Published 2016 by Berkely, New York
324 pages
ISBN 978-1-101-99047-6
Grade 3/5
Genre: crime
Keywords: kidnapped 2-year- old, unsolved murder, cyber crime, police detection, journalist influence, manipulative and dominant husband, to do the right thing vs stand with your husband,
This is the first book by this author, at the age of 59 years she has published a book!
The author is an experience journalist and has always written, also about crime so to write a crime novel is not a strange affaire for her.
The problem: a two-year-old girl, Bella, disappears from her garden when her mother prepared a meal for her.
The book is divided into 54 chapters, with a character as headline: the widow, the detective, the reporter, the mother; but behind the characters are names:
The Widow is Jean or Jeanie depending on her mood, she was married quite young to Glen, he is somewhat older than her and can manipulate dominate her and her parents. She tries to be the perfect wife for Glen. Her problem is that she does not get pregnant, it turns out Glen has a problem.
Glen worked in a bank, but was fired and then gets work as a driver; dreaming of his own company. Jean works at a hair dresser’s.
The Detective is Bob Sparks, he is experienced and has a good record; he is married to Eileen, their children have left the home. Bob is convinced that Glen had something to do with Bella’s disappearance but what, where is she?
The Mother of Bella, is Dawn, who gets a lot of attention from the press, and enjoys that.
I must say I find the book somewhat confusing, the jumping between the characters is one thing but also the jumping in the time line between 2006 to 2010; I had to check so many times where am I, who speaks, when?
In the book a lot of the investigation takes place on the internet and in chatrooms; some of the discoveries were not allowed by the court. Shows how science is more forward than laws and ethics.
I like to read crime novels because you find out who did what and why; the general order and justice is restored. In this book I’m not so sure that is what happened. I think the book stopped when it gets interesting on the question, if you realize your partner has done a serious deed, to whom should you be loyal? Your partner or the victim? Should you be punished for not revealing it? If the court has ruled that the criminal is not guilty, is it OK ethically if you punish him because he is guilty? And what does that make you?
The book is easy to read in English, short simple sentences like in a newspaper. I think it could have been shortened somewhat, it is too long and it did not really catch me, I was disappointed by the end because what happened raised the question of Jean’s crime, which it seems to me the author did not consider as serious as Glen’s; but was there a difference?
I think I will give the author the benefit and will read another book by her.
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