This thriller is the British writer´s debut.
The main character, Sarah Finch, lost her older brother when she was eight years old. Charlie walked away from home one afternoon and never came back so her parents, especially her mother, have not been able to get on with their lives.
Many years later, when Sarah works as a teacher, one of her twelve-year-old students goes missing, and Sarah finds her body during her jogging round. Soon she is deeply involved in the mystery, initially because she identifies with the poor parents in their terrible loss, but probably also because her own life as a teacher, cooped up with an alcoholic mother, is not nearly as interesting as investigating crimes. And of course she learns that if you meddle in crime, you will soon be exposed to all sorts of hardship and danger.
The plot is exciting all the way through, and on the whole the characters are interesting, but it seems as if Sarah Finch is not described quite consistently. Sometimes she seems strong and independent, at other points it is difficult to decide if the mother needs Sarah or Sarah needs her mother. My overall impression is that Casey has written a convincing and impressive debut, however, and I am going to watch out for more books from her hand.
The book was sent to me by my book fairy, Maxine.
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10 kommentarer:
I'm glad you enjoyed it, Dorte. I agree that there are some aspects that need development, and I thought the ending too melodramatic. But, I liked the book and will definitely read more by her.
Thanks for the kind mention, by the way;-)
Dorte - Thanks for this fine review. I like consistency in characters, too, but overall, this book sounds like a very good one, and with your recommendation and Maxine's, I have no choice but to add it to my TBR list : ).
Maxine: I enjoyed it very much! I think Elly Griffith´s The Crossing Places is slightly better, but you have really sent us some good ones this month!
Margot: I just wanted to make it clear that this is not the same level as Val McDermid´s very best, but it is a really fine, psychological thriller about how to cope (or not) with the loss of a family member.
Sounds like just the thing for my Typically British Reading Challenge - I'm tying to get a good assortment of writers and styles. Thanks for this Dorte.
Tracy: you´ll probably enjoy it. If she writes more thrillers, they will certainly be on my wish list.
Exciting sounds good about now.
Patti: it was a fast read, but very entertaining.
So many books, so little time. I am falling in love with Haruki Murakami and just received a new Paul Auster. Those books are not read in a day! On top of that, I somehow ended up in two reading groups (there is a lot of variety in the book choices: Marian Keyes, Robert Zola Christensen, Mustafa Can)...
Therefore, I haven´t read much crime fiction lately (allthough both Auster and Murakami write genre hybrids that contain some crime fiction elements). But for my next holiday, this book might find its way into my suitcase - Casey joins my TBR list for crime fiction (containing Nesser and Cleeves)
:-)
Jane: I like Paul Auster, but I am not sure anyone could persuade me to try Haruki Murakami. (Horribly prejudiced, I know).
Good to hear that you have Ann Cleeves on your list. I´ll have another good writer for you on Friday (but the name is a deep secret until after my bait-in-the-box tomorrow).
My list is so full, I am practically drowning in books I want to read - hooray!!
But there is always room for a few more good writers :-)
I was very prejudiced against Murakami, too. The first time I read one of this books I found it extremely overrated (Kafka on the beach). I am re-reading it now and completely mesmerized - it is actually an awesome book. I have joined the ranks of wannabe-intellectuals who read Murakami in the train :-D I think that anyone liking Paul Auster could learn to love Murakami...
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