Friday 22 March 2019

Book ~ "Missing Daughter" (2019) Rick Mofina

From Goodreads ~ Life can change in an instant. For Ryan and Karen Lane, it happens on the morning they discover their twelve-year-old daughter’s window open, their beloved Maddie missing from her bed.

Police investigate. Suspicions swirl. A teenage boy admits he was outside her bedroom window the night she disappeared. A halfway house for convicts recently opened in the neighborhood. The Lane family is thrown into turmoil, then detectives turn their sights on them.

No one is ruled out. Not Karen, with her tragic past, who argued with her daughter. Not Ryan, with his violent streak. Not Maddie’s thirteen-year-old brother, Tyler, who heard voices in her room the night she vanished.

Days, weeks, months, then agonizing years go by without answers, the Lanes fearing that Maddie is gone forever… until a stunning twist shocks everyone, plunging the family deeper into a world of buried secrets whose revelations threaten the very foundation of their lives. 

The Lanes seem like a normal family.  Ryan is struggling running his late father's business.  Things are tough financially and Ryan is stressed about it.  Karen is working extra shifts as a cashier at the grocery store to bring in extra money.  Their son, Tyler, is a typical 13-year-old teenager and their daughter, Maddie, is 12 going on 21 ... she wants to start dating, something that her mother has refused to let her do, so they fight often about it.

One morning, the family discovers Maddie is missing.  Tyler had heard voices in her room in the middle of the night but assumed Maddie was talking to one of her friends on her cell phone.  Mud is found on the carpet near Maddie's bedroom window and a ladder is discovered under the window.  Ryan and Karen immediately call the police and the investigation begins.

The police interview everyone ... family, friends, the residents of a halfway house on the other side of the woods, neighbours, even the pizza delivery guy.  No one knows anything and the police feel that her family are involved so never let off the pressure.  Years go by until the family and police finally discover what happened to her.

I've read a few books by this author and liked this one.  It is written in third person perspective with the focus on wherever the action is.  There were lots of twists and turns with possible "whodunnits.  Just when I thought we found out "whodunnit" and the story was over, there was a final twist.  There was a revelation at the end that I didn't think wasn't necessary or needed.  As a head's up, there is swearing.

I look forward to reading more books by this author.

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