A Step Toward Falling

A Step Toward Falling by Cammie McGovern, 364 pages

This book reminded me of Will Grayson, Will Grayson, in quite a few ways. While it does tackle some very serious subject matter, this is a relatively light, easy read. Still, the characterizations are good. On the surface, there are obvious themes here - don't judge others on appearances, forgive others and seek forgiveness, treat others with dignity and compassion, and "Choose carefully the people whose approval you seek." (pg. 350) - but thankfully, they all go a bit deeper than that.

Worth noting, the characters who have special needs aren't put on a pedestal, perfect in every way apart from their disability - they get angry and make mistakes just like any of the other characters. If Belinda (the main character with special needs) weren't as richly painted, it would be hard to take the book seriously. Emily (the main character without special needs), on the other hand, comes across as a pretty typical YA lead. The real depth of the book comes from alternating between the two, showing that while society labels them differently, they are both human, with at least as many similarities as differences.

Finding Claire Fletcher

Finding Claire Fletcher by Lisa Regan   430 pages

Lisa Regan has turned out the best-rounded kidnapping stories that I have read in recent years. The thing that separates Finding Claire Fletcher from the others on the bookstore shelves is the point of view. Readers are lucky enough to get bother the victim’s and the detective’s side of the story.

Things are going so well for Detective Conner Parks. He’s been busted to desk duty while an investigation into a shooting/killing takes place. He’s newly divorced, and he drinks too much. One night he picks up a beautiful woman in a bar and takes her home. The next morning, she has disappeared, leaving behind a slip of paper containing her name and address.

Conner really liked this woman, so he goes to the address. There he finds that the woman who claimed to live there disappeared without a trace 10 years earlier as a 15-year-old. Her brother and sister still live there. Conner makes the fourth man who comes to find Claire after a rendezvous.

Conner’s police training kicks in, and since he’s stuck on the desk, he re-opens Claire’s case, without authorization. He becomes obsessed with finding her. He enlists the help of a private investigator Claire’s family has used.

Meanwhile, Claire returns to abductor. There are many reasons, including that fact that each time she tries to escape, someone dies. In fact, pursuing Claire could turn out to be deadly for Conner.

The story is narrated in alternate chapters. Claire’s chapters are in first person, Conner’s in third. Interesting combination and hard to pull off, but Regan does it effortlessly, especially since the chapters are identified other than Chapter One, Chapter Two, etc.

Another thing that Regan does extremely well is that Claire’s kidnapper is not given until a name until Conner figures it out. That truly brought me into Claire’s story.

Finding Claire Fletcher is an on-the-seat-of your-chair thriller. I loved it, except for the last couple of chapters. Those final chapters fell into predictability that forces me to give this story 4 out of 5 stars.