‘What happens to those girls who go missing? What happens to the Zoe Nolans of the world?’

In the early hours of Saturday 17 December 2011, Zoe Nolan, a nineteen-year-old Manchester University student, walked out of a party taking place in the shared accommodation where she had been living for three months.

She was never seen again.

Seven years after her disappearance, struggling writer Evelyn Mitchell finds herself drawn into the mystery. Through interviews with Zoe’s closest friends and family, she begins piecing together what really happened in 2011. But where some versions of events overlap, aligning perfectly with one another, others stand in stark contrast, giving rise to troubling inconsistencies.

Shaken by revelations of Zoe’s secret life, and stalked by a figure from the shadows, Evelyn turns to crime writer Joseph Knox to help make sense of a case where everyone has something to hide.

Zoe Nolan may be missing presumed dead, but her story is only just beginning

My thanks to Anne Cater at Random Things Blog Tours for the opportunity to host this leg of the blog tour.  I recieved a review copy from the publishers.

It’s nice to sit down to write a review of a book which you loved. I came in to True Crime Story blind so had no idea what to expect and what I found was a slick story told unconventionally through a series of interview snippets and email correspondence. Initially I wasn’t sure I would enjoy reading the short bursts of contributions from various characters, an edited conversation pieced together after the events in question.  However, I quickly found my first hesitancy had been misguided and I found I was really enjoying spending time reading something which shook up the norm.

The story focuses around the disappearance of student Zoe Nolan. Last seen on Saturday December 17th 2011.  She vanished from her halls of residence at Manchester University and events around this incident are recounted by a number of people who crossed paths with Zoe and the subsequent investigation into her disappearance. The key players in the story are Zoe’s twin sister Kim, her boyfriend, their flatmates and (subsequently) Zoe and Kim’s parents.  Other people phase in and out of the interviews but everything his brought together by Evelyn who is writing a book on Zoe’s continued absence and is sharing her writing and a few other thoughts and problems with her friend Joseph Knox.  Yes the same Joseph Knox – it’s a nice twist to the narrative.

Where to start but not do any spoilers?  Tricky.

Readers get to understand the relationship Zoe and Kim had with their parents and then see how the twins were very much different people, with different interests and a very different destiny.  When Zoe and Kim get to university they form friendships and get thrust into accommodation with strangers, they will all need to adapt to their new surroundings and the new faces around them.  Needless to say things do not go smoothly and there are several flashpoint incidents and situations which gives the reader a glimpse into the characters of all the players in this game.

True Crime Story is an emotive story and nobody connected with Zoe Nolan is going to come out of this book unscathed.  Joseph Knox captures the claustrophobia of a group living in close proximity and the fractious relationships that this can bring.  He brings life to these characters and my investment in their individual stories was sealed very early into the book.  The outstanding narrative style works perfectly and gives the young students an authenticity that you do believe you are indeed reading a True Crime Story.

True Crime Story is available in Hardback, Digital and Audiobook format.  You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08HGMDNP2/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0