who wrote in his spare time, before and after work for ten years, until he was finally able to fulfil his lifelong dream of becoming a fulltime author in May 2021.
He’s never looked back and now runs a small independent publishing company, Cherry Tree Publishing with his wife, AJ McDine, also a thriller writer.
He said: “I've always loved thrillers, but psychological thrillers hold a special interest for me because they're about the scary, insane, disturbing things that happen to ordinary people - and we can all relate to them on some level.”
He lives in Kent in the south east of England.
AJ’s Links
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AuthorAJWills
Instagram -https://www.instagram.com/ajwills_author/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/adrianwills
Review
‘The Phantom Child’ is a captivating read that had me hooked from the get-go! This is the first book by AJ that I have read but I doubt it will be the last as I will be looking out for future releases as I thoroughly enjoyed this one. It was twisty, the stuff of nightmares and full of drama!
Karina is about to set off on holiday to Turkey with her husband, Ronan and their wee boy Jacob. It doesn’t get off to the best of starts when Karina forgets their passports and then Jacob is fussy on the plane. After a long day they arrive at their impressive villa with a gorgeous pool, exhausted but happy. The next morning when she wakes she can’t find Jacob and when she runs to tell Ronan, he tells her that they don’t have a child!
This book deals with some hard hitting themes, firstly there is every parent’s nightmare of a child going missing! The idea of it even stresses me and I don’t have children. But then there is the issue of whether Karina is having a mental health break and that Jacob is the figment of her imagination and what may have caused this? I thought that this section of the book was extremely well done and this was only the beginning! It just gets more and more twisty as it goes on. I felt heart sore for Karina at times. Gosh this is a difficult book to review without giving away spoilers! Just know that you will be rooting for Karina right to the end.
This was a well paced book which had me hooked! The characterisation was strong for the main part and I was definitely rooting for our main character.
Let me know if you pick this one up!
