Rating: 4/5
Review:
A good involving book
I thought this was pretty good, but I did have some
reservations about it. I read it because
I thought that Rene Denfeld's first book, The Enchanted, was simply brilliant;
although I enjoyed The Child Finder overall, this isn't really in the same
class.
Naomi Cottle finds missing children in the USA. She works freelance and alone and has talent
for locating children, dead or alive, even though they may have been missing
for years and the police investigations have failed. In The Child Finder, she is looking for
Madison who disappeared from a family outing in a high, cold part of Oregon
three years ago. We also get a lot about
Naomi's own internal turmoil, her backstory and her current emotional
life.
It's all decently done; Denfeld writes well and the story is
quite involving, but it all had a somewhat familiar feel to me and is rather
like a lot of private detective novels in structure and feel. The two cases sit rather uncomfortably
together, some of the psychology seemed a bit iffy to me and I found the
ending, following a good but slightly predictable climax, rather
over-sentimental and a little implausible.
Nonetheless, there's plenty that's good about it and I found it quite a
gripping and enjoyable read.
It's not clear whether this is the start of a series, but
whatever Rene Denfeld chooses to write next, I'll read it. Despite some reservations, I can recommend
The Child Finder as a well written and readable book.
(I received an ARC via NetGalley.)
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