Book 21 of the year Chris Mooney‘s Remembering Sarahhas been on my To Be Read pile for some time now. But the other day after moving some books around it was sitting out, so after finishing The Baxter Trust, I picked it up and for a couple of days I couldn’t put it down. The story begins when Mike Sullivan promises to take six year old daughter Sarah sledding on The Hill. When his overprotective wife Jess hears about the outing, she tells Mike no way! So like a good husband Mike waits until Jess leaves and then sneaks out with Sarah to the hill! At the hill, Sarah, ever the strong willed and independent girl, wants to go up the hill by herself. Mike always encouraging her independence and strong will lets her go. Then the worst happens, Sarah never comes down! The book takes off from there as, Mike, with his marriage falling apart relentlessly searches for Sarah investigating every lead he can to find her. Mike, and everyone in town, is convinced that the Father Jonah, who has already been linked to the disappearance of three other girls is the culprit. But Jonas is dying and Mike must find out what he knows before he passes on or will lose Sarah forever! Amidst all this Mike is also dealing with a mother that left him when he was twelve and a criminal and abusive father, not much on his plate, huh! Like I said I just couldn’t put the book down last night until I finished!
While the blurbs on the back of books are always gushing, I thought two of them on the back of this book hit the nail on the head!
“At the core of this gut-wrenching thriller is something rare: a poignant examination of parental love and parental folly. Chris Mooney has written his finest novel and that’s saying something indeed” – Dennis Lahane “Remembering Sarah is harrowing, gripping, haunting, gut-wrenching, beautifully written, and one of the best thrillers – maybe the best I’ve read this year” – Harlan Coben
Some praise from two of my favorites! I thoroughly enjoyed the book, everything, the characters, the setting and the pace of the storyline! If you’re like me and love Harlan Coben’s standalones and Linwood Barclay’s books, you’ll love Remembering Sarah. While I was looking up other books I’ve read by Chris Moody on Goodreads.com, of which there is only one The Missing (Darby McCormick #1) I saw that that series is now up to Book # 4 can you say “Too Many books, not enough time!” oh well, off to the library to pick up the new Karin Slaughter novel Fallen!