One Line Summary

A family vanishes in plain sight and a second disappearance follows, pulling David Raker into a case where absence is the weapon and truth is the risk.

Opening Impression

The Missing Family begins with a quietly horrifying image, a day that should be ordinary, a momentary glance away and then a gap that cannot be explained. Tim Weaver favours dread over spectacle, allowing the fear to grow from absence rather than action.

The early chapters establish deeply personal stakes before widening into a broader pattern, suggesting this is not an isolated tragedy but something carefully hidden.

Synopsis

Missing persons investigator David Raker is drawn into a baffling case at a remote Dartmoor lake where a family disappears without leaving a credible trail. What follows is an investigation shaped by silence, rumour and deliberate misdirection.

As Raker digs deeper, a second disappearance emerges, forcing a reassessment of everything assumed to be settled. Each answer exposes another layer of concealment, revealing how far some are willing to go to control the narrative.

Analysis

Structure: A dual strand investigation that tightens through accumulation rather than shock.

Characterisation: Raker is driven by empathy and persistence, carrying the personal cost of never letting go.

Style: Restrained, atmospheric prose with a strong sense of place.

Themes: Disappearance as control, institutional self protection and the damage left behind.

Verdict

The Missing Family is a rigorous, unsettling thriller that treats missing persons as human tragedy rather than entertainment. Weaver delivers a modern British crime novel with weight, coherence and consequence.