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paulabrandon 's review for:
The Girl You Lost
by Kathryn Croft
I actually quite enjoyed The Girl With No Past by Kathryn Croft, so it was a given I'd pick up her next book, despite the tiresome insistence of people using the world "Girl" in their titles.
This book is about Simone Porter, whose six-month-old baby was kidnapped. Eighteen years later, she is approached by Grace Rhoads, who has come to believe she might be Simone's baby. They can't go to the police, because Grace thinks she might have killed the man who told her about her true identity! Simone and her husband Matt agree to do a DNA test - he's a doctor. However, shortly after that, Grace disappears as well!
The initial set-up is intriguing and I thought I was in for a good read. However, some chapters from an anonymous character from the past gave up the gig for me entirely. I knew who it was right from the beginning, and that spoiled many of the surprises that came later! Also, having that particular person being evil has been done way, way, way, way, way too much in psychological thrillers these days. Find something new, authors!
Once I finished the book, I could appreciate how well put-together the plot was, but the reading experience still felt a little flat. About 20/30% in, it just feels like Simone questioning people and breaking into houses/investigating houses for the longest time, and I wanted the plot to move along. Simone's constant remorse about keeping her activities secret from her husband was very overdone and highly repetitive.
The lack of a climax bothered me - what a flat ending!
I also got annoyed at the tendency to try and artificially set up suspense or shock by having characters act in ways that people don't really act. For example, Chris showing up at Simone's back door or Charlotte breaking into her house. Why couldn't they just approach her or knock on the bloody front door?!? Good grief! It felt like that sort of stuff was thrown in to try and break up the fairly stagnant narrative.
I enjoy psychological thrillers and will always read them, but this was one was a bit too dragged out and predictable to give it a higher rating than 3 stars. I still liked it, though and was
This book is about Simone Porter, whose six-month-old baby was kidnapped. Eighteen years later, she is approached by Grace Rhoads, who has come to believe she might be Simone's baby. They can't go to the police, because Grace thinks she might have killed the man who told her about her true identity! Simone and her husband Matt agree to do a DNA test - he's a doctor. However, shortly after that, Grace disappears as well!
The initial set-up is intriguing and I thought I was in for a good read. However, some chapters from an anonymous character from the past gave up the gig for me entirely. I knew who it was right from the beginning, and that spoiled many of the surprises that came later! Also, having that particular person being evil has been done way, way, way, way, way too much in psychological thrillers these days. Find something new, authors!
Once I finished the book, I could appreciate how well put-together the plot was, but the reading experience still felt a little flat. About 20/30% in, it just feels like Simone questioning people and breaking into houses/investigating houses for the longest time, and I wanted the plot to move along. Simone's constant remorse about keeping her activities secret from her husband was very overdone and highly repetitive.
The lack of a climax bothered me - what a flat ending!
Spoiler
Simone finds a photo revealing her husband was friends with all the bad guys, the police show up to arrest him and that's it! How about a little dramatic action, huh? They might as well all have sat down for a cup of tea with all the excitement that brought on! After all, I figured out it was the husband from that first chapter in italics.I also got annoyed at the tendency to try and artificially set up suspense or shock by having characters act in ways that people don't really act. For example, Chris showing up at Simone's back door or Charlotte breaking into her house. Why couldn't they just approach her or knock on the bloody front door?!? Good grief! It felt like that sort of stuff was thrown in to try and break up the fairly stagnant narrative.
I enjoy psychological thrillers and will always read them, but this was one was a bit too dragged out and predictable to give it a higher rating than 3 stars. I still liked it, though and was