Book Review: The No-Show by Beth O’Leary

Love Beth O’Leary books and want to know if The No-Show is worth reading? Keep on reading for my book review of The No-Show.

The No-Show Summary

Three women. Three dates. One missing man…

8.52 a.m. Siobhan is looking forward to her breakfast date with Joseph. She was surprised when he suggested it – she normally sees him late at night in her hotel room. Breakfast on Valentine’s Day surely means something … so where is he?

2.43 p.m. Miranda’s hoping that a Valentine’s Day lunch with Carter will be the perfect way to celebrate her new job. It’s a fresh start and a sign that her life is falling into place: she’s been dating Carter for five months now and things are getting serious. But why hasn’t he shown up?

6.30 p.m. Joseph Carter agreed to be Jane’s fake boyfriend at an engagement party. They’ve not known each other long but their friendship is fast becoming the brightest part of her new life in Winchester. Joseph promised to save Jane tonight. But he’s not here…

Meet Joseph Carter. That is, if you can find him.

The No-Show Review

The No-Show is Beth O Leary’s fourth book following the roaring success of The Flatshare, The Switch and The Road Trip. In much the same fashion as her previous books, it deals with love, life and past traumas that linger.

The No-Show is made up of three stories about three women. They all have some sort of relationship with one Joseph Carter. But how the stories all intertwine may come as a surprise to you.

There’s Miranda, a tree cutter, Shiobhan, a life coach, and Jane, a charity shop volunteer. All very different women, but they have Joseph Carter in common. 

The chapters are short and we jump between the lives of these three different women every few pages. In just a few pages, O’Leary still manages to build each character’s personality and life story – what their chief concerns are, what makes them tick, and what their flaws are. 

There’s a lot packed into this book. 

The main character Joseph Carter is hard to figure out. Is he a good guy, a misguided guy or actually just a bellend? You don’t really find out until the later passages but it’s fun trying to figure out what the heck is going on!

Although Joseph is the key figure in all parts of the story, it’s the story of the women that dominates and that you really get into.

You find yourself rooting for each of them to get the happy ending they deserve, and that they overcome the many personal obstacles they have in their way. 

I will admit, The No-Show took a while to get going. The first half is fine but I did find myself wondering, for a brief moment, if with four books in quick succession Beth O’Leary had started to lose her touch.

But after the initial build-up, the reader is hit with a series of plot twists that make you go “OH!” as it suddenly all falls into place. And I was sorry I ever doubted Beth O’Leary.

And after the big twist, they just keep coming. The No-Show is cleverly structured and the ending is very good.

While I had predicted some elements of the twists, I had not predicted others. I was tearing through the last 75 pages to understand how it all slotted together and how each character’s story would end. 

The No-Show is a slow burner but it’s definitely worth the wait.

I still preferred The Flatshare to this novel but liked The No-Show more than The Switch. Check out my review of The Switch here to find out why.  

Is The No-Show on your TBR pile?

Grab a copy of The No Show by Beth O’Leary here now

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