I must say Whistle in the Dark, while really enjoyable, also left a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach that lasted basically the entire time I was reading this book by Emma Healey ($24.95, Alfred A. Knopf Canada).

Jen’s daughter, Lana, is found bloodied, bruised and disorientated after going missing for four days, unwilling or unable to tell her parents where she had been or what happened. The four days of what I could only imagine was horrific and terrifying is the latest bit of awful the couple go through with Lana, who suffers from depression.

We learn about Lana’s battle with the mental illness as Jen tries to figure what happened to her daughter and retraces her steps.

And it’s that relationship between mother and daughter, fraught with tension and questions, that made for an anxious read, but at the same time made me want to know what actually happened.

Healey does a fantastic job of keeping you guessing throughout the book, throwing in interesting – and crazy – characters that add more mystery to the reader trying to figure out what happened.

While I understand Lana has mental health issues, on top of being what I suspect is a typical teenager, I found her character hard to deal with, particularly in how she treats her mom. Jen, herself, is an interesting and bizarre character, who I was left wondering about, and I loved the relationship between her and her husband.

A copy of this book was provided by Penguin Random House for an honest review. The opinions are my own.