Goodreads synopsis: A missing child is every parent's nightmare. What comes next is even worse in this riveting thriller from the bestselling and award-winning author of Bring Her Home.
Tom and Abby Stuart had everything: a perfect marriage, successful careers, and a beautiful twelve-year-old daughter, Caitlin. Then one day Caitlin vanished without a trace. For a while they grasped at every false hope and followed every empty lead, but the tragedy ended up changing their lives, overwhelming them with guilt and dread, and shattering their marriage.
Four years later, Caitlin is found alive but won't discuss where she was or what happened. And when the police arrest a suspect connected to her disappearance, she refuses to testify. Taking matters into his own hands, Tom tries to uncover the truth--and finds that nothing that has happened yet can prepare him for what he is about to discover.
My rating: 4 stars.
Content warnings: R. Lots of swearing, some violence, and a discussion of sexual abuse.
My thoughts: I have a lot of thoughts about this book, and they mostly fall into what wasn't great about it, and what I appreciated about it. The prose was poorly written at times and there were a few subplots that didn't really need to be there and didn't pan out very well. It was clearly a first novel, and the author had room to improve, but that happens with anyone.
This book covered some dark subject material, and that alone means it's not for everyone. But on top of that, there isn't any character in the book who is easy to like. The main character is selfish and self centered. He has a very specific idea of what should happen when his daughter is found, and when that isn't what happens, he doesn't handle it well. It struck me as painful but important to look at our responses to other people's trauma and our expectations of what people should be and how we think others should respond to their own pasts. Tom expects his daughter to be the same after 4 years of being kidnapped and abused, and when she comes back with Stockholm syndrome, rather than trying to understand or help, he refuses to let go of his mental image of what she should be like and ends up holding that against her. Even if he would never admit as much to himself.
It's a harsh, real look at our responses to trauma, notably the trauma of others, and how we expect them to react to it. It's a nasty, raw, gut punching, real look at dealing with and being there for the mental health of others, and how we so often fail at that.
At least, that's what it was for me. And ever since I read it, I haven't been able to get it out of my head.
