Most books have a beginning, a middle and an end. The high point of this best-selling novel turned out to be the beginning, which of course expanded on the intriguing premise of the story: a teenage girl wakes up to find her parents and brother missing, and like most readers (I assume) I wondered what on earth was going on. Then there was ‘the middle’, which in a nutshell was much too long because after perhaps 300 pages I was none the wiser as to the reasons behind the family’s disappearance and apart from the mildly mysterious goings-on the only real point of interest remained the basic plot. Then there was ‘the end’, which I won’t describe here but I will vent my opinion that it was pretty awfully written and in dire need of professional editing.