This is a thriller with a bit of a twist. Carmel, an eight year-old girl, has always been a bit of a dreamer, who seems different from other children. Beth, her newly single mother, worries about Carmel, but is determined to make a life for the two of them. However, when she takes Carmel to a local storytelling festival, the most awful thing imaginable happens: Carmel goes missing. This is in the beginning of the story, and the book continues with the alternating viewpoints of Beth and Carmel: Beth trying to find Carmel, determined to never give up, and Carmel, on a terrifying journey of her own, with a man she believes could be her grandfather.
I've been reading missing-child-thriller books lately, and while I thought this one was okay, I found myself skimming at times because I wasn't quite engaged with the characters. It's less of a thriller than it is a story that's insightful about the bond between mother and child. There isn't as much about the investigation into Carmel's disappearance as there is their individual stories. Both characters are realistically written, and it's interesting to go back and forth between the adult voice of Beth and the child's perspective from Carmel. However, I found my interest in the storyline would waver from time to time. Somehow, it just didn't keep me fully engaged from start to finish.
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