Published December 1, 2015 by William Morrow Paperbacks
I received my review copy from Lauren Truskowski at Harper Collins Publishing in exchange for a honest review.
In a heartbeat, everything changes…
Rachel Jenner is walking in a Bristol park with her eight-year-old son, Ben, when he asks if he can run ahead. It’s an ordinary request on an ordinary Sunday afternoon, and Rachel has no reason to worry—until Ben vanishes.
Police are called, search parties go out, and Rachel, already insecure after her recent divorce, feels herself coming undone. As hours and then days pass without a sign of Ben, everyone who knew him is called into question, from Rachel’s newly married ex-husband to her mother-of-the-year sister. Inevitably, media attention focuses on Rachel too, and the public’s attitude toward her begins to shift from sympathy to suspicion.
As she desperately pieces together the threadbare clues, Rachel realizes that nothing is quite as she imagined it to be, not even her own judgment. And the greatest dangers may lie not in the anonymous strangers of every parent’s nightmares, but behind the familiar smiles of those she trusts the most.
Where is Ben? The clock is ticking...
My Thoughts…
The kidnapping of a child is not an easy topic to talk about
or write about. The characters
feelings, the police or detective work, and the emotions of all the people
involved are not something that is easy to share with readers. Gilly Macmillan covered all of this and
more in her debut novel. What She Knew
is not written with the feel of a debut book.
While the book is fiction, there is a feel of reality. The use of social media such as Facebook,
Twitter, and online blogs gave it a feel of being current. There was also paparazzi and high media
attention also was very realistic.
The “Have you seen” aspect of the media attention was very true.
The kidnapping is the main story within this book, I was
drawn to how the characters changed as the story went on. The mother, Rachel, realizes that she was
holding on to the past and judging her life in comparison to the life of her
ex-husband. She finds that it is not
fair to compare and to put her son in the position to not tell her things or to
leave things out. I feel like she grew
to accept the separation and understand that while it is not ideal it is okay
for her son to have two families and that it was up to the adults to get along
and let him feel all their love. I
felt the most connected to the mother due to the fact that I am a mother and
could relate to the range of feelings that one would go through in her
situation.
If you are looking for a book that will bring tears to your
eyes, hope to your heart, and keep your in suspense from the very beginning to
the very end this is the book for you.
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