Maura (maura853) - , reviewed on 2/14/2018 + 542 more book reviews

Halfway through this novel, I was contemplating a five-star rating, and wondering what all the negative reviews were talking about. I really liked the way the author developed her intriguing -- and frightening -- premise, and alternating between the points-of-view of the frantic parents and the chief investigating detective was very effective in emphasizing how no one sees the same thing in quite the same way. (Just for example, the mother who see herself as fat, unattractive, with greasy hair, is described by the detective as a lovely young woman with glossy brown hair. This goes further than any author exposition to make the mother's post-baby blues real and relatable. I even liked the cool, slightly stand-offish tone -- it was a nice counterpoint to the emotional currents of the missing baby.

But ... but ... but ... after the halfway mark, everything goes very, very wrong. I'm not sure that Lapena does anything very different, but perhaps her plot just requires her characters to behave more stupidly. The "big twist" was pretty obvious, and yes, to echo other reviews, the ending was pure melodrama. Very disappointing.

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