Genre: Contemporary, Suspense
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I really wanted to like this book more than I did. I wanted to know the stories of Kayleigh and Chris, how they were connected--if they were connected--and find out what had happened to them. However, the novel didn't deliver any real answers because it was told from the point of view of Chris's wife, Rebecca.
At the beginning, I thought Rebecca would begin to look into these disappearances herself, possibly uncovering things the police had missed, or overlooked. But as the novel went on, the focus was less on what had happened, the connection of these two missing people and was instead focusing on the fallout Rebecca was suffering. She had become something of a pariah because it was assumed by the public that her husband, Chris, who went missing on the same day as Kayleigh, had something to do with Kayleigh's disappearance. That he was a criminal who had taken this young girl and was abusing her somewhere. Rebecca could not believe that this was true, but then where was Chris? Why had he disappeared? And why were his actions leading up his disappearance so questionable? Rebecca cannot help but wonder.
The novel is an exploration of happens to the loved ones of crime victims--or this case, of a missing person. It's exploration of what it might be to left behind, to be connected to someone who is a violent criminal, as Chris was thought to be.
That wasn't the novel I thought I was getting into, and therefore, I was disappointed. Even so however, I have to say that not all of Rebecca's activities and choices made a lot of sense to me. I could understand her inability to work, even her need to lose herself and therefore drinking way more than she should have been. However, I can't understand why she would seek Kayleigh's friends to find out more about Kayleigh. I suppose her depressed state of mind and constant state of doubt could be used to explain away her behaviour, but I did not feel connected to Rebecca. I found her drinking excessive, her daily activities non productive and her conversations with others never lead to any bits of the mystery being unraveled. Sadly to me, this character came across as rather two dimensional and immature. I really wish I could have connected with her more.
The ending cleared up all the questions, but I found it too quick and easy and way too much of it happened off page and then was never explained. I really was disappointed with how this book played out, from beginning to end. Maybe that's because I was expecting a different sort of novel, one more focused on the crime, but this was not a page turner in my books. It may be for other readers however, and I admire that the author tried a different tack in depicting a crime story.
A copy of the novel was provided to me from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Happy Reading,
Jewels
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