Simon
This is a brilliantly written story about disturbing things happening in a small town in Minnesota, seen though the eyes of 12 year old Cassie. If you are looking for a formulaic crime novel like The Boy Next Door, The Girl In The Kitchen, The Grandma In The Attic then this is not for you, It's better than that.
There is an extra chapter that ties everything up available on the author's website. http://jessicalourey.com/survey-two
Sometimes less is more and there lies the main problem with this book, could easily have been 100 pages shorter. So much of it is ridiculous and I refuse to believe that out of all the people who suspected something was “going on”, not one of them intervened or made that call, and all because they live in free thinking part of North California. In the end it feels like a mash up of Swallows and Amazons and Serbian Film. If you are thinking of reading this do your research first. Read the one star reviews because the majority of those are spot on.
If you want shock and awe read Hal Ketchum's The Girl Next Door.
If you want uplifting cuddles read Emma Donoghue's Room.
The above books do everything this books tries to do but much much better.
Last year I said I wouldn't torture myself by reading classic gay literature set in an around the aftermath of the AIDS crisis in the USA. And yet here I am again. It's quite interesting that the writing itself is mostly emotionless. and that's pretty much how I felt after finishing. Half the time I wanted to give Lark a big hug and the other half of the time I wanted to shake him and say “wake up to yourself”.
I really enjoyed this but if I was being really picky, everything just felt a little bit too convenient. I imagine the author had a room where the walls were covered in notes with bits of string connecting everything together. There is one chapter in particular near the end where literally every clue, every loose end is explained. Normally this would be a good thing but there are SO MANY OF THEM it makes the ending of the book feel a little more light weight than it should have done.
If you strip this book down to its most basic form, it's basically an 18 rated version of ABBA the Movie but it definitely doesn't end with a rendition of “Thank You For The Music..
Beyond ridiculous. Feels like it was written by several different people who weren't communicating with each other. AND if you've just been reunited with your child who has been kidnapped and held hostage in a basement for several days... you WOULD NOT, I repeat NOT let them go to school the next day. That is just one of the many many ridiculous moments in this book. Extra star given because I finished.
What a brilliant find. There are some really beautiful tender moments and some really dark imagery... The rats!!!!. It's story about dealing with grief. Not just your own grief but the burden of other peoples grief and problems and realising that when you grow up, all the people who you thought were strong, cool and stable are actually just as broken as everyone else. I guess the moral of this story is ... It's good to talk.
