Book Recommendation: THE CHILD FINDER
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“All she knew was that evil…was alchemy built on top of opportunity. Some went searching for it. Others just waited. Either way, it was bound to happen.” Rene Denfeld, THE CHILD FINDER
Publisher Synopsis:
“Where are you, Madison Culver? Flying with the angels, a silver speck on a wing? Are you dreaming, buried under snow? Or—is it possible—you are still alive?”
Three years ago, Madison Culver disappeared when her family was choosing a Christmas tree in Oregon’s Skookum National Forest. She would be eight-years-old now—if she has survived. Desperate to find their beloved daughter, certain someone took her, the Culvers turn to Naomi, a private investigator with an uncanny talent for locating the lost and missing. Known to the police and a select group of parents as “the Child Finder,” Naomi is their last hope.
Naomi’s methodical search takes her deep into the icy, mysterious forest in the Pacific Northwest, and into her own fragmented past. She understands children like Madison because once upon a time, she was a lost girl, too.
As Naomi relentlessly pursues and slowly uncovers the truth behind Madison’s disappearance, shards of a dark dream pierce the defenses that have protected her, reminding her of a terrible loss she feels but cannot remember. If she finds Madison, will Naomi ultimately unlock the secrets of her own life?
Told in the alternating voices of Naomi and a deeply imaginative child, The Child Finder is a breathtaking, exquisitely rendered literary page-turner about redemption, the line between reality and memories and dreams, and the human capacity to survive.
My Recommendation:
Engrossing, beautifully written, devastating, and redemptive, THE CHILD FINDER is the story of a private investigator, Naomi, searching the woods and fields, mountains and city scapes for missing children as deeply as she is her own past. Told from her point of view and that of a missing child, their stories and histories are meticulously woven and culminate in a breath-taking climax.
Horrifying subjects are handled deftly, with an absence of graphic details, allowing the reader to persist with the search. Characters are full, round, and complex–even the antagonists.
Fans of literary suspense will not be able to put down THE CHILD FINDER. Though this is not historical fiction, I had to share my review here. It is one of the best books I’ve read so far this year, and I give it my highest recommendation.
