Fiction
Melville House
February 16, 2016
Book
336
Library
I must say that I had different expectations from this book. This book is every parent’s nightmare. Set in England, Beth, a single mom, takes her 8-year-old daughter, Carmel, to a local festival where she disappears. She has disappeared once before but this time it is different because she is gone….vanished.
The book is written from the point of view of the mother as well as the daughter. Since you read what is happening in both of their lives simultaneously, you will not feel like there is anything missing. During the search for her daughter Beth also reconnects with her ex-husband who has now moved on. It is painful to read about her feelings and how she copes with them.
On the other hand we read how Carmel is abducted by a fake religious group who makes her belief that she has healing powers. Her journey to America is terrifying, lonely and aching and what she goes through is really sad.
The book is full of eerie details and the words are beautiful but the end is abrupt and cold. It is a bit surprising to read a novel full of emotions and right at the end where you would expect them to really flow, for something big to happen….it falls flat. It’s as if the author was in a hurry to end the book. If she would have given more details to the how and why in the end it would have been an amazing, unforgettable read. I think it is unfair to compare it to novels like “Gone Girl” or “Girl on the Train” since I don’t see anything common.
Honestly I read it till the end only to find out if Beth and Carmel will reunite. There are moments in the book which will make your heart ache like reading about how the fake religious people use someone for their own good. It is equally painful is it to read the feelings of the mother and daughter while they were separated. That being said too little details at the end of the book make it unsatisfying and that is why I will leave it up to to you to decide if you want to read it or not.
Till then,
Happy Reading!