After Anna

After Anna
Alex Lake

No.1 EBOOK BESTSELLER. A SUNDAY TIMES TOP 10 PAPERBACK BESTSELLER. A USA TODAY PAPERBACK BESTSELLER.The real nightmare starts when her daughter is returned…A bone-chilling psychological thriller that will suit fans of Gone Girl, The Couple Next Door and The Girl on the Train.A girl is missing. Five years old, taken from outside her school. She has vanished, traceless.The police are at a loss; her parents are beyond grief. Their daughter is lost forever, perhaps dead, perhaps enslaved.But the biggest mystery is yet to come: one week after she was abducted, their daughter is returned.She has no memory of where she has been. And this, for her mother, is just the beginning of the nightmare.

Copyright (#u5658ea0b-6beb-5ef3-a759-67f268cb1aed)

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers

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First published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2015

Copyright © Alex Lake 2015

Alex Lake asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

Cover layout design © HarperColl‌insPublishers 2015

Cover photographs © Shutterstock.com (sky); Cherie Chapman (girl on swing)

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

This is a work of fiction. Any references to real people, living or dead, real events, businesses, organizations and localities are intended only to give the fiction a sense of reality and authenticity. All names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and their resemblance, if any, to real-life counterparts is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books

Ebook Edition © JULY 2015 ISBN: 9780008150907

Version 2018-11-09

To my three musketeers: O, F and A

Contents

Cover (#u0b416ab7-9f9e-5ee4-b81c-cba5d4a729cd)

Title Page (#ud170520a-ba7b-5634-a1b1-b9315841b6a3)

Copyright (#u5639eabd-973c-53b8-849f-2197a910bd21)

Dedication (#u6ac9a21a-1791-595a-8cdd-e95808f1e92d)

Prologue (#ue316ad9b-167d-538b-a170-26334037c8af)

PART ONE: BEFORE (#ucd0d4841-e15d-5b50-8fab-4adfac2183d1)

Chapter 1: Life Is Complicated (#u907143de-835d-5f73-ae8f-e919a2678f57)

Chapter 2: The First Hours (#u862f2842-71f6-5b58-a548-39bdfab2733b)

Chapter 3: The First Day (#ube3777f7-a8cc-5eb0-be47-701187d088d2)

Chapter 4: The Second Day (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 5: The Third Day (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 6: The Fourth Day (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 7: The Fifth Day (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 8: The Sixth Day (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 9: The Seventh Day (#litres_trial_promo)

PART TWO: AFTERWARDS (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 10: Back Home (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 11: Not Over Yet (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 12: Losing Control (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 13: Legal Questions, Moral Questions (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 14: Doll’s House (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 15: Home Time (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 16: A Necessary Evil (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 17: War of the Roses (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 18: A Month Later (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 19: Two Months Later (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 20: An Hour Later (#litres_trial_promo)

Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo)

Keep Reading … (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

Also by Alex Lake (#litres_trial_promo)