It's every parent's worst nightmare: the call that comes in the middle of the night. When Kat Jenkins awakens to the police on her doorstep, her greatest fear is realized. Her nine-year-old son, Ethan, is missing--vanished from the cabin where he'd been on an overnight class trip. Shocked and distraught, Kat rushes to the campground, but she's too late; the authorities have returned from their search empty-handed after losing Ethan's trail in the mountain forest.
Another mother from the school, Stef Huntington, seems like she has it all: money, prominence in the community, a popular son and a loving husband. She hardly knows Kat, except for the vicious gossip that swirls around Kat's traumatic past. But as the police investigation unfolds, Ethan's disappearance has earth-shattering consequences for Stef, as her path crosses with Kat. As the two mothers race against the clock, their desperate search for answers reveals how the greatest dangers lie behind the everyday smiles of those they trust the most. (Synopsis courtesy of Amazon.)
Three years ago, as well as this past summer, my daughter wandered off in a crowded space for a few minutes. The panic at not knowing where she was felt overwhelming. Thankfully, we found her quickly and she was even more upset than we were. Having shared this, I can't even imagine what it must have felt like for Kat to not know where her child was for THREE days! Scratch that...I can imagine that it must have felt like the world was ending.
Three Days Missing is the second novel I've read by Kimberly Belle (the first being The Marriage Lie, which is being made into a movie) and I am still very impressed by her writing style and her ability to keep me guessing each time. I was in suspense from the moment it was revealed that Ethan was missing and I had no idea where the story would lead. There were so many twists and turns! It was definitely a page turner that was difficult to put down. I just had to know if Ethan would be okay....or not. Kimberly uses a lot of detail that makes the story come to life without the descriptions taking away from the narrative. This situation is hard to read about as a parent, but Kimberly handled it in a sensitive way.
The only issue I had was that some of the political discussions during Stef's scenes got confusing. I also think the story could have used an epilogue to see how things were going for the characters a few months later.
I would recommend this novel to anyone who is looking for a powerful mystery/thriller.
Movie casting suggestions:
Kat: Claire Danes
Stef: Michelle Monaghan
Andrew: Alexander Skarsgård (reminded me of his character in Big Little Lies and I kept picturing him)
Lucas: Josh Holloway
Mac: Cole Hauser
Sam: Sam Page
Josh: Ethan Suplee
Thanks to Harlequin for the book in exchange for an honest review.
More by Kimberly Belle:
1 comment:
Good review, Melissa. We had a situation many years ago at Disneyworld where Lauren, our 3rd, went down in a different elevator that the rest of us. She was there when the doors opened at the bottom. But it was scary as heck.
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