My Darling Boy

Cooper’s latest thriller (after The Couple in the Photo) gets off to a slow start. Alice and Chrissy have been best friends for years, and their sons are also best friends. Chrissy’s son Leo and Alice’s son Robbie play music together in the pub that Chrissy owns in their small English village, until the fateful night when they get into a fight. In a freak accident, Leo punches Robbie, landing a blow that kills him. Leo is convicted of manslaughter and goes to prison while the village shuns Chrissy, a widow. As Leo’s release date approaches, a mysterious woman moves to town and befriends Alice. When Chrissy goes to pick Leo up, she learns that he’s already gone, and no one knows where he is. Eventually, secrets start to come out, further complicating these relationships and turning the story of Leo gone missing into something much darker. The story is told from disparate viewpoints, offering tantalizing misdirection.