Review : Playdate by Alex Dahl

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Plot Summary ( from Goodreads )

It was meant to be your daughter’s first sleepover. Now it’s an abduction .

Lucia Blix went home from school for a playdate with her new friend Josie . Later that evening , Lucia’s mother Elisa dropped her overnight things round and kissed her little girl goodnight .

That was the last time she saw her daughter .

The next morning , when Lucia’s dad arrived to pick her up , the house was empty . No furniture , no family , no Lucia .

In Playdate , Alex Dahl puts a microscope on a seemingly average, seemingly happy family plunged into a life-altering situation . Who has taken their daughter, and why?

My thoughts on the book :

This is my first Alex Dahl read . Having seen the positive reviews and award nominations for her debut , I picked up her latest when it became available on Audible . Play Date has multiple POV narrative with even Lucia Blix narrating some chapters . While having a child narrator seems to be a great idea ( considering that the abduction of this narrator set in motion the events which the other narrators are currently narrating ) , the execution of little Lucia ‘ s voice had me thinking if the novel could have done without her narrative . Perhaps Dahl could have had a third-person omniscient narrator . The problem with Lucia is that she is a 7 year old who at times talks like a 5 year old and at times talks like a 11 year old ( which is even worse . . . )

Selma , the investigative journalist is clairvoyant which brings something fresh to the story instead of yet another what ‘ s – her – name investigative reporter who is an amalgamation of several other investigative reporters in previous reads that you are only concerned that he or she does not die during investigation and would not give a second thought once you turn the last page of the book . While Selma would not stand a chance of being memorable if we get another suspense fiction heroine like Salander , still Selma deserves mention for being probably the first clairvoyant sleuth in suspense fiction . The downside of Selma ‘ s clairvoyancy is that it allows the author to pin few interesting suspicions to her gut feeling ( without going into the trouble of PROPER sleuthing ) which she then follows up to give the readers the next big twist . Sometimes , it seemed to me that the author was using clairvoyance as a escape hatch from laying out detailed on – the -ground sleuthing procedures . The Norwegian setting also brought in something new ( atleast for me ) . . .

The story is simply superb and just when I was thinking I had figured it all out , Dahl had to introduce another literally jaw dropping twist and end the story on a high note . While several plot points become predictable as more characters start to talk and despite the previous mentioned fails , the ending is something that you would not see coming . . . A word of caution about the blurb – Dahl has not put a microscope on the kidnapped child ‘ s family – you get the regular family drama with the alternately grieving and hoping parents of the kidnapped child , the strain on the marriage following the disappearance of the child , one ( or both ) the parents having secrets and every other drama you have seen already when it comes to the missing child premise . . . #SettingTheExpectationsRight #NoGreatExpectations

Spoilers Ahead . . .

Why would Selma come to the conclusion that one of the Blix parents has done something in the past when she spills some soup and the soup stains bring to mind blood which turn her thoughts towards crime and possible retribution when she could do some proper on – the – ground work ? Also her explanation of taking an interest in a particular accident in town when there are several others that same year in the same town are not very convincing . . .

Rating : 3.5 / 5 **

** The rating would have been a 3 if it had not been for the simply superb finish . . .

Interestingly , I had another thriller dealing with the missing child premise – Little Lies by Jennifer Hillier . You can check out the review here . If you have already read Playdate , let me know in the comments section about your thoughts on the book  . . . Until the next review then . .