McCann Kate. Madeleine: Our Daughter's Disappearance and the Continuing Search for Her

The story is well known. In May 2007, Kate and Gerry McCann and their three children went on holiday to a resort in Portugal, along with several friends and their children. The first few days of the holiday passed uneventfully, with the children spending most of their days in the kids club while the parents had tennis lessons and relaxed. In the evenings, the parents all got in the habit of leaving their children sleeping in their bedrooms while they dined in a nearby tapas restaurant, taking turns to go back and check on the children at regular intervals. Until one fateful evening when three year old Madeleine disappeared shortly after the 9pm check. The police were called, the media descended and the story became worldwide news.This is Kate McCann's account of that holiday and the investigation that followed, based on the detailed diaries that she kept. The book captures the way she endlessly revisits the days before Madeleine's disappearance, looking for clues, wondering what errors of judgement she might have made. Madeleine had been very tired that night - could she have been drugged? Or just a worn out little girl on holiday? She had cried out the night before - was someone trying to get into the room? Or did one of the children simply have a bad dream? Was it a mistake to let the restaurant staff know that children were being left unattended in their bedrooms?I can understand the way that you get lulled into the security of a holiday resort and forget that you are actually in a foreign country. Once Madeleine disappeared, this reality came home to the McCanns in a big way. Much as the French medical system was criticized after the death of Princess Diana, the Portuguese police procedures are criticized not just by the McCanns and their family, but by the British policeforce and media. Kate was frustrated by the absence of communication, by translation issues, the failure to interrogate more potential witnesses, the failure to follow up on promising leads.I felt that the book could have done with a stronger editorial hand. There's a lot of detail, to the point that it gets overwhelming in parts, and it's not always coherently presented. For example she tells us that on the night in question their friend Matt did the 9.30pm check, but reported back that all was quiet. We don't find out until almost 100 pages later whether that meant that he went into the apartment at all, let along whether he visually checked the children. Witness sightings of men watching the apartment are also not mentioned until very late in the book.However two things do emerge clearly: Kate's enormous guilt about what happened and her highly defensive personality. Every decision that she or Gerry made, whether it's about their parenting decisions or their quest to find their daughter, is justified. Looking around the internet and the way that every statement they make is endlessly scrutinized and judged partially explains that attitude. I suppose too, you would need to feel you'd made the best decisions that you could, or you'd go mad.In the final chapters, Kate talks freely about how this entire experience has changed her and Gerry. The hate mail that she receives (letters that say "your daughter will be getting tortured and it's all because of you"). The dilemma she faces when her children misbehave in public and she feels she is being judged on how she interacts with them. Her guilt if she found herself enjoying anything.In summary: an interesting read, but not as well written as I would have liked. Too long and it gets bogged down in irrelevant details. However it does give an insight into everything that the McCanns have gone through. If you dislike the McCanns, I'd advise giving it a miss: you are unlikely to feel differently about them from reading this book."The decision to publish this book has been very difficult, and taken with heavy hearts. My reason for writing it is simple: to give an account of the truth. Writing this memoir has entailed recording some very personal, intimate and emotional aspects of our lives. Sharing these with strangers does not come easily to me, but if I hadn't done so I would not have felt the book gave as full a picture as it is possible for me to give. As with every action we have taken over the last four years, it ultimately boils down to whether what we are doing could help us to find Madeleine. When the answer to that question is yes, or even possibly, our family can cope with anything. What follows is an intensely personal account, and I make no apology for that. Nothing is more important to us than finding our little girl." —Kate McCann, May 2011"It is a sad fact that not a single police force anywhere is proactively looking for Madeleine (as is the case for many other missing children). I am sure this book will reenergize the search for our daughter and the public will get behind the Find Madeleine campaign once again. It is simply not acceptable that the authorities have given up on Madeleine—especially when no comprehensive review of the case has been undertaken. Our daughter, and whoever took her, are out there. We need your help to find them." —Gerry McCann, May 2011