Title: The Forgotten Girl
Author: David Bell
Published: December 2019, Berkley Books
Format: Paperback, 448 pages
Source: Publisher via GetRed PR
Summary:
The USA Today bestselling author of Somebody’s Daughter and Layover presents a twist-filled thriller about a troubled family with long-buried secrets…
The
past has arrived uninvited at Jason Danvers’s door in the form of his
younger sister, Hayden, a former addict who severed all contact with her
family as her life spiraled out of control. Now she’s clean and sober
but in need of a desperate favor–she asks Jason and his wife to take
care of her teenage daughter for forty-eight hours while she handles
some business in town.
But Hayden never returns.
Her
disappearance brings up more unresolved problems from Jason’s past,
including the abrupt departure of his best friend on the night of their
high school graduation twenty-seven years earlier. When a body is
discovered in the woods, the mysteries of his sister’s life–and
possible death–deepen. One by one these events will shatter every
expectation Jason has ever had about families, about the awful truths
that bind them, and the secrets that should be taken to the grave.
My thoughts: I
am a huge fan of David Bell and his writing. I find that he writes such
addicting, thrilling novels, ones that totally consume me from start to
finish and I have a hard time putting down and this one was no exception. I have read most of his books but I am loving that some of his older ones have been re-released in mass market paperbacks in anticipation of a new book coming out. This has been great as I slowly make my way through his backlist and lucky for me that this particular one was one I hadn’t read yet.
I love books where there are secrets not only in the past but also in the future and I love when they ultimately merge together. There were two mysteries happening in this book and I loved that this really kept me guessing as to what was going on. I was suspicious of everyone and everything. I had my guesses as to who might be involved but I was never quite on the right track. But that just keeps me going, desperately trying to see how it all plays out.
I love the characters that Bell writes. He takes ordinary people and puts them in extraordinary circumstances, but circumstances that anyone could find themselves in. I found Jason and Nora to be totally relatable and saw a lot of myself and my husband in them. It is easy to think what you might do if you ever found yourself in their position and this is something I found myself thinking quite a few times.
This book will hook you right from the start and not let up. It’s addictive and gripping and a totally binge-worthy book. I find that most of David Bell’s books have been that way and I love books like that.I’ve enjoyed all of the books I’ve read by this powerhouse of a writer and I cannot
wait to read the rest of his backlist while I wait for his next novel, The Request, due out this summer!
Sounds great, thanks for sharing your thoughts