Kidnapping books are a dime a dozen, and yet this one was nominated for the Pulitzer in 2006, so I figured it had to be extra-good.
It was amazing, gut-wrenching, heartbreaking, and -- above all -- sleep-depriving. Not since the last two Harry Potter books have I stayed up past midnight just to find out how a book ends. (And, similar to the end of Potters 6 and 7, I spent most of that time weeping from a mix of devastation and exhaustion.)
If you loved Lovely Bones, read this.
If you have a daughter, DO NOT READ THIS! DON'T DO IT!!!
That about sums it up. Seriously, I'm afraid that if I say too much, I'll spoil something. So here's the quickest possible summary: A nine-year-old girl disappears on her bike. A handful of townspeople share their version of the events (some speaking from the past, some from the present) until the entire story is unraveled thread by thread. Nothing flowery, no wasted words -- every thought, every action, every detail is ultimately there for a reason. I'm a fan of fatalism in stories, and as fatalism goes, this is a doozy.
I'm going to say this is one of the best fiction books I've ever read. If, like me, you're six years behind the ball on this book, go read it.
Unless you have a daughter.
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