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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
mysterious
fast-paced
⭐️⭐️⭐️.9/5 (couldn’t quite give it 4)
Kim is approached at her work, by a man investigating a long lost child. He has suspicions that the child Sammy might be Kim and this her world gets turned upside down.
This book is hard to review without giving spoilers so I’ll keep it short. It’s a tale about questioning everything you’ve ever known and coming to terms with details you didn’t expect. I found the initial premise a little hard to believe but stuck around for the plot twists and I’m glad I did. It poses the question: what makes someone family?
Kim is approached at her work, by a man investigating a long lost child. He has suspicions that the child Sammy might be Kim and this her world gets turned upside down.
This book is hard to review without giving spoilers so I’ll keep it short. It’s a tale about questioning everything you’ve ever known and coming to terms with details you didn’t expect. I found the initial premise a little hard to believe but stuck around for the plot twists and I’m glad I did. It poses the question: what makes someone family?
Short Summary:
This author is incredible at keeping you guessing until the final twist!
My thoughts:
A psychological thriller that is filled with shockers that reveal how far some people will go to keep secrets...and get what they want. I was so drawn into the story, I imagined myself Kim’s position...with SO many questions.
What would I do if I found out my mother abducted me when I was two-years old and why don’t I remember any of it?
Did she steal me or rescue me? Should I be thankful or angry? What would my life have been like if I’d grown up with my “real” family? How did I end up in Australia and why?
Who am I now? Am I Kim Leamy—a photography teacher who lost my mother to cancer, but still has a loving stepfather and sister? Or am I Sammy Went—the child taken from Manson, Kentucky and a damaged family...with a mother who is still alive but obsessed with her faith and cult-like church.
Told in alternating chapters that switch between then and now, this story is so well-written I had no trouble keeping up with the change in time frames. I thoroughly enjoyed this author’s writing style and plan on reading more!
Recommend: Yes...of course!
My Rating: 4.5 ⭐️’s
Published: January 22nd 2019 by Minotaur Books
Pages: 384
Some of my favorite Excerpts/Words:
Thank you to NetGalley / Minotaur Books / Christian White for this digital ARC, in exchange for my honest review!
#NetGalley #TheNowhereChild
Book Blurb
Kimberly Leamy is a photography teacher in Melbourne, Australia. Twenty-six years earlier, Sammy Went, a two-year old girl vanished from her home in Manson, Kentucky. An American accountant who contacts Kim is convinced she was that child, kidnapped just after her birthday. She cannot believe the woman who raised her, a loving social worker who died of cancer four years ago, crossed international lines to steal a toddler.
On April 3rd, 1990, Jack and Molly Went’s daughter Sammy disappeared from the inside their Kentucky home. Already estranged since the girl’s birth, the couple drifted further apart as time passed. Jack did his best to raise and protect his other daughter and son while Molly found solace in her faith. The Church of the Light Within, a Pentecostal fundamentalist group who handle poisonous snakes as part of their worship, provided that faith. Without Sammy, the Wents eventually fell apart.
Now, with proof that she and Sammy are in fact the same person, Kim travels to America to reunite with a family she never knew she had. And to solve the mystery of her abduction—a mystery that will take her deep into the dark heart of religious fanaticism where she must fight for her life against those determined to save her soul…
This author is incredible at keeping you guessing until the final twist!
My thoughts:
A psychological thriller that is filled with shockers that reveal how far some people will go to keep secrets...and get what they want. I was so drawn into the story, I imagined myself Kim’s position...with SO many questions.
What would I do if I found out my mother abducted me when I was two-years old and why don’t I remember any of it?
Did she steal me or rescue me? Should I be thankful or angry? What would my life have been like if I’d grown up with my “real” family? How did I end up in Australia and why?
Who am I now? Am I Kim Leamy—a photography teacher who lost my mother to cancer, but still has a loving stepfather and sister? Or am I Sammy Went—the child taken from Manson, Kentucky and a damaged family...with a mother who is still alive but obsessed with her faith and cult-like church.
Told in alternating chapters that switch between then and now, this story is so well-written I had no trouble keeping up with the change in time frames. I thoroughly enjoyed this author’s writing style and plan on reading more!
Recommend: Yes...of course!
My Rating: 4.5 ⭐️’s
Published: January 22nd 2019 by Minotaur Books
Pages: 384
Some of my favorite Excerpts/Words:
”Stepping into the Manson Sheriff’s station felt like stepping into the Devil’s butt crack.”
“There ain’t no way we have enough chairs for that many rear ends, boss.”
Thank you to NetGalley / Minotaur Books / Christian White for this digital ARC, in exchange for my honest review!
#NetGalley #TheNowhereChild
Book Blurb
Kimberly Leamy is a photography teacher in Melbourne, Australia. Twenty-six years earlier, Sammy Went, a two-year old girl vanished from her home in Manson, Kentucky. An American accountant who contacts Kim is convinced she was that child, kidnapped just after her birthday. She cannot believe the woman who raised her, a loving social worker who died of cancer four years ago, crossed international lines to steal a toddler.
On April 3rd, 1990, Jack and Molly Went’s daughter Sammy disappeared from the inside their Kentucky home. Already estranged since the girl’s birth, the couple drifted further apart as time passed. Jack did his best to raise and protect his other daughter and son while Molly found solace in her faith. The Church of the Light Within, a Pentecostal fundamentalist group who handle poisonous snakes as part of their worship, provided that faith. Without Sammy, the Wents eventually fell apart.
Now, with proof that she and Sammy are in fact the same person, Kim travels to America to reunite with a family she never knew she had. And to solve the mystery of her abduction—a mystery that will take her deep into the dark heart of religious fanaticism where she must fight for her life against those determined to save her soul…
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
was not expecting this to be about a church .. highly disappointed!
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes