Emily's Questions

There is no indication of what happened to Kate and I am not sure that this matters to the story. It is the effect of her disappearance and their reactions that are important. Stephen has to maintain hope that she will be found alive and does not permit himself to accept anything less. Perhaps is in complete denial. I am sure that this can happen and would be very difficult for his wife to deal with. He would be unsympathetic towards her worst fears which she would need to talk about and which would help maintain communication between them. Even at the end he is probably banking on the fact she is with a loving family.

I agree about your comments in later, but I think that starting the story with Kate's abduction is a neat way to induce dread and make your pulse race, which is a requirement of the books and 1 film that I know of this author. Is the political cynicism typical of Ian McEwan? This really was a very bleak tale and I felt little benefit from having read it.