Author: Sara Lövestam
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press (August 27, 2019)
- Hardback: 288
- Kindle: 288 pages
When a six year old girl disappears and calling the police isn’t an option, her desperate mother Pernilla turns to an unlikely source for help. She finds a cryptic ad online for a private investigator:
“Need help, but can’t contact the police?”
Kouplan responds to a young woman who is looking for PI help in locating her six-year-old daughter, Julia. For reasons only known to her at the time, she needs a PI, and no police involvement. This works just fine for Kouplan because he needs to stay out of sight of the authorities.
Julia, the six-year-old, has disappeared at the local mall. Kouplan, fearing the worse, begins his investigations almost immediately. But he is coming up almost empty-handed.
As the PI searches deeper and deeper into the disappearance and becomes more acquainted with Julia’s mother, he wonders if there aren’t some secrets that he needs to explore regarding Julia. Something isn’t ringing true. But at the same time, he feels the urgency to continue to search for the girl.
Thanks to #netgalley and #stmartinspress for the opportunity to give my honest feedback on this ARC.
My Thoughts
What Concerned Me: While I’ve seen this book listed under mystery/crime/and thriller, I’m not sure what I’d label it. Maybe psychological, maybe a mystery, but certainly not a thriller. As far as mystery, I’m not always very good at guessing the twist, but this felt somewhat obvious.
Since I’m used to a story moving at a fast pace, this was a bit difficult to finish since it was more methodical and slow-moving. I’m sure this factored into my rating.
What I Liked Best: While this wasn’t one of my favorite stories, I have to say it is fairly original.
Sara Lövestam is an award-winning author who specializes in novels that center around a sense of self. Her novels have been translated into multiple languages. When not writing, she enjoys listening to jazz music. She currently resides in Sweden.
