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sooky 's review for:
The Nowhere Child
by Christian White
This book read like a true crime documentary. Not that I’ve read many of those, I just mean it felt very real. I also remember watching documentaries about murders and other nasty stuff linked to somewhat zealous religious groups, and I got the same chills from this story as well.
While the current timeline was somewhat emotional, with Kim trying to find out more about her supposed family, I found the events of 1990 way more gripping. There was so much going on in that small town. Needless to say, they were mostly terrible things, thanks to the Pentecostal Cult, I mean Church, whose members were very much into extreme exorcism, snake handling and other horrible shit that shouldn’t even exist. (Without being too specific, think along the lines of beating people with the Bible and trying to drown them as a way to convince them about… things…)
I’m not a particular fan of the missing or kidnapped child trope, but this one seemed different, because first of all, we know the main character is indeed the girl who went missing. As much as this book was about the mystery of who took Sammy, it put equal amount of emphasis of the raw emotions that come to light when she resurfaces. Long buried secrets are uncovered, and all those mistakes and regrets from the past are suddenly biting everyone in the ass.
There’s an awful lot of mentions of snakes as well, which frankly creeped me out a lot with the detailed descriptions of what they feel like and how they smell. I can stomach murder and such, but snakes… No, thank you. Well, this book gave me the shivers, so good job. No, really.
While the current timeline was somewhat emotional, with Kim trying to find out more about her supposed family, I found the events of 1990 way more gripping. There was so much going on in that small town. Needless to say, they were mostly terrible things, thanks to the Pentecostal Cult, I mean Church, whose members were very much into extreme exorcism, snake handling and other horrible shit that shouldn’t even exist. (Without being too specific, think along the lines of beating people with the Bible and trying to drown them as a way to convince them about… things…)
I’m not a particular fan of the missing or kidnapped child trope, but this one seemed different, because first of all, we know the main character is indeed the girl who went missing. As much as this book was about the mystery of who took Sammy, it put equal amount of emphasis of the raw emotions that come to light when she resurfaces. Long buried secrets are uncovered, and all those mistakes and regrets from the past are suddenly biting everyone in the ass.
There’s an awful lot of mentions of snakes as well, which frankly creeped me out a lot with the detailed descriptions of what they feel like and how they smell. I can stomach murder and such, but snakes… No, thank you. Well, this book gave me the shivers, so good job. No, really.