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A review by kellyvandamme
Paper Ghosts by Julia Heaberlin
3.0
"Bad people are to be found everywhere, but even among the worst there may be something good."
Meet Grace, she's young, she's pretty and she's been obsessed with her older sister Rachel's disappearance since she was a little girl. Somewhere down the line, Grace has convinced herself that Rachel was murdered by Carl, and she feels the time is right to draw a confession from him. Carl, however, suffers from dementia. Or does he? When Grace takes Carl on a road trip, we never quite know who is using who, is Grace getting what she wants from this trip, or is Carl?
I liked that insecurity, that not knowing whether Carl was dangerous or just an innocent old man. Sometimes he seemed like a little lamb, other times he reminded me of Hannibal Lector, playing with Clarice. I did feel the story dragged sometimes, the suspense was seldom palpable, which I'd expect from a novel marketed as "a novel of suspense".
All in all, for me this was definitely an okay read, just not at the top of its genre.
Meet Grace, she's young, she's pretty and she's been obsessed with her older sister Rachel's disappearance since she was a little girl. Somewhere down the line, Grace has convinced herself that Rachel was murdered by Carl, and she feels the time is right to draw a confession from him. Carl, however, suffers from dementia. Or does he? When Grace takes Carl on a road trip, we never quite know who is using who, is Grace getting what she wants from this trip, or is Carl?
I liked that insecurity, that not knowing whether Carl was dangerous or just an innocent old man. Sometimes he seemed like a little lamb, other times he reminded me of Hannibal Lector, playing with Clarice. I did feel the story dragged sometimes, the suspense was seldom palpable, which I'd expect from a novel marketed as "a novel of suspense".
All in all, for me this was definitely an okay read, just not at the top of its genre.