The Day I Lost You

Two women lay claim to the same child in this whiplash-inducing domestic suspense novel from Mancini (The Woman on the Ledge). Lauren Hopwood is living in Mantilla de Mar, Spain, with her toddler, Sam, when police come knocking on her door. According to Hope Dunsmore and her husband, Andrew Faris, Sam is actually their son, whom Lauren kidnapped from the couple’s home in the English village of Chorley Common. Lauren maintains that Sam is in fact her child, producing a birth certificate and passport as evidence, but as soon as the police leave, she flees with Sam, deeming Mantilla de Mar “no longer safe.” As cracks emerge in Hope and Andrew’s story of a soured surrogacy agreement, investigators start to suspect that “something more worrying” happened between the parties. Meanwhile, neither side can risk the truth coming out, lest they all lose contact with Sam forever. Mancini’s twisty and twisted tale unspools in a pinwheeling narrative that explores each character’s fraught backstory before abruptly catapulting to a far-fetched yet undeniably gratifying finale. For all its jerky pacing and overheated reveals, readers will race through this. Agent: Grainne Fox, UTA. (Dec.)