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One child, two mothers and a past that won’t let them go. A second brilliantly twisty thriller novel by Sunday Times bestselling author of The Woman on the Ledge.
‘I need to report a crime. My baby has been stolen.’
All Lauren wants is a new life in Spain. She’s suffered an unimaginable loss, but at last she has found a home in the pretty seaside town of Mantilla de Mar. Everyone deserves a new start, and Lauren needs to put her past firmly behind her.
Hope has everything: an interesting career as a therapist, an attractive husband, a dream home in the countryside – and, finally, the baby she always longed for. Sam. Her beautiful boy.
But Sam has gone missing. So when the police tell her that a woman has been found in Spain with a child matching Sam’s description, Hope thinks that her nightmare might be coming to an end. But Lauren is insisting Sam is her baby. She even has his passport and birth certificate to prove it. So what really happened to Baby Sam? And who still has secrets to hide?
One child. Two mothers. And a past that won’t let them go.
MY THOUGHTS
My thanks to Tracy Fenton of Compulsive Readers for the tour invite and to the publisher for the ecopy to review via Netgalley. The Day I Lost You is published by Century/PRH and publication is today, 31 July – congratulations to Ruth. It is available in ebook, audiobook and hardback with the paperback to follow on 9 April 2026.
After reading The Woman on the Ledge last year by Ruth Mancini, I had no doubt I was in for a complex twisty read with this one. The Day I Lost You didn’t disappoint. It begins with Lauren, now living in Spain with her young son Sam. However following a police visit investigating a missing child, Lauren takes Sam and with the help of a friend, goes on the run.
We then move to England and to Hope and Drew. Their son Sam is missing. What on earth is going on? With both women claiming to be Sam’s mother my brain was frazzled.
The story then moves back and forth in time slowly revealing the history between the two and all may, or may not, become clear.
Told from multiple POV in a shifting timeframe, I’ll admit that there were times when I was utterly confused. Whatever you think the truth is, be prepared for a rollercoaster read with duplicitous characters that I wouldn’t trust an inch. Everyone seems to be hiding something and I found it impossible to pin down my suspicions on any one person. When the truth was finally revealed there was a sharp intake of breath amidst a myriad of emotions.
Ruth Mancini excels in tense and gripping thrillers that also have an emotional impact and in this case, a moral dilemma. The author states at the beginning that this story is based on a real life case that she dealt with in her job as a solicitor. Her legal background clearly shines through in the writing and whether you like or dislike the characters they are fully formed on the page. I very much enjoyed this and I have another author to follow.
Ruth Mancini is an author and criminal defence lawyer. Her background as a solicitor adds authenticity to her crime and psychological fiction. She has spent two decades representing those accused of crimes, navigating courtrooms and police stations. Her storytelling prowess and legal background combine to create thrilling reads that will keep you guessing until the very end.
Ruth was born in London and now lives in Oxfordshire with her husband and two children.
Her fifth thriller, THE WOMAN ON THE LEDGE was published by Penguin (UK) and HarperCollins (US) in January 2024 and was a Sunday Times bestseller. Her sixth, THE DAY I LOST YOU will be published in July 2025.
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