It also helped fuel my 'real book' obsession that I went through over the summer.
The first book I chose to read was "Where the Missing Go" by Emma Rowley. I was intrigued by the summary and the story that laid ahead of me.
Publisher's Summary
The missing don’t always want to be found.
Kate Harlow recognizes this painful truth, even as she keeps searching for her daughter, Sophie, who disappeared two years ago. The police have stopped investigating—after all, Sophie has sent postcards home, insisting that she’s fine. To fill the space in her increasingly empty days, Kate volunteers at Message in a Bottle, where runaways can leave messages for loved ones, no questions asked.
Then one evening, a call comes in from a voice Kate instinctively recognizes, even through bursts of static and beyond the sudden dial tone that breaks their connection.
Those closest to Kate worry she’s cracking under her grief, imagining that it was Sophie. But Kate knows—that it was her daughter on the phone. And that a stranger has been inside her house. Watching her.
Sophie is out there. And Kate has to find her, even if someone will try anything to stop her . . .
My Thoughts
When I started this book I was kind of already predicting the ending... girl goes missing, mom doesn't believe she's really gone, mom works hard to get some answers.
That is pretty much the gist of the book but it is definitely so much more than that.
Kate's life has fallen apart since Sophie left; her husband left her, her friends aren't around and her family has even started to distance themselves. They want Kate to get help, to learn to grieve for the daughter she no longer has but Kate refuses. Kate can feel that Sophie is still out there and maybe it's because of the postcards she received, motherly instinct, or the voice on the other end of the phone at the help hotline that Kate volunteers at.
Kate spends the majority of the book begging police to look into a few different leads after she gets the phone call but she quickly learns that the cops aren't on her side.
There are a few characters that Kate interacts with throughout the novel, such as her neighbor, her doctor, her father and sister, the top detective on the case who also aren't necessarily on her side about Sophie being out there and wanting to be found.
Kate does not give up and does her own investigation into Sophie's disappearance --eventually, she finds out the truth.
I will stop there with my summary since I don't want to give everything away.
If you've ever read one of my domestic thriller reviews before you know how much I love a good twist that just blows my socks off. Well, "Where the Missing Go" has one of the most intense, climatic endings I've ever experienced. You think you know what's happening and then BOOM, twist. Then you have a grip on that aspect of the novel but BOOM, another twist. I don't even know how Emma Rowley thought of everything in this book!
What I thought was going to happen did happen but just not the way I thought it would -- does that make sense?
I will admit that the book was slightly slow at first and a little boring but once the story actually starts and things get moving, you can get whiplash for how fast things change.
"Where the Missing Go" might be one of my favorite books of the year and if you love thrillers, I highly recommend this one!
xoxo
B
Add your comment