Michael Scanlon's The Child Before

This book came to me through NetGalley from the publisher Bookouture💙. The child before was released today, 06/05/19.

The book begins with a cyclist discovering a murdered woman's body in a car not far from an abandoned village called Kelly's Forge. When Detective Finnegan Beck arrives to investigate, he notices a baby seat in the car and no baby. About 50 years ago, another baby girl went missing in almost the same location. Detective Beck wonders if these two disappearances are linked. Detective Beck wants to leave town to be with the woman he loves, but he's worried if he doesn't find baby Róisín, she'll wind up dead like the last child.

I liked the story and I thought it had a lot of potential. I feel like something got lost in translation between the actual plot and the execution. There were a lot of characters and it didn't seem like a lot of them were incredibly detailed. I would have to read things more than once at times to keep track of who was doing what. While I did enjoy the short chapters, parts of the book felt choppy and I wished I had a little bit more detail. The ending felt rushed, and I read it twice because I didn't catch what actually happened the first time around. I don't know if the writing style was just so different from what I was reading, or if this book just wasn't for me. I didn't hate the book, but the ending just felt unresolved and I was left wishing for a better conclusion.

Brilliant story idea-I wish I had liked it better!

🌟🌟🌟/5 Stars

Comments

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