The Day I Lost You

Author: Ruth Mancini
Genre: Thriller, Psychological Thriller
352 pages
Publisher: Harper Perennial

Synopsis
All Lauren wants is a new life in Spain. She’s suffered an unimaginable loss, but at last she has found a home in the pretty seaside town of Mantilla de Mar. Everyone deserves a new start, and Lauren needs to put her past firmly behind her.

Hope has an interesting career as a therapist, an attractive husband, a dream home in the countryside – and, finally, the baby she always longed for. Sam. Her beautiful boy.

But Sam has gone missing.

So when the police tell her that a woman has been found in Spain with a child matching Sam’s description, Hope thinks that her nightmare might be coming to an end.

But Lauren is insisting Sam is her baby. She even has his passport and birth certificate to prove it.

So what really happened to Baby Sam? And who still has secrets to hide? One child. Two mothers. And a past that won’t let them go.

My review
The Day I Lost You is a psychological thriller by Ruth Mancini. Right from the start, I was pulled in, curious about who was telling the truth, who was hiding something, and what exactly was going on. It had all the ingredients for a twisty, binge-worthy read. Unfortunately, after the first hundred pages or so, the pace started to fizzle out, and for me, it never really got its spark back.

The premise is definitely intriguing, and I was excited to see where the story would go. I’ve read that it’s loosely based on a true story, which added another layer of interest. Mancini does a solid job with character development, and I liked the alternating POVs and timeline shifts. The short chapters made it easy to follow who was who and when everything was happening, something I always appreciate in a thriller with multiple threads.

Memories play a big role in the story, especially for the main character, who’s trying to make sense of a loss. Those emotional flashbacks were a strong part of the story, and they helped show how the past can echo into the present in both comforting and painful ways. I also appreciated how Mancini structured the novel, revealing a little of the story at a time. This can be an effective framework, but this time it just didn’t work.

Overall, even though The Day I Lost You started off strong, it lost momentum about a third of the way through, and the ending didn’t quite work for me. I struggled to understand some of the main character’s decisions, especially around the baby, and the motivations didn’t fully add up. After such a promising start, I was hoping for something more impactful.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Harper Perennial, and Ruth Mancini for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

My recommendation: an OK read, but not much thrill.