The Stepdaughter by Georgina Cross (Good detective work)

A stepmother has a tightrope to walk. She can never do enough it seems and in this case it was a case of doing a hell of a lot and then looking away for just a few minutes. Mia is a very talented swimmer and her stepmother is a caring woman but Mia does not seem to appreciate all that she does. Recently Mia seems distracted and out of sorts and it is put down to teen angst. When Mia goes missing in a matter of a few minutes, Detectives in charge of the case look squarely at the stepmother. Unravelling the mystery of how a girl could go missing from her own backyard sets up a story that is plausible and at the same time unbelievable keeping you tense as you first suspect the stepmother, then the father, then the swimming coach and once all of them get eliminated the secrets the family is hiding slowly unravel to disclose the actual suspect and why they acted the way they do. How a secret can impact on so many lives, the way they impact, the consequences of actions all spiral way out of control to sad results. Mia's body is eventually found and then it becomes not just kidnapping but a murder investigation. The story is chilling and holds all the elements of a good mystery/thriller. Sent by Bookouture courtesy of Netgalley, for an unbiased review.