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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Imagine writing a book this good as your debut novel. Consumed this within a couple of hours cause I simply couldn’t put it down. It’s a crime/thriller with a little bit of conspiracy and cults thrown into the mix which made it all the more enthralling. 5/5
Listened to two Christian White mysteries in one week. Second time for The Wife and the Widow, followed by The Nowhere Child. Both move along at a fast pace (especially with the reading speed amped up to 1.75x normal.) White mixes up POV, time lines, and interesting plot twists and surprise endings.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Twenty eight year old Kimberly Leamy is contacted by a stranger, at the school where she teaches photography classes, in Melbourne Australia. The man tells her that he suspects she is Sammy Went, who disappeared at the age of two, from Manson, Kentucky. This meeting leads to Kim traveling to Manson to unravel the mystery behind the disappearance of Sammy Went and to find out if she is actually the daughter of someone other than the mother that raised her. Kim's mother had died four years earlier, of cancer, so there is no way to ask her about the past, When Kim speaks to her step father about what she has learned, he urges her to leave the past buried.
Kim meets the mother, brother, and sister of Sammy Went and encounters the mysterious, cult-ish, fanatical, Church of the Light Within, that worships by handling venomous snakes and has a host of other crazy and dangerous practices. The church also holds exorcisms on those who don't live up to their rigid way of thinking and living. Although Sammy's father (born into the cult of the Church of the Light Within), sister, and brother, have nothing to do with the church, Sammy's mother Molly, is a devout follower, to such an extent that she puts the church ahead of her family.
The story is told in alternating timelines of "now" and "then", with "now" telling the story from Kim's point of view and "then" telling the story during the time of Sammy's disappearance, from the point of view of the various town folks. I enjoyed the story telling, especially the "then" timeline. There were so many things being done in secret and so much harm done by the church beliefs, that it was interesting to see how various people where affected by the church. It became clear to me that Sammy was not in a safe place, even before her disappearance, when her mother was so deeply involved in beliefs of the cult-ish church.
Kim did have a definite trait of impulsiveness that led her into a dangerous situation and I always have trouble thinking someone would be so bold to run headlong into situations that I would refrain from running into. Other than that, I really enjoyed the interactions of the family, with friends, enemies, and townsfolk. So many secrets were kept and so many of the town rumors were true. It's scary, the secrets that this small town held.
Thank you to St Martin's Press and NetGalley, for this ARC.
Kim meets the mother, brother, and sister of Sammy Went and encounters the mysterious, cult-ish, fanatical, Church of the Light Within, that worships by handling venomous snakes and has a host of other crazy and dangerous practices. The church also holds exorcisms on those who don't live up to their rigid way of thinking and living. Although Sammy's father (born into the cult of the Church of the Light Within), sister, and brother, have nothing to do with the church, Sammy's mother Molly, is a devout follower, to such an extent that she puts the church ahead of her family.
The story is told in alternating timelines of "now" and "then", with "now" telling the story from Kim's point of view and "then" telling the story during the time of Sammy's disappearance, from the point of view of the various town folks. I enjoyed the story telling, especially the "then" timeline. There were so many things being done in secret and so much harm done by the church beliefs, that it was interesting to see how various people where affected by the church. It became clear to me that Sammy was not in a safe place, even before her disappearance, when her mother was so deeply involved in beliefs of the cult-ish church.
Kim did have a definite trait of impulsiveness that led her into a dangerous situation and I always have trouble thinking someone would be so bold to run headlong into situations that I would refrain from running into. Other than that, I really enjoyed the interactions of the family, with friends, enemies, and townsfolk. So many secrets were kept and so many of the town rumors were true. It's scary, the secrets that this small town held.
Thank you to St Martin's Press and NetGalley, for this ARC.
Such a great Aussie thriller. The story is a dual timeline, so each chapter jumps from the present to the past (1990), and then back again. In the chapters from 1990 we follow the Went Family and get to know a little about their life before and after their 2 year old daughter goes missing. In the present chapters we meet Kim, who has been told that she is the missing child, and we follow her as she finds out the answers of who she is and what happened.
This book was really good and full of twists, some I didn't see coming. It's my first time reading a book from this author and certainly won't be my last.
This book was really good and full of twists, some I didn't see coming. It's my first time reading a book from this author and certainly won't be my last.
Didn't love it at first, but as things got more complicated it really sucked me in. What really got me was just when you think you know who took her and why....you don't. Probably closer to a 3.5 star, and I usually round down, but the twists (which, IMO, weren't too "out there") inspired me to round up.
I received an ARC copy of this book from the publisher and netgalley for my honest review.
This award winning novel by Australian author Christian White makes its US deut in January. This mystery kept me guessing until the end! Its dark and has twists that truly surprised me. Not your typical book that the ending is obvious from chapter 1!
This award winning novel by Australian author Christian White makes its US deut in January. This mystery kept me guessing until the end! Its dark and has twists that truly surprised me. Not your typical book that the ending is obvious from chapter 1!