When Grace was twelve and her sister Rachel was nineteen, Rachel "disappeared, like a lasso dropped from the clouds and snatched her up." Now, after years with no sign of Rachel, she is presumed dead and Grace is convinced she knows who killed her sister.
"It took a long, long time to find the man I believe killed my sister. Years. Dozens of interviews. Hundreds of suspects. Thousands of documents. Reading, stalking, stealing. It's been a singular, no-holds-barred obsession since I was twelve and my sister's bike didn't make it the three miles in broad daylight from our house to her summer babysitting job."
The center of Grace's target, Carl Louis Feldman spent much of his life as a renowned documentary and fine-art photographer. Now, however, he appears to have the beginnings of dementia and resides in a somewhat sketchy halfway house for old felons. Years before, he was tried and released in the case of a missing girl but a cloud of doubts continue to swirl around him, hinting that he might be a serial killer.
Grace is now ready to put her plan for Carl into action. She has made repeated visits to the halfway house, attempting to convince both Carl and the home's owner that she is Carl's long-lost daughter who wants to take a vacation with him. In reality, she hopes that, by using his photographs and taking him to scenes of a series of murders, she can trigger enough memory for him to confess to her sister's death.
It is an intriguing match of wits: Grace, totally convinced of Carl's guilt and desperate to force him to admit to Rachel's murder; Carl, who may have dementia but who also may be clever enough to play games with Grace's mind. The two spar constantly during their meandering around Texas. One moment it appears that Grace is about to trap Carl; a few seconds later, it appears he's playing her for a fool. Round and round they go, to an ending that comes out of left field.
The unusual premise for the book leaves the reader wondering about the sanity of both central characters. Highly recommend.
"It took a long, long time to find the man I believe killed my sister. Years. Dozens of interviews. Hundreds of suspects. Thousands of documents. Reading, stalking, stealing. It's been a singular, no-holds-barred obsession since I was twelve and my sister's bike didn't make it the three miles in broad daylight from our house to her summer babysitting job."
The center of Grace's target, Carl Louis Feldman spent much of his life as a renowned documentary and fine-art photographer. Now, however, he appears to have the beginnings of dementia and resides in a somewhat sketchy halfway house for old felons. Years before, he was tried and released in the case of a missing girl but a cloud of doubts continue to swirl around him, hinting that he might be a serial killer.
Grace is now ready to put her plan for Carl into action. She has made repeated visits to the halfway house, attempting to convince both Carl and the home's owner that she is Carl's long-lost daughter who wants to take a vacation with him. In reality, she hopes that, by using his photographs and taking him to scenes of a series of murders, she can trigger enough memory for him to confess to her sister's death.
It is an intriguing match of wits: Grace, totally convinced of Carl's guilt and desperate to force him to admit to Rachel's murder; Carl, who may have dementia but who also may be clever enough to play games with Grace's mind. The two spar constantly during their meandering around Texas. One moment it appears that Grace is about to trap Carl; a few seconds later, it appears he's playing her for a fool. Round and round they go, to an ending that comes out of left field.
The unusual premise for the book leaves the reader wondering about the sanity of both central characters. Highly recommend.
While this is a unique and original tale that kept me reading, it wasn't as good as We Are All the Same in the Dark. The ending seemed a bit rushed and unlikely. If that was the case whoever was investigating the sister's disappearance originally sure did a lousy job. That should have been solved years ago! But despite that, there's much to enjoy in the journey.
Twisty. Keeps you guessing.
