Review: Dear Amy by Helen Callaghan

Margot Lewis is the agony aunt for The Cambridge Examiner. Her advice column, Dear Amy, gets all kinds of letters - but none like the one she's just received:
Dear Amy,
I don't know where I am. I've been kidnapped and am being held prisoner by a strange man. I'm afraid he'll kill me.
Please help me soon,
Bethan Avery
Bethan Avery has been missing for years. This is surely some cruel hoax. But, as more letters arrive, they contain information that was never made public. How is this happening? Answering this question will cost Margot everything . . .

Shona's review 5 of 5 stars

This book had me from the blurb, and it pained me to have it sit on my kindle waiting for me to get through my reading pile to get to it. 

The book opens with Katie leaving home amidst a family argument and heading off to her fathers house... along the way she is is taken. Because she has taken her things with her everyone just assumes she has runaway and as such there isn't much being done to look for her. But Margot (who happens to teach at the same school Katie attended) doesn't believe Katie actually ran away, she believes something more sinister has happened and when the letter from Bethan Avery shows up she cant help but feel like the two might be connected. 

From here on out the story unfolds from Margot's POV with the occasional snippet from Katie.

I think one of the best parts of this book is Margot, she has a rather speckled past and on more than one occasion that past has caused others to be mistrustful of her, which in turn makes the reader doubt her narrative. It certainly adds an extra layer of mystery to the story.  I had my suspicions as to who was who and I was rather pleased when I was proven wrong. There were a few twists and turns in this book, and they certainly kept me on my toes.

For her début novel Callaghan has pulled out all the stops in this psychological suspense that will keep you turning the pages til the very end.