Margaret M - (too far behind to catch up although trying to spend more time on GR)'s Reviews > The Trap

Dark, twisted, and disturbing but clever, unpredictable, and intense.

A book that is inspired by real events in Ireland known as the ‘vanishing triangle’ and the disappearance of young girls. Years on there are still no clues, no suspects and none of them found. A string of cold cases and families with no answers.

The Trap, as a psychological thriller offers something different, we hear from the ‘abductor’ himself in this disturbing story. Add to that the premise of setting ‘the trap’ to lure the abductor / killer then you have all the ingredients for an edge of your seat thriller.

The opening was fantastic, and so I was braced for another one of Catherine Ryan Howard’s books, after all she wrote ‘The Nothing Man’. Then something went wrong. No, a number of things went wrong.

The Plot

Frustrated at the lack of progress in the disappearance of her sister Nicki, Lucy takes matters into her own case to prevent her sister from becoming another cold case. She uses herself as human bait.

Meanwhile we switch to one of the other central characters, Angela. A young woman keen to prove herself on the case to secure a job in the An Garda Síochána, the Irish police force. Finally, we have ‘The Phantom’, which allows us inside the head of the kidnapper because he wants his airtime too, he is about to tell his story, and with his latest victim in the back of his car, he has an audience.

Review and Comments

There is no doubt some of this was pretty unsettling and it is one of those books that will be hard to put down because you want answers. So yes gripping in that sense but it didn’t ‘thrill’ overall and there were some things missing in this ‘missing persons’ story - justice, understanding why, great characters, and a satisfying conclusion.

The book started really strong, we then seemed to spend a long time going nowhere in the story and the ‘ending’ - well it is unique but personally I’d have preferred a different outcome from the story.

Characterisation - ⭐⭐⭐ I wasn’t particularly invested in any of the characters which brought the scoring down for me.

Plot / Twists - ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Some of the Plot twists were excellent. The premise wonderful, but then the book just didn’t not conclude in a way that was satisfying. The major twist is great but I was wanting justice or even closure for the other women.

Writing Style - ⭐⭐⭐⭐ I love this authors writing style, but the story dipped after that excellent opening and it took some time to get back into it. Then we had ‘that’ ending or lack of it.

In all, a disappointment because of the promising start, and having read the authors other books, I was sure to love this, but sadly did not.

A brilliant premise that did not conclude well and interesting characters that did not develop with the story. So unfortunately 3 stars.