“The Optician’s Wife is a stylish, brilliantly crafted thriller which really delivers. A very real sense of creeping dread, combined with intelligent, finely drawn characters, had me turning the pages late into the night. This one will linger with you, long after the book is finished. Reavley has delivered a masterclass and deserves to be up there with the best in the business.” L J Ross - Bestselling author of The DCI Ryan books.

“I love discovering new authors especially one who can shock and surprise me like this as it doesn’t happen very often!” Joanne Robertson - My Chestnut Reading Tree

“Don’t you just love it when you pick up a book and it blows you away, well Betsy Reavley has managed to do just that with a book that’s absolutely filled with suspense and intrigue.” Lorraine Rugman - The Book Review Cafe

“This was a fantastic book and one I knew from the first chapter it was going to keep me enthralled reading it.” Leona - Goodreads Reviewer

“Wow! What a stunning book. Draws you in, spins you a line and boom! you’ve got it completely wrong. Loved it. So clever.” MetLineReader - Goodreads Reviewer

“This is a book that once you start reading it you won’t be able to stop. It is a story that grabs you right from the very beginning.” Joseph Calleja, Relax and Read book Reviews

“This is true stand-out in the domestic noir genre.” Caroline Matson, Confessions of a Reading Addict

“Betsy Reavley has reached new heights with this breathtaking book. Child abduction is always a difficult subject and she has totally embraced it in this outstanding book. It will leave you feeling emotionally drained and in awe of this author. Her best book yet, a literary masterpiece” Anita Waller, best-selling author of 34 Days, Angel and Beautiful

“Absolutely incredible book, cannot praise it enough. I think it’s my best read of 2016.” Emma De Oliveira, an ARC reviewer

Epigraph

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget

what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Maya Angelou

“Bad people are to be found everywhere, but even among the worst

there may be something good.”

Dostoyevsky’s The House of the Dead

Minstrel Man: By Langston Hughes

Because my mouth

Is wide with laughter

And my throat

Is deep with song,

You did not think

I suffer after

I’ve held my pain

So long.

Because my mouth

Is wide with laughter

You do not hear

My inner cry:

Because my feet

Are gay with dancing

You do not know

I die.

Dedication

For my children.

Reach for the stars.

Prologue

1.34am Friday 13th December