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A review by eserafina42
My Sister is Missing by Carissa Ann Lynch
3.0
Estranged from her father and sister since their parents’ divorce years ago, Emily Ashburn, who did not even come back for her father’s funeral, reluctantly returns to her hometown of Bare Borders at her sister Madeline’s request. Madeline says that she has something important to tell Emily, but the next morning she disappears, leaving her two children behind with their aunt, who has literally just met them for the first time. Sure that her sister never would have willingly abandoned her children, Emily desperately begins a search for her.
What has happened to Madeline? What does the mysterious - and seemingly threatening - message on Facebook from her high school friend mean? Does the disappearance of one of Emily’s classmates 20 years earlier and a mysterious injury that Emily suffered around the same time in the woods near their home have any bearing on current day events?
On the whole, this book was well plotted and I didn’t guess the solution to the mystery, although I had a general idea of what might have happened to Madeline using some logic and a process of elimination. I really liked Madeline’s children, Shelley and Ben. However, I found the character of Emily herself to be somewhat problematic. For a woman who is presumably in her 30s and has been on her own for probably half her life (without any support from family or friends, apparently), she seemed to be rather immature and unable to accept any responsibility for things that went wrong in her life, although she may have changed and grown some by the end of the book. Her problems with relationships were the fault of her boyfriend standing her up at her high school prom. She had lost her job because people at her workplace were out to get her - although this may, of course, have been true. But the way she essentially takes over the investigation, rushing in where angels fear to tread, searching a crime scene and removing evidence before calling the police, telling the police how to run the investigation when, given how long she’s been away, it’s hard to argue that she really knows any more than they do about her sister, and certainly less about criminal investigation, annoyed me. I’m also a little sick of the whole trope where the cop in charge of the case turns out to be the protagonist’s ex, with whom she had a bad breakup years ago, but miraculously the spark is still there. The standard “protagonist stupidly walks into a situation where she puts herself in the killer’s power” section also wound up way too quickly and neatly, in my opinion.
Despite what I perceived to be these flaws, however, the book is a quick and enjoyable read.
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
What has happened to Madeline? What does the mysterious - and seemingly threatening - message on Facebook from her high school friend mean? Does the disappearance of one of Emily’s classmates 20 years earlier and a mysterious injury that Emily suffered around the same time in the woods near their home have any bearing on current day events?
On the whole, this book was well plotted and I didn’t guess the solution to the mystery, although I had a general idea of what might have happened to Madeline using some logic and a process of elimination. I really liked Madeline’s children, Shelley and Ben. However, I found the character of Emily herself to be somewhat problematic. For a woman who is presumably in her 30s and has been on her own for probably half her life (without any support from family or friends, apparently), she seemed to be rather immature and unable to accept any responsibility for things that went wrong in her life, although she may have changed and grown some by the end of the book. Her problems with relationships were the fault of her boyfriend standing her up at her high school prom. She had lost her job because people at her workplace were out to get her - although this may, of course, have been true. But the way she essentially takes over the investigation, rushing in where angels fear to tread, searching a crime scene and removing evidence before calling the police, telling the police how to run the investigation when, given how long she’s been away, it’s hard to argue that she really knows any more than they do about her sister, and certainly less about criminal investigation, annoyed me. I’m also a little sick of the whole trope where the cop in charge of the case turns out to be the protagonist’s ex, with whom she had a bad breakup years ago, but miraculously the spark is still there. The standard “protagonist stupidly walks into a situation where she puts herself in the killer’s power” section also wound up way too quickly and neatly, in my opinion.
Despite what I perceived to be these flaws, however, the book is a quick and enjoyable read.
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.