AUTHOR’S NOTE

In late 2019 my husband and I went to a U2 concert with our teenage kids. Due to hot demand on the ticketing website, we were unable to buy four of the same tickets. Rob and I had stand tickets, and the kids, who were aged seventeen and fourteen at the time, had general admission. Not ideal, but it was the only way the four of us could go to the concert; I pressed the buy button with some trepidation. On the night of the concert, my trepidation only intensified: the crowds were overwhelming. I feared losing someone even as we were carried to the stadium, not to mention once the kids were in the mosh pit. Add in some other risk factors: youth, a poor sense of direction and – complete disaster – if someone’s phone died or got stolen. We arranged a meeting spot outside the stadium, just in case we got separated and were unable to phone or text. I’m happy to report that at the end of the night, we all turned up at the nominated meeting spot. But it made me think: one assumes that there is safety in crowds, but the opposite is true. Amid all the people and chaos, anything can happen, and nobody would notice.

One of Us Is Missing was written by extrapolating my fear at that U2 concert. We’ve since been to other concerts together, and the scenes in the novel are also a mix of those other amazing stadium experiences. We have never been to a Coldplay concert, and the concert depicted in this book is entirely fictional. In fact, many of the scenes were written during the various Covid lockdowns and were pure fantasy on my part because live music was non-existent.

There is a happy ending to this background story. At the time of writing, Coldplay announced a tour, including Sydney. And we have tickets! (It took many hours of waiting in virtual queues, but never mind the logistics.) I’m planning on enjoying every minute of the concert, though I might buy tracking devices for my family members. And I’ll try not to think of them falling prey to drug dealers, kidnappers, stalkers or dark-web criminals.

I hope you enjoy One of Us Is Missing and the fact that our stadiums and venues are once again full with musicians, artists and the unifying power of live music.

Xxx Ber