carolesrandomlife

This review can also be found at Carole's Random Life

I love a book with lots twists and turns that keeps me guessing and that is exactly what I found with this book. I found this book to be really fast paced and I couldn't seem to turn the pages fast enough. I was completely pulled into the mystery and wanted to know exactly what happened to Celia. This was a quick read that ended up being a whole lot of fun to read.

Jenna's best friend, Celia, disappeared several months ago. On the night of the disappearance, Jenna had plans to meet up with Celia near the local park at midnight. Jenna was a few minutes late and when she arrived there was no sign of Celia. Jenna feels a lot of guilt over Celia's disappearance and has been in the media spotlight since the search started.

Jared, Jenna's son, has recently met a new girl at school, Tabitha. Tabitha's father is very strict and she lives a life with a lot of rules. Tabitha seems to have a few secrets but she does seem to care about Jared. When Jenna surprises them at home one afternoon, it seems that Tabitha's secrets may run a little deeper. Jared is head over heels for Tabitha and just knows that he wants to be with her.

It seemed from early in the book that there would be two main mysteries. Celia's disappearance and Tabitha's real story. I found each of the main focuses of the book to be equally entertaining and was eager to find the thread in the story that would tie them together. I thought that the two issues were equally balanced in the book and was really investing in learning about both issues.

I liked the characters in this story quite a bit and thought that they felt very authentic. I am currently living with a 15 year old so I have some first hand knowledge of how a teen that age tends to behave. Jared didn't always take the course of action that made the most logical sense but he did stay true to his feelings. Jenna seemed to be taking everything really hard and her character showed the stress of the situation. She did seem to be one of the most patient mother's that I have encountered but there were a few mistakes that did offset her perfection.

The resolution did seem to come together very quickly and maybe a little too perfectly. I would have liked to see just a bit more at the end since it felt very a bit abrupt. I was still pleased with how things did turn out. There weren't any moments in the story where I felt surprised by the turn of events but there was never a time that I thought the story was predictable. This complex story was able to feel realistic throughout the course of the story.

I would highly recommend this book to fans of mystery thrillers. This is only the second book by David Bell that I have had the chance to read but I am finding myself becoming a huge fan very quickly. I look forward to reading more of this author's work in the near future.

I received an advance reader edition of this book from Penguin Publishing Group - NAL via First to Read for the purpose of providing an honest review.

Initial Thoughts
This is the second David Bell book that I have read. It is also the second one that I loved. Very entertaining story with a lot of twists and turns that kept me guessing. Likable characters that felt realistic added to the appeal.