Stranded on a dark road in the middle of the night, a young woman accepts a lift from a passing stranger. It’s the nightmare scenario that every girl is warned about, and she knows the dangers all too well – but what other choice does she have?

As they drive, she alternates between fear and relief – one moment thinking he is just a good man doing a good thing, the next convinced he’s a monster. But when he delivers her safely to her destination, she realizes her fears were unfounded.

And her heart sinks. Because a monster is what she’s looking for.

She’ll try again tomorrow night. But will the man who took her sister take the bait?

–

Inspired by a series of still-unsolved disappearances, The Trap is the startlingly original new thriller from internationally bestselling author Catherine Ryan Howard.

My thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things Blog Tours for the opportunity to join the tour for The Trap.  I recieved a review copy from the publishers ahead of the blog tour.

Late at night on a dark country road, a woman is walking alone – she is heading home from a night out and her phone is dead. A stranger drives past and stops to offer her a lift. Every instinct screams at her not to get into the car – but she accepts the lift and risks putting herself in danger. It’s a tense situation and a terrific opening to The Trap – you can’t help but fear for the safety of this character who we’ve only just met and you’re braced for something awful to happen.

But what if the woman was actually looking to be picked up by a monster? What if events prior to that fateful meeting had led her to the point that placing herself in danger felt like the only option she had? This is where The Trap takes readers, into a story where Lucy feels lost, frustrated, forgotten, ignored and desperate. She’s furious that her sister is missing. There are other missing women in Ireland who, like Lucy’s sister, simply vanished leaving no trace other than a broken mobile phone – yet the Guard are not treating Lucy’s worry seriously and don’t want to commit to a full investigation or link the cases of the other missing women incase it sparks fear there is a predator abducting lone women.

Lucy goes out late at night to try to lure out the man she beleives took her sister from her. Her sister’s boyfriend, the Family Liaison Officer appointed to deal with Lucy and the families of other missing women are all trying to be supportive but Lucy can’t accept nothing is happening to bring her sister back to her.

It is an emotional and disturbing premise for a story and Catherine Ryan Howard has wonderfully captured the upset, anxiety and frustrations of her lead character. But she also shifts the narrative to show the readers what the officers in the Missing Person’s Team are doing to try and trace the women who have been reported missing. They have a suspect – a narcassistic man who was the partner of one of the missing women…he is far too slippery to let the police get too close though. Then there’s a breakthrough and a shock twist which may reveal the fate of the missing but how will the Guard change their approach and what impact may this have upon the families?

Most disturbingly is the fact we also get to see inside the mind of a predator. The man who explains how he came to be responsible for snatching women off the roads and why he does what he does. We learn of his background, the trigger steps in his “journey” and his acknowledgement that he is using true crime documenataries to learn what mistakes to avoid. Really chilling.

Weaving the narratives between victims, predator, investigators and the other supporting characters is extremely deftly done and the story zips along at good pace and with constant intrigue to keep the reader turning the pages. When unexpected events crop up they very much were unexpected – this book really didn’t go where I had anticipated and I enjoyed it all the more for the unpredictability of the plot.

I’ve enjoyed all the previous books Catherine Ryan Howard has written and it gave me particular delight when I reaslied there are nods (easter eggs) to earlier books in The Trap. The Jurrasic Park reference I was looking for was easy to spot, as it appeard about 8 pages after I remembered to look out for it, and there’s even a (sort-of) author cameo to enjoy too which cranked up my enjoyment levels even more. All these wee touches were very much appreciated by this reader and at no time did they take me out of the story – such was the focus I was giving Lucy’s plight.

This book was started and finished in a single day. I totally inhaled it, got completely caught up in the story of the missing women, the official response from the Missing Person’s team and the steps which Lucy was prepared to take to find her missing sister. I can honestly say we didn’t end up in a place I’d expected – once again Catherine Ryan Howard befuddled me and delivered a clever, clever mystey for me to enjoy.

This is going to be an easy book to recommend – I loved it and I can’t think of any reason why you wouldn’t love it too.

The Trap is available in Hardback, Digital and Audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-trap/catherine-ryan-howard/9781787636606