The Silent Daughter

Book excerpt: In the age of digital footprints, is it possible to disappear? And how long would it take to notice someone is missing? When his wife Maria is taken into hospital after a serious fall during a competitive run, Chris Morrison does what anyone would do in a crisis: he phones his family. His son Mikey answers the call, but his daughter Ruth doesn't. She's always been distant, often working abroad for long stretches and communicating via social media. As Chris gets increasingly frustrated by Ruth's lack of response, police investigations into Maria's fall force him to answer some challenging questions. Why wasn't Maria on the race route when she fell? Was she running after someone, or running from them? A few uncomfortable certainties emerge: Maria and Mikey have been keeping things from Chris - and Ruth appears to have been lying to them all. But how many secrets can one family keep? When Chris realises nobody has had direct contact with his daughter in nine months, he faces every parent's nightmare - is Ruth missing, or worse? And with his wife in a coma and his daughter missing, suspicions fall on the family - and Chris himself. Having built a newspaper career investigating incidents and reporting the facts, Chris is well-versed in these kinds of situations. He knows what the outcome might be. But nothing could prepare him for what he finds when searching for traces of his daughter.