Pages: 372
Published: 29th May 2012
Genre: Mystery
The letter that turns Tommie McCloud’s world upside down arrives from a stranger only days after her father’s death. The woman who wrote it claims that Tommie is her daughter—and that she was kidnapped as a baby thirty-one years ago.
Tommie wants to believe it’s all a hoax, but suddenly a girl who grew up on a Texas ranch finds herself linked to a horrific past: the slaughter of a family in Chicago, the murder of an Oklahoma beauty queen, and the kidnapping of a little girl named Adriana.
Tommie races along a twisting, nightmarish path while an unseen stalker is determined to keep old secrets locked inside the dementia-battered brain of the woman who Tommie always thought was her real mother. With everything she has ever believed in question, and no one she can trust, Tommie must discover the truth about the girl who vanished—and the very real threats that still remain.
This is really well written and complex book. It is a story that contains multiple strands and numerous different characters, told in Julia Heaberlin’s own unique, sophisticated and strangely affecting style.
I say strangely affecting, because the narrator does not tell the story in an especially engaging way; in theory the writing style should not allow the reader to connect with them all that easily, but Heaberlin creates such a powerful and emotive tone here that makes Tommie a largely likeable character.
What also helps in this regard is the tense nature of the plot. Tommie is a character shrouded in mystery; she receives a letter from someone claiming to be her birth mother and is then approached by a man who purports to be a journalist. What follows are a series of revelations about her lineage, and a series of threats to her life as she gradually disentangles the many crossed wires that lead towards the truth.
That makes it a fairly gripping read, even if I struggled to read large amounts in one sitting. The tension and the mystery is always there, the plotting is detailed and intricately woven together, unravelling slowly and menacingly.
So far, so good. However, there are a few things I didn’t like, especially the relationship between Tommie and Hudson. Although Hudson is an important character, I just thought the romance element was out of place and irrelevant to the plot.
I also feel that the intricate and complex plot works both ways. It adds a real sense of scale to the story, but it does get a little confusing at times. There were a lot of characters and events I needed to remember later on in the story, and once or twice I found myself having to rack my brains to try and recall the circumstances behind each character that was referenced in passing earlier on in the book.
But overall, this was a very good read, and I would certainly recommend it to anyone who likes a tense and complex thriller. The writing is consistently strong, the characters are mostly likeable and well-drawn, and the ending definitely makes it worthwhile.
A very well written book that contains many different strands, and plenty to get your head around. The plot in general was great, but some aspects just came up a little short.
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐.5
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