Margot Bamborough; a doctor, practising GP has walked out for the day of her shared practice on 11 October 1974. Her evening plan was well-known to her colleagues as well to her husband; which was to meet her best friend. From there, straightforward heading to home to her infant daughter- Anna. But as she steps out of the door, hurrying past last of the receptionist and utterly delayed by an unknown patient; she was never to be seen ever again. Never; till about 40 years on, her daughter hiring private detectives to locate her whereabouts.

Not only does this story have a vast expanse of time which is 40 odd years, but also so many of the key characters spread across this missing doctor’s story. Early on we get to meet Anna- now all grown up daughter of Dr. Margot Bamborough, who hires Strike & Robin to discover what has happened to her mother all those years ago. A well-educated, respected doctor has been vanished in thin year, no trace of her ever to be found. Added to that Dr. Roy Phipps – Anna’s father & Margot’s husband, doesn’t like to discuss anything about her disappearance. So, Strike & Robin get a brief about a trail gone cold of a missing person.

As said before, we have multitude of characters walking in and out of story. Few though unrelated like Dennis Creed; provide a gruesome background with his serial killings and just a possibility of what might have happened to Margot when he was in his prime period. On the other hand, we have pair of police detectives who tried to unravel this mystery disappearance all those years ago- Talbot & Lawson; whose case notes become solid foundations for our detectives to restart the case.

Then there are all those people around her -Margot’s ex-boyfriend, her patients, her colleagues/ partners in the clinic – Dr. Brennan & Dr. Gupta, the pair of receptionists, nurse, secretary, housekeeping lady and last but not the least, her best friend with whom she planned to catch up on that fateful evening. The story is weaved through these characters brilliantly; each of them having own backstories about before & after the doctor’s vanishing act.

And of course; we have both Strike & Robin struggling in their respective lives. Strike with his frequent visits to Cornwall and his tumultuous past chasing him; not letting him fully focus on such an interesting case. In case of Robin, it’s more to do with fighting the societal expectations of settling down-having own home, husband & kids. But yes, the end to their respective struggles’ is worth the wait.

We all know that the author can weave magic (literally!) with his words. That proves true here too; as such a lengthy, long story winds down across the span of a year with backstories of 40 years, we never feel boredom setting in. We just remain engrossed in the story of a vanishing doctor from the word go.

Fantastically written with all the elements of a good mystery peppered in. Not to be missed, highly recommended.