My friend at work recommended this book to me. Once I finished it I reached out to her to tell her how much I liked it. She was like “Oh, I didn’t read it, but there’s a movie of it on Netflix and it looked good”. I was like “oh haha, well I read the book on your recommendation and loved it”. I mean I loved it as much as you can love a book about kids getting kidnapped and murdered, alcoholism, parent death…
We’re following two stories at the beginning of this book. Tom is a newer single dad and widower. He’s trying to do what’s best for his son Jake. As Jake found his mother dead at the bottom of the stairs in their house, this includes moving to a different house in a different town. Jake also maybe sees ghosts. We love Jake immediately and feel bad for but like Tom immediately. The other story follows a cop named Pete who is looking for a little boy named Neal (Neil?) who was recently abducted in his town.
We learn a lot about both of their pasts and follow them through the unfolding aforementioned kidnapping(s) and murder(s). Their stories eventually come together, and I really liked the way they did. It didn’t feel forced or like a gotcha moment. I like the character development in this book too. I think I’m going to search out more Alex North books to see if this continues.
Anyway, a lot of crazy shit goes down, everyone is in danger, and there’s also some healing.
5 stars
also, it’s read by this guy (Christopher Eccleston), which made the mood a little darker
