The Foster Family by Nicole Trope is well-written and easy to read. The plot is straightforward, the characters are well-developed and easy to either like or dislike as ‘appropriate’.

Elizabeth and Howard take their young foster son Joe to a holiday house at the beach where they meet Gordon, their elderly neighbour who is suffering from memory-loss. Gordon soon realises that Joe and his foster family may not be happy. Howard is an angry man with an unhappy relationship with his wife and and even less positive relationship with Joe. When Joe goes missing and Gordon wants to tell the police what he thinks he remembers. Gordon’s son comes to stay and his local knowledge proves invaluable in the search for Joe.

I especially enjoyed the ay the author developed Gordon’s character in the centre and kept the relationship with his son who was always coming to visit somehow critical to the ending/resolution. Indeed, for me, that was the real story and so the title misdirected the reader’s attention to the family and not the neighbour.