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minimicropup's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
🇺🇸 Set in various Atlanta, Georgia neighbourhoods and a mining camp for tourists.
POV: We are following the story from the perspectives of a single parent with a gifted child and the mayor’s wife. The novel’s present tense narrative brings immediacy to the mystery of a child gone missing on a school trip, presenting a bit like a police procedural wrapped in family drama.
Mood Reading Match Up:
-Missing child mystery
-Police procedural from the POV of a family member
-Family and elementary school kids drama
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🐺 Growls, Howls, and Tail Wags 🐕
✏️ Writing: The suspense kicked in almost instantly, giving us good insight in to the relationship between Kat and her son. However, the dialogue often felt forced and cliché, detracting from the realism. Present tense was the wrong choice (to me) as it fumbled with all the mundane descriptions, making everyday actions feel overdrawn. For some reason, in past tense I have no problem reading about a character getting dressed and grabbing their keys, but in present tense I find myself thinking ‘yeah yeah, we know how leaving a house works, let’s get on with it already’. 😳
🫥 Characters: The protagonist, a worried mother, was well-explored and consistently portrayed. I found the narrative from the politician’s wife initially failed to captivate me because I kept questioning her relevance.
🗺️ Worldbuilding: The book did well in sketching out its world through character observations, but occasionally slipped into repetitive descriptions, especially about appearances.
🔥 Fuel: The heart of the story lay in uncovering what happened to Ethan, a missing 8-year-old boy. The plot offered a good mix of suspects, which kept me guessing without overdoing the villainy.
🐢 Pacing: Despite its straightforward narrative, the pacing felt uneven. The detailed police procedural, seen through a family member’s eyes, sometimes dragged, dwelling too much on minor details and internal monologues.
🤷♀️ Problematics: The police’s openness with the mother bordered on implausible, feeling like a scene from a B-grade movie (letting her roam potential crime scenes trusting she won’t touch anything, trusting her word above all others etc). This stretched to other characters too, whose unrestricted involvement in the investigation felt unrealistic!
The portrayal of Ethan’s abilities at his age and the conclusion of the story might raise eyebrows…it did mine. The ending, in particular, seems a bit far-fetched for the character’s age and context. Sure I don’t have a wealth of experience with even typical 8-year olds, but even for a genius it seemed over the top (in a corny way). Also I’m not sure that was a technologically solid ending?
🤔 Random Thoughts: Overall I think this story was suspenseful with some intriguing elements but it got bogged down by cheesy dialogue and an occasionally sluggish pace. It’s a mixed bag – great for a quick suspense fix but might leave you wanting more in terms of depth and believability.
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Content Heads-Up: Missing child. Grief. Confinement. Divorce (messy). Bullying.
Rep: Primarily features White American characters.
Format: Paperback
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Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement and Bullying
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