In a world of ever more convoluted plot twists, here’s a true novelty: a mystery novel where the mystery is set up on the first page, and then straightforwardly solved at the end. Emma Healey is the young novelist whose debut, Elizabeth Is Missing, about an elderly woman with dementia, won the Costa first novel award in 2014. The achievement of this follow-up lies its finely drawn mother/daughter pairing and sharp take on the nitty-gritty of contemporary familial relationships.
The novel is written in the third person, but we see everything from the point of view of the desperately anxious Jen, who “never seemed to get the reaction she expected from other people. It was as though they didn’t think she was the person she thought she was.” Jen is trying not to put a foot wrong, but detonates bombs wherever she goes. Lana is her intensely strong-willed and utterly miserable daughter, prone to self-harm, who at the beginning of the novel has disappeared for four days and been found again. She is the scariest type of adolescent: scathing, rude, demanding, but underneath it all very sad and frightened.
“I look hideous without the bandana,” said Lana.
“I’m sure it isn’t that bad.”
“You’re disregarding my feelings again. We talked about this with Dr Greenbaum.”
Most of the book details Jen’s attempts to coax her teenager into opening up and revealing what has happened during her disappearance. The desperate love of a parent for a child they cannot know is wonderfully true to life, and despite the rather bleak set-up, there are a lot of very funny moments, such as a self-consciously arty artists’ group (which I could have done with rather more of, particularly Peny, “who insisted she could tell if you pronounced her name with two t’s”). There is also a glorious scene in a Christian bookshop where Jen is simultaneously disappointed and reassured to find that they sell gluten-free communion wafers.
And the ending, in which Jen retraces her daughter’s actual footsteps, feels both cathartic and satisfying – more so than any high-concept shock twist could have been.
• Whistle in the Dark is published by Viking To order a copy for £11.04 (RRP £12.99) go to guardianbookshop.com or call 0330 333 6846. Free UK p&p over £10, online orders only. Phone orders min p&p of £1.99.