Overall i would reccomend this book. I struggled to stay engaged some times however there were tons of twists and turns you never knew what was going to come next. The ending was definantly a good one. ( )

Others have written reviews that are far better than anything I could write, so I will just say that this is a book that belongs on the TBR list of literary fiction lovers. Rene Denfeld is gifted with the ability to show us humanity -- the hurt, and resilient, and even those monsters among us -- in a way that inspires us to be compassionate. ( )

3.5 read in two sittings ( )

I finished this book club selection in a span of 24 hours. I absolutely loved this lovely, hopeful, painful, haunting story of missing children and the woman who is drawn to finding them. ( )

Riveting story of investigator Naomi Cottle, once an abducted child herself, who has quietly helped law enforcement & grieving parents find one lost/missing child after another. Whether the child is already dead, or abducted and alive-- somewhere-- Naomi has pursued training & uses her finely honed people assessment skills to unravel the mystery of a child who is momentarily there, & then just gone. The main thrust of the narrative focuses on her pursuit of a little girl, Madison, who wanders away -just in a moment - from her family as they explore the edges of the Skookum Nat'l Forest in Oregon on a snowy winter day. Three years later, after exhaustive searches & a thorough investigation, common sense & law enforcement accepts the fact that little Madison certainly became disoriented in the thick forest & succumbed to a crevasse, to the snow, and/or the bitter cold. without any signs of struggle, hints of her path taken, etc she must be dead. But her mother insists she's alive.
Enjoyed the building tension - and the alternate narratives of Naomi's investigation, and the little girl's experience with "B", the mute/deaf mountain trapper who finds her and takes her to his remote cabin high up in the mountains miles from the road. This was expertly done; the poetic asides " the wind sighed, and knew the sun's warmth, etc etc" sort of passages weren't as effective as I think the author intended. Nevertheless, her ability to evoke the agony of parents' sorrow, the sadness & resignation of law officers, the emotional warmth and sympathy for all the characters involved - this was compelling. ( )