*I received a complimentary copy of this book, and I’m leaving a voluntary review*
*spoiler warning*
Plot: Scott and Jessie have the loveliest life together, a perfect little dream, with their daugther Ashley on top. Everything is red roses and summer winds, and their most beautiful family ever. Even when Scott is run over, he’s quickly back on his feet with the support of his wife and lovely daugther, and life is soon back to normal.
Until the day the police calls, Ashley is missing. She went missing from her boyfriend Brandon’s house, and there’s blood. Too much blood. She can’t have survived they say, and Brandon adamantly claims that someone broke in, assualted them both, and left with Ashley. Unbelievable, of course. He must have done it, only to ruin Scott and Jessie’s perfect life. Or is he telling the truth?
Review: Let me start off with my catch phrase: I absolutely loved this book. At first I was disappointed, because I thought it would be a crime thriller, the type I’m quite fond of (and also write myself), where you’re thrown into the action headfirst at the beginning, and it just tumbles downhill until it’s over. But this isn’t that kind of book. The only way I can describe it is as a Drama. It’s about Scott, Jessie, Ashley and their family life. For example, it takes nearly 1/4 of the book before any of the stuff mentioned above really happens. At first I thought, why isn’t it kicking off yet? I was annoyed at the incredibly detailed descriptions of what Scott and Jessie where doing, how they ate their eggs, what perfume they put on, how they opened the door (not sure that last one really happened). But then I started appreciating their story, their life. The love they shared for one another, and the things they did together (even though I have to admit, Jessie is occasionally sickly jealous). I enjoyed seeing them go shopping, go to the cinema, tend their garden, go to church.
But then, I enjoyed even more seeing it all be torn apart. When Ashley disappears. How they cope, or try anyway. How they treated eachother, what they did, said and felt.
This book really grew on me, when I managed to look away from the religious overtones, and the weird double narrating voice (there’s a mix between third person and first person, but it’s not indicated in anyway when you can expect a switch. Have never seen a book do it this way before, so it caught me off-guard). But this is a great crime/thiller/drama read. To me it reads like a mix between Taken and Gone Girl, this kind of jarring family drama where the people who are left behind will do anything to set things right.
Trey Stone, Author 