It took me a while to get into this. I really enjoyed the characters in We Begin At The End and although that was definitely a standalone book and this is a previous work by the same author I found the strong memories I had of that book were making it hard for me to get to know the characters in this book.

Eventually though I got to know the characters in this book and I’m glad I did because they are just as individual and well drawn as the ones I met before. They’re quirky, but in the way that real people are, some of them larger than life, others are trying so hard to blend into the background that it makes them seem a bit weird too. I really liked a lot of the storylines, a couple of them seemed very strange to start with but made sense when they resolved themselves. The book revolves around the kidnapping of toddler in a small town and his mother’s attempts to cope with this as well as the way the disappearance affects numerous other characters in the town.

There’s a lot going on under the surface, and the plot struggles to stay focused at times, but it’s basically just not a one strand mystery story and trying to judge it by the standards of one doesn’t make sense. I enjoyed it a lot and will definitely pick up more of Chris Whitaker’s books in the future.