So my new book club picked this book out of a hat, and I’m really happy about it right now. This is the third crime thriller I have read this year, and while I didn’t find this one quite as good as Career of Evil, it is definitely bringing up the average score of the genre.
So this book is about a series of almost accidental deaths, which newly reinstated DI Robyn Carter starts to connect while working on a missing persons case she picked up while still a PI. The book starts with a shocking and somewhat unexpected scene of child abuse, and then we are transported to the present, where we get to know our characters, and the story begind to unfold.
I don’t really want to spoil anyone for the big revelations, but a few minor spoilers can be found on the next paragraphs. Feel free to skip them if you’d like.
I found it really interesting how throughout the book we were regaled with both present action scenes, and glimpses into the past and the making of our “villian”. I use the quotation marks because this book makes it a very clear picture of the argument that while maybe some evil is born, the absolute majority of it is made.
The blurb (or maybe the goodreads description, I’m not sure) for this book referenced the kidnapping of a kid, and when I first started reading, I thought this was supposed to be the main plot of the book. That was highly misleading. I say that because although we do have the kidnapping of Izzy at the end of the book, she is not the one who is lost. The lost little girl the title referres to is most definitely Alice, and it is heartbreaking to watch her growing up in the midst of so much abuse, indifference and neglect.
What I didn’t like so much were some parts that just seemed way too convenient to be believable. I mean, who travels with a piece of clothesline in their pocket at all times? And a few of the explanations in the end – about the phone cloning and cameras and everything – did not flow naturally. It was like the author had a list of things that needed to be explained and then created a thought monologue in Alice’s mind with the only purpose of clearing these things out instead of having the detective unravel the clues.
I could also criticise were that halfway through quite a bit was still very confusing and up in the air, and for a while there I wasn’t sure the author would actually be able to wrap it up satisfactorily. At one point I was telling myself that if it ended up being a case of multiple personalities, I was going to throw the book out the window (which would be tragic, as I got it on iBooks and was reading on my phone). But I should have kept my faith, because Carol E Wyer does a good job of wrapping things up.
I am looking forward to the next book in this series. I think as she gets the hang of writing crime mysteries, the stories can only get better.
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