Tip top thriller of over 500 pages ideal for a holiday read. The story is a detective looking for a missing family who will not give up despite obstacles being put in his way as old secrets are uncovered , The story does take some time to get going and at times you have to concentrate remember what has happened previously but before long the book begins to come together , Ifs. If you like a hearty read this is recommended but best to be read in long sittings rather than to dip in and out of

When Investigative Journalist David Riker is asked by an old girlfriend to help discover what happened to her missing sister and family he knows he should refuse. After all it has only been five months since he nearly died after a brutal attack following a previous investigation. But the Journo in him can’t turn his back on a good story but what he starts to uncover in the sleepy seaside village where the family lived turns into something far more sinister than a missing persons case. This is full of twists and turns and I really was kept guessing to the end- which is rare for me as I’m one of those annoying people who tells you whodunit in the first few chapters of a book or the first half hour of a telly crime programme. This is the 4th in the series but the first I have read and will certainly go back and read the rest.

When I read the blurb of this novel I was very excited. I thought this is the sort of novel that I will enjoy. However, when I started I was slightly confused, the crime scene presented within the first few chapters did not match the blurb I had read which lead me to be slightly confused. But soon things begin to come together and the mystery of the family that went missing comes into focus. The first half of the book confused me slightly due to the shifting of narrators, but once you get used to this you begin to enjoy the different points of view and stories taking place. However, in the second half of the book the narrator is David Raker alone, which lead me to being slightly confused about the actual reasoning for the switching narration in the first half. Despite these issues I had at the beginning I loved this book! I loved the mystery, and it wasn't a 'who's done it' style of novel which can become slightly 'samey' once you have read a few. No, 'Not Coming Back' is a novel which builds up the layers as you go through the book. We learn more about the lives of all the characters and the entanglements they have to one another. Why has Emily's family gone missing? Why is there a trail of bodies that do not connect? What do all these people know that has resulted in their deaths? I loved this mystery, though I was slightly disappointed in the reasoning behind all the murders and why Emily's family were taken. But I must admit that this is the first murder mystery I have read that came to this conclusion, which for me made it unique. But I must confess I haven't read that many books of this genre despite my enjoyment of them. I have never read any of Tim Weavers novels and thus this was my first David Raker novel. But through glimpses of what had happened, or what I assumed happened in Tim Weavers previous David Raker novel 'Vanished' it has made me add Tim Weavers previous novels to my wish list. This is a author that I have already recommended to my friends and family. Despite the slightly negative comments I had at the beginning I still loved this novel and found that once I got a few chapters in I did not want to put the novel down! The small chapters made it even harder to put the novel down, and I found myself finishing the novel at 2am after getting engrossed when I picked it up from the half way point. 4 out of 5

Whatever you do, don’t read this book! Well, not unless you have several hours spare because once you’ve picked it up you won’t be putting it down again in a hurry. Never Coming Back, Tim Weaver’s 4th novel featuring driven Missing Persons Investigator David Raker, confidently combines a carefully crafted narrative featuring enough surprises for even the most seasoned crime thriller aficionado with believably drawn protagonists and a fine sense of place. So what if a couple of characters are ripped straight from the pages of The Big Book Of Grumpy Coppers, Weaver just cleverly uses this (over) familiarity with the type to serve up a devious plot twist. One quibble I do have is that the story takes a while to get going, spending a little too much time resolving dangling plot threads from the previous instalment, but once Raker begins his investigation the plot gathers focus and momentum all the way up to the final twist in the very last sentence. Definitely one to pick up.

A new author for me to read and a new 'hero' to root for. David Raker is an investigator asked by a girlfriend from his teenage days to search for her missing sister's family. This search moves between the Devon countryside and coast and the desert of Las Vegas. Raker comes across folks in the local police force, a local entrepreneur , a trouble friend, a blast from his past and the group of high rollers in the states. I struggled with the first 50 or so pages that seemed to tie up a few loose ends from previous books in the series and also who exactly the author was writing about at that time. However once past that little difficulty, this was a fast paced who done it and I was disappointed when I got to the end at 500+ pages All in all an excellent stand alone story, but one that wants me to find others in the series to see if they are as good as this one