Book Summary and Reviews of The Day I Lost You by Ruth Mancini

The Day I Lost You by Ruth Mancini

The Day I Lost You

A Novel

by Ruth Mancini

  • Critics' Consensus (7):
  • Published:
  • Dec 2025, 304 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

The internationally bestselling author of The Woman on the Ledge returns with a twisty thriller about a missing child and three adults whose shared secrets and hidden history could prove deadly.

"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.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Mancini's twisty and twisted tale unspools in a pinwheeling narrative...catapulting to a [an] undeniably gratifying finale...readers will race through this." —Publishers Weekly

"With multiple (and mostly unreliable) narrators and a story told in reverse, this is a unique mystery. Readers may think they know what's going on, but Mancini (The Woman on the Ledge, 2024) will introduce a twist at just the right moment, making readers question everything they've read so far. The decision to start the story at the end is clever...mystery fans will enjoy this twisty thriller." —Booklist

"A clever, compelling rollercoaster ride of a book, never letting up until its final resolution. The kind of novel that will have you thinking about the moral and ethical implications of a crime long after you've finished. Ruth Mancini is like a British Jodi Piccoult." ―Jennie Godfrey, Sunday Times bestselling author of The List of Suspicious Things

"Ruth Mancini is fast becoming a master of the thriller genre—The Day I Lost You is a whirlwind of delicious confusion with everything coming sharply into focus at the end. So clever and engaging. I loved it." ―Laura Pearson, internationally bestselling author of The Last List of Mabel Beaumont

This information about The Day I Lost You was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

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Author Information

Ruth Mancini

Ruth Mancini is an author and criminal defense 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, including the Sunday Times bestseller The Woman on the Ledge. Ruth was born in London and now lives in Oxfordshire with her husband and two children.

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