This book is essentially two mysteries rolled into one. We follow individually the lives of both Will Bird and Annie Bird. Uncle and niece. The family are Cree Indians and live in the remote wilderness of Northern Canada.

We follow the story of Will and his run ins with Marius Netmaker, a thug, biker, drug dealer, who has an agenda with Will and his family. Simultaneously we follow the story of Annie, day after day she visits her comatose uncle and relays the story of her search for Suzanne, her missing model sister, in Toronto and New York.

At first this book was very confusing. It took some time for me to work out who was narrating and from what time period. Uncle Will's narrative is from further in the past than that of Annie's but they do cleverly come together by the end.

I really, really wish that I had enjoyed this book as it has had such rave reviews. Yes the setting is stunning and Boyden's prose is rich and beautiful, but the story for me was second rate. I enjoyed Uncle Will's story, his character had a lot more depth than that of Annie. She and Suzanne just seemed like silly little girls whose irresponsible actions had put their whole family in jeopardy.

I knew there was something not quite right with this book when I flew through the first half but had no urge to pick it back up once I put it down. Some parts of it were fantastic. Uncle Will's bear and his self imposed exile were the most memorable sections for me. However the entire book took me over a month to finish!

I would love to hear what others thought of this book and maybe point out what I was missing, as I really wish I had enjoyed this.