The Child Finder by Rene Denfeld
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I love books set in the Pacific Northwest, so I downloaded this book just because of that. I wasn’t disappointed. The story follows Naomi, a private investigator who has a knack for locating lost and missing children. Naomi has been asked to find Madison Culver, who went missing when she went to the forest with her parents to pick out a Christmas tree.
The book is heavy and disturbing in many ways, switching between Madison’s experience being kidnapped by a pedophile, B, the pedophile, and Naomi’s search for Madison. It expertly intertwines a magical realism element into it, as fairy tales are the way that Madison learns to cope. I thought this might detract from the story, but it actually worked really well.
Rene Denfel’s writing is eloquent and haunting, the characters well defined, the setting of the Pacific Northwest crisp and alive with imagery. I would highly recommend this book.
