Read: June, 2011
Recommended To: Mystery & Thriller fans, suspense lovers, anyone who loves a good crime book/show or whodunnit story
Categories: Fiction, Mysteries, Friendships, Crime & Criminals
A quiet summer morning in August, two families awaken to their horror, to find that both of their children have gone missing.
Calli Clark and Petra Gregory, the two missing girls, are best friends. Petra is even more than that to Calli, who suffers from selective mutism stemming from a tragic event that plunged her into silence years ago; Petra is Calli's voice, the only person who seems to understand Calli without her uttering a word.
When both girls are found missing in the early morning, their parents are forced to confront some horrifying possibilities; Calli's mother, Antonia, struggles with the idea that her bitter and angry husband, Calli's father, could be involved in what happened. Petra's father, Martin, struggles with the unfamiliar person he seems to have turned into the instant Petra disappeared, a far cry from the calm, intellectual he was.
These two families, confronted with these tragic circumstances, will uncover more in the search for their daughters than they expected. As buried family secrets come to the surface, including what really happened the day Calli spoke her last word.
Personal Thoughts
I was immediately drawn to this book by the description, but it actually ended up sitting on my shelf for nearly two years after I bought it; my friend wanted to read it too, and we were going to read it together for our two-person book club. She finally picked it up, by which time I had forgotten completely what the premise of the book was. I think one of the main things that drew me to the book was how original the idea was; it was a fresh take on a well-used and beloved plot.
I dove into this book, and completely shoveled the delicious morsels of this story into my mouth, consuming it as quickly as I could. It is fast-paced without being confusing; it is descriptive without overdoing it; it is suspenseful, while maintaining and balancing the background story throughout.
At first, when I realized that the story was going to be written from the multiple viewpoints of the various characters, I was skeptical. In my experience as a reader, it is very difficult for a writer to successfully and believably write in the voices of many characters. Either the characters are written too similarly, and the story becomes confusing as you have trouble distinguishing between them, or the writer tries too hard to make the characters distinguishable, which usually backfires; they either become shallow, one-dimensional characters (for example: John Smith is the mean guy, James Doe is good guy; easy to distinguish, but not interesting or realistic), or there is too much superfluous information added into the book to give the characters depth, which can also make it confusing to remember which information goes with which character. Heather Gudenkauf really surprised me with the ease with which she seemed able to switch between voices while avoiding the above problems; the characters were well developed, multi-dimensional and distinguishable, each with their own unique voice that shone through.
Pros
* Very interesting, well-developed characters that all played a significant role in the novel.
* Fast-paced, suspenseful and mysterious, though with more depth to the story than your run-of-mill mystery or thriller novel.
* Well-written, and captivating; the plot itself could have carried the book far, but it was the fantastic writing that really put it over the top.
Cons
* My only real complaint, and my friend agreed, was with the end of the book. Not a bad ending; it tied up loose ends, it was satisfying, it was a fitting end to the book. Both of us, however, felt like the writing suffered a bit towards the end; we couldn't put a finger on it exactly, except that parts of it felt rushed and could have been written better. That is the only reason I gave this an 8.5/10, instead of higher.
OTHER BOOKS BY HEATHER GUDENKAUF:
At first, when I realized that the story was going to be written from the multiple viewpoints of the various characters, I was skeptical. In my experience as a reader, it is very difficult for a writer to successfully and believably write in the voices of many characters. Either the characters are written too similarly, and the story becomes confusing as you have trouble distinguishing between them, or the writer tries too hard to make the characters distinguishable, which usually backfires; they either become shallow, one-dimensional characters (for example: John Smith is the mean guy, James Doe is good guy; easy to distinguish, but not interesting or realistic), or there is too much superfluous information added into the book to give the characters depth, which can also make it confusing to remember which information goes with which character. Heather Gudenkauf really surprised me with the ease with which she seemed able to switch between voices while avoiding the above problems; the characters were well developed, multi-dimensional and distinguishable, each with their own unique voice that shone through.
Pros
* Very interesting, well-developed characters that all played a significant role in the novel.
* Fast-paced, suspenseful and mysterious, though with more depth to the story than your run-of-mill mystery or thriller novel.
* Well-written, and captivating; the plot itself could have carried the book far, but it was the fantastic writing that really put it over the top.
Cons
* My only real complaint, and my friend agreed, was with the end of the book. Not a bad ending; it tied up loose ends, it was satisfying, it was a fitting end to the book. Both of us, however, felt like the writing suffered a bit towards the end; we couldn't put a finger on it exactly, except that parts of it felt rushed and could have been written better. That is the only reason I gave this an 8.5/10, instead of higher.
OTHER BOOKS BY HEATHER GUDENKAUF:
