99 Red Balloons: A chillingly clever psychological thriller with a stomach-flipping twist

99 Red Balloons: A chillingly clever psychological thriller with a stomach-flipping twist
Elisabeth Carpenter

‘What a rollercoaster of a read!’ LISA HALL, bestselling author of Between You and MeTwo girls go missing, decades apart. What would you do if one was your daughter?When eight-year-old Grace goes missing from a sweetshop on the way home from school, her mother Emma is plunged into a nightmare. Her family rallies around, but as the police hunt begins, cracks begin to emerge.What are the secret emails sent between Emma’s husband and her sister? Why does her mother take so long to join the search? And is Emma really as innocent as she seems?Meanwhile, ageing widow Maggie Taylor sees Grace’s picture in the newspaper. It’s a photograph that jolts her from the pain of her existence into a spiralling obsession with another girl – the first girl who disappeared…This is a gripping psychological thriller with a killer twist that will take your breath away.‘A wonderfully assured debut about every parent’s darkest nightmare – expertly weaving a family’s story together with a real sense of tension and some great twists. Highly recommended.’ TM Logan, bestselling author of LIES‘An intense domestic thriller, twists and turns galore, and a host of family secrets. An absorbing read.’ Paul Finch, bestselling author of Strangers‘An intelligent, taut and compelling thriller’ Sam Carrington, bestselling author of Saving Sophie‘Carpenter emerges as an addictive new talent’ Helen Fields‘The plot is seamless’ Amanda Robson, author of Obsession

LIBBY CARPENTER

99 RED BALLOONS

Copyright (#udf99e8c1-e819-5117-b810-e10f8396932b)

Published by Avon

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

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www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins 2017

Copyright © Elisabeth Carpenter 2017

Elisabeth Carpenter asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities 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.

Source ISBN: 9780008223519

Ebook Edition © August 2017 ISBN: 9780008223526

Version: 2018-05-03

Dedication (#udf99e8c1-e819-5117-b810-e10f8396932b)

For Dad

Table of Contents

Cover (#u56164d67-4a34-5f78-9f12-440a614908af)

Title Page (#u7082e529-50e0-555b-9925-8d4b6ce56a2a)

Copyright (#u3c25f9a4-2b16-5b4c-a5d5-5450dcb8da01)

Dedication (#u515e36a6-3f06-5939-8146-957cfe7d003e)

Chapter One (#u0f60849d-c901-5737-ae0a-b94ae42d522c)

Chapter Two: Stephanie (#u1f75c53e-7b51-5a4e-94c0-f65f3a18aa81)

Chapter Three: Maggie (#u0d9a8ebf-2bd6-5ee7-a96c-c47fee4eb1fa)

Chapter Four: Stephanie (#u59c6893e-5141-5e7e-a46a-774d1241d8c2)

Chapter Five (#u8d7efbd5-49e6-521f-a8cc-e80be1ce50b7)

Chapter Six: Maggie (#ub357d6ed-a7ce-5713-9b0d-78746486d9a0)

Chapter Seven (#u2124b9e1-8390-5814-b673-6e40c5343a73)

Chapter Eight: Stephanie (#uc33cdc45-e2f5-5fd8-a2da-c2714aab886b)

Chapter Nine (#u3b8dcee3-10e4-5f9d-8d66-121c16d60c9a)

Chapter Ten: Maggie (#u6d18f079-64c1-5970-a826-e90959552550)

Chapter Eleven: Stephanie (#u274b1b91-e3ac-5ab8-906d-1725f947fa6f)

Chapter Twelve: Maggie (#uef85d43b-c95a-5c52-b6be-58c1f21c3614)

Chapter Thirteen: Stephanie (#u7178f050-981e-5eef-8d07-11107bec97ef)

Chapter Fourteen (#u8a6485a1-6fc4-5448-b956-04121bc07d55)

Chapter Fifteen: Stephanie (#uc17fd6be-6aa8-51af-961d-ce9d0017bf17)

Chapter Sixteen: Maggie (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eighteen: Maggie (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nineteen: Stephanie (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty: Maggie (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-One (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Two: Maggie (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Three: Stephanie (#litres_trial_promo)