Book Review: Ask Him by Julie Savanth. A gripping debut thriller that asks one simple question: how far would you go to find your child?
Every so often, a book comes along that refuses to fit neatly into one genre. Ask Him, the first novel in Julie Savanth’s Sandbox Trilogy, begins as an emotional missing-person story, develops into a compelling psychological mystery and gradually evolves into something altogether more unexpected.
At its heart is Rachel, a mother whose thirteen-year-old son, Matt, disappears without trace on his way home from school. As the days turn into weeks, those around her begin to accept the possibility that he may never come home. The police have exhausted every lead, friends gently encourage her to move on, and even her husband, Dom, starts to question whether her relentless search is doing more harm than good.
Rachel, however, refuses to give up.
It’s this unwavering determination that drives the novel and keeps the pages turning. Every clue she uncovers raises more questions, and when she discovers a coded message Matt left behind, the story shifts into entirely new territory.
Without giving away too much, readers should be prepared for a finale that completely changes the way you view everything that came before. It’s bold, imaginative and leaves you eager to discover what happens next in the trilogy.
What makes Ask Him particularly engaging is the emotional depth beneath the suspense. This isn’t simply a thriller about a missing child; it’s a story about grief, instinct, hope and the extraordinary strength of a mother’s love. Rachel is a believable protagonist whose refusal to accept the obvious makes her both frustrating and deeply admirable. You find yourself willing her to be right, even when everyone else believes she’s chasing the impossible.
Julie Savanth writes with confidence, allowing the mystery to unfold at just the right pace. Short chapters and well-timed revelations make this an easy book to become immersed in, while the speculative elements are introduced gradually enough to feel intriguing rather than overwhelming.
Learning about the inspiration behind the novel makes it even more fascinating. During her first pregnancy, Julie was told that her unborn baby almost certainly had spina bifida and was encouraged to undergo further testing. Trusting her own instincts, she declined and remained convinced that her baby was healthy. Despite considerable pressure from medical professionals, she held firm—and she was right. That powerful belief in a mother’s intuition echoes throughout Ask Him and gives Rachel’s determination an authenticity that resonates long after you’ve finished reading.
Julie herself has lived an extraordinary life. A Chartered and Forensic Accountant turned novelist, she began developing the ideas behind The Sandbox Trilogy while recovering from a serious riding accident that left her facing the possibility she might never walk again. It’s a reminder that sometimes life’s greatest challenges can lead to entirely new creative journeys.
If you enjoy thrillers that blend emotional storytelling with mystery and a touch of speculative fiction, Ask Him is well worth adding to your reading list. It’s a thought-provoking debut that asks readers to question what they believe to be true and reminds us that instinct can sometimes be more powerful than certainty.
We’re already looking forward to discovering where Julie Savanth takes readers next.
Behind the Book: Three Questions with Julie Savanth
One of the strongest themes in Ask Him is a mother’s instinct. Having trusted your own intuition during your first pregnancy despite medical advice to the contrary, how much of your own experience found its way into Rachel’s determination to keep searching for Matt?
“A mother’s instinct definitely draws on my own experience. Back in the mid-1980s, when I was twenty-two and pregnant with my first child, there was a moment when my instincts told me something different from the medical advice I was receiving. Even though I was very young and naïve, I trusted that instinct, and for me it turned out to be the right decision.
“I’m married to a doctor, so this has never been about distrusting medicine or professional expertise—quite the opposite. I have huge respect for both. But I do think there are times when mothers know something at a very deep level that’s difficult to explain or quantify. That experience stayed with me. Rachel’s determination to keep searching for Matt comes from that same place. She’s not rejecting evidence or refusing to listen to the police; she’s driven by an unshakeable feeling that her son is not dead.”
Without giving away any spoilers, Ask Him takes readers on a journey that begins as a missing-person thriller before becoming something much bigger. What drew you to blending psychological suspense with speculative fiction, and what do you hope readers take away from that unexpected twist?
“I didn’t set out to write a speculative novel. I set out to write about loss, belief and the questions we ask when the world suddenly stops making sense. A missing child is every parent’s worst nightmare, and the psychological suspense naturally grew from Rachel’s desperate need to understand what had happened to her son.
“As the story developed, I realised that a purely conventional explanation wasn’t enough for the questions the novel was asking. Matt’s fascination with astronomy, geology and the unseen aspects of the universe opened the door to bigger ideas about reality, perception and the limits of what we think we know.
“Because Ask Him is the first book in The Sandbox Trilogy, those speculative elements are really the beginning of a much bigger journey rather than a destination in themselves. More than anything, I hope readers finish the book wanting to know what happens next while also looking at the world with a little more curiosity and wondering whether reality might be stranger and more expansive than we imagine.”
This is the first book in The Sandbox Trilogy. When readers reach the final page of Ask Him, what can they look forward to in the next instalment?
“Without giving too much away, readers can expect the world of The Sandbox Trilogy to become much bigger with each book. While Ask Him begins as an intimate story about one family searching for a missing child, it’s really laying the foundations for questions that reach far beyond that single mystery.
“Part Two expands the emotional and philosophical landscape considerably, asking readers to reconsider everything they thought they understood about identity, memory and the connections that bind us across time. By Part Three, the story moves onto an even larger canvas, exploring consciousness, reality and the nature of existence itself.
“What was important to me was that the scale never came at the expense of the characters. However far the trilogy travels, it’s always grounded in Rachel, Dom and Matt, and in the universal experience of love, loss and the search for meaning.”
Women Talking Rating:
Perfect for readers who enjoy: psychological thrillers, speculative fiction, family dramas, mysteries with unexpected twists, and stories featuring strong female protagonists.
Ask Him by Julie Savanth is published by White Peacock Press and is available in paperback (£11.99) from Amazon and through good bookshops.
Poppy Watt