The Runaway by Linda Huber

The Blurb:

Keep your secrets close to home... Bad things happen in threes – or so it seems to Nicola. The death of her mother-in-law coincides with husband Ed losing his job and daughter Kelly getting into trouble with the police. Time to abandon their London lifestyle and start again by the sea in far-away Cornwall. It should be the answer to everything – a new home, a new job for Ed and a smaller, more personal school for fifteen-year-old Kelly. But the teenager hates her new life, and it doesn’t take long before events spiral out of control and the second set of bad things starts for Nicola. Some secrets can’t be buried. Or… can they? A gripping family drama, perfect for fans of Diane Chamberlain, Linda Green, and Sophie Hannah.

About Linda Huber:

Linda Huber is an ex-physiotherapist who grew up in Glasgow but has lived over half her life in Switzerland, where she writes psychological suspense novels as Linda Huber as well as feel-good novellas under her pen name Melinda Huber. The inspiration for her books comes from everyday life - a family member's struggle with dementia, the discovery that a child in her extended family drowned in the 1940s, and more. Stolen Sister is Linda's eighth suspense novel, and tells the story of Vicky's search for her sister Erin, who disappeared as a baby - or did she? She is currently working on another suspense novel and enjoying life on the banks of lovely Lake Constance.

My Review:

The story begins when Ed's mother Amelia dies and he inherits his childhood home in Cornwall. His wife Nicola persuades him that they should move from London and take residence in his family home. Despite Ed's misgivings for reasons that will become apparent as the story progresses, he bows to his wife's pressure for a new life in Cornwall. Kelly, their fifteen-year old daughter did not want to leave her life in London, and vowed that she would leave home as soon as she turns sixteen.

The story is set in present time, and also during Ed's childhood in Cornwall. Linda Huber successfully builds up an equal amount of suspense during both of these eras, giving the reader two stories in one that will eventually come together for a climatic ending.